by Beth Staats
Quick Summary
As an ode to Women's History Month, Daughters of Arraweelo: Stories of Somali Women, has been chosen as this month's Ebooks Minnesota highlight.
Daughters of Arraweelo presents, in the words of 14 Somali women, the stories of how they made their marks on Minnesota. Civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991 and since then, thousands of families fled the country looking for asylum all over the world. Minnesota currently holds the largest number of Somali immigrants in the country. Overcoming tremendous obstacles, these women have worked to build new communities as activists, business owners, teachers, and lawyers. This book helps to shine a light on these women who have forged ahead and created lives that offer powerful and celebrated stories.
Arraweelo, a legendary queen of Somalia, was a powerful and eccentric ruler. Her name is used as a disapproving tease for assertive Somali girls. The author, Ayaan Adan, is a user experience designer, author, and community organizer based in Minneapolis. "This isn't supposed to be a representation of the Somali story, but a collection of Somali women who share their experiences and show the richness of our stories," said Adan. She chose to document these oral histories of Somali women when realizing so much in this country views them through a lens of violence, trauma, and suffering.
