Product Overview
Modern Nomads is home to interesting narratives, photo stories, essays and interviews that document the Somali way of life. There are few nomadic societies that have been catapulted into the twenty-first century as dramatically as the Somali. Twenty years of war have scattered hundreds of thousands of Somalis all over the world. People who were born in little desert villages are now young professionals in London, Toronto, or Minneapolis. As their large families often live in a dozen different countries, many Somalis live uniquely international lives as modern nomads. But while most of those who have left their country as refugees keep their connections with home and try to preserve their rich cultural heritage and history, a new generation of diaspora Somalis is growing up that has never seen the Horn of Africa. Raised in Western or Middle Eastern cities and surrounded by American, European, or Arab friends, they are more interested in pop culture than camel culture, and often barely speak their mother-tongue. As visual peacemakers, we want to capture a cultural heritage that is in the process of being lost forever and help the Somali people to remember and treasure their past. At the same time, we are hoping to document the amazing changes that are happening within Somali culture and to catch a glimpse of the new rich and diverse society that is emerging out of the ashes of a long civil war.
