A Somalia Album
Anthropologist Catherine Besteman and photographer Jorge Acero lived in the Somali Bantu village of Banta in 1987-8. After the civil war began in 1991, invading militias destroyed the village and villagers fled to Kenya as refugees. Besteman and Acero lost touch with everyone they knew. In 2004, the United States government began resettling Somali Bantu refugees into the United States. Two years later, Besteman and some of the villagers from Banta discovered each other at a meeting in Lewiston, Maine, where the refugees had resettled. This book was inspired by their reunion and funded by the Maine Humanities Council.
The photographs in the book were taken in 1987-8 and feature people who died during the war as well as people whose children and grandchildren now live in the U.S. The book is written in English as well as Somali and Maay Maay, the two official languages of Somalia.
A Somalia Album is currently being reprinted. If you are interested in ordering a copy, please contact Brita Zitin, and you will be notified when it is available. Meanwhile, to see more photos, listen to audio interviews, and learn more about southern Somalia, please visit The Somali Bantu Experience.
