The state and its fragments : debates on kinship and the state in Somalia

Abstract EN

This article has two primary objectives: a) to introduce the debate about kinship systems and socio-political identity and organization in Somalia.

I do this by reviewing an exchange at a British tribunal between two prominent academics in Somali studies: Abdi I.

Samatar and I.

M.

Lewis; b) to reflect on what is at stake in this debate by pointing at some of the potential consequences of the current U.N.-led state-building project in Somalia, which has embraced one side of this debate.