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Title: Somali Bantus in Pittsburgh: An Adventure in Qualitative Research


1
Somali Bantus in PittsburghAn Adventure in
Qualitative Research
  • Leah M. Taylor
  • Practicum Research
  • Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
  • Graduate School of Public Health
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Spring 2007

2
Background
  • Somali Bantus are a group of refugees who were
    brought up to Somalia from Tanzania and
    Mozambique as slaves
  • The Bantus have experienced centuries of
    oppression and discrimination within Somalia
  • Ethnic Somalis have lighter skin and more Arab
    facial features
  • Somali Bantu is a loose grouping based on
    darker skin and African facial features. There
    are 2 language/ethnic groups within the Somali
    Bantu designation living in Pittsburgh
  • Zigua speakers, who retain strong linguistic and
    cultural ties to Tanzania
  • May speakers, who speak a dialect of the dominant
    Somali language, Af-Maxaad,
  • In January 1991, Siyad Barre, how mismanaged
    Somali as president for 22 years, was thrown out
    of power in Mogadishu, Somalias capital, and
    civil war has continued ever since
  • The civil war created a large number of refugees,
    among them, about 15,000 Somali Bantus, who fled
    south to Kenya
  • Somali Bantus continued to experience
    discrimination in the refugee camps where they
    lived for 10-15 years

3
Somali Bantus Coming to America
  • In 1999, U.S. agreed to resettle the Somali
    Bantus
  • Preparation process was interrupted with
    terrorist bombings in New York and Washington,
    D.C. in 2001
  • First Somali Bantus were resettled in the U.S. in
    2003
  • Refugees, including Somali Bantus, are resettled
    in the U.S. by one of ten agencies that have
    contracts for resettlement with the federal
    government
  • Resettlement agencies provide case management
    services for three to six months and help
    primarily, though not exclusively, with
    employment services

4
Somali Bantus in Pittsburgh
  • First families in Pittsburgh arrived in spring
    2004
  • About 35 families resettled in Pittsburgh with
    around 200 people
  • Service providers knew resettlement would be
    difficult because of
  • Large family size
  • Young population
  • Polygyny widely practiced
  • 75 of population is women and children
  • Preliterate population
  • Prior existence as rural subsistence farmers

5
Choosing the Topic
  • Volunteered as an English as a Second Language
    (ESL) tutor for two refugee families previously
    1999-2001
  • Have tutored a Somali Bantu family for the last 2
    and a half years
  • As someone on periphery of Somali Bantu and
    service provider community, I heard rumors of
    poor service provision
  • Decided to do an evaluation of the services the
    Bantus have received through the resettlement
    process in Pittsburgh
  • Research goal Improvement in services for the
    Somali Bantus
  • Secondary goal Improvement in resettlement
    services for future refugees
  • Came up with a research question
  • Got IRB approval

6
Research Methodology
  • Grounded theory approach
  • Glaser and Strauss (1967) through work with dying
    patients in hospitals
  • Followed Charmaz (2002, 2006) who details
    grounded theory within the constructivist, or
    interpretivist paradigm
  • Researcher is a product of time and place
  • Research is a product of the interaction between
    researcher and participants

7
Research Logistics
  • Interviews
  • 24 planned, 13 conducted
  • Face-to-face, digitally recorded between January
    and March 2007
  • One interview was not recorded at participants
    request, notes were taken instead
  • Interviews lasted 35 to 90 minutes
  • Sampling
  • Somali Bantus
  • Snowball
  • Service Providers
  • Theoretical/purposeful
  • Analysis
  • Constant comparison, review of each transcript at
    least four times
  • Coded in three stages codes, categories, themes
  • Memoing initial impressions then longer more
    substantive pieces

8
Changing Research Questions
  • Original research question What are the quality
    and completeness of resettlement services
    provided to Somali refugees in Pittsburgh,
    according to both the Somalis, and to key
    informants from service provision agencies?
  • With a further question Is there any difference
    between the Somalis and the agencies regarding
    their services?
  • As interviews proceeded, realized this was not
    the question I meant to ask
  • New question How has the process of resettlement
    been viewed by the Somali Bantus as well as by
    the service providers?

9
Changing Numbers
  • Planned to interview 14 Somali Bantus, 7 of each
    sex and 10 service providers in three months
  • Thought I had entrée into the community because
    of the work I had been doing with a particular
    family for 2 and one half years
  • Entrée with one family was not enough
  • Was very nicely stalled on being introduced to
    other Somali Bantus
  • Interviewed four Somali Bantus and 9 service
    providers
  • Three Somali Bantus agreed to be interviewed and
    then, very nicely, refused to set times

10
Results Service Providers
  • Service providers included
  • Three people working in literacy programs
  • Three people working in the primary resettlement
    agency
  • Three people from advocacy agencies
  • Five administrators and four direct service
    providers
  • Questions focused on
  • Services provided (job descriptions)
  • Participants thoughts about working with the
    Somali Bantus
  • Collaboration efforts

11
Service Providers Working with the Somali Bantus
  • Challenging
  • Everyone mentioned how difficult it was working
    with the Somali Bantus due to
  • Language
  • Rural, farming backgrounds
  • Large families
  • I give them a lot of credit
  • All providers agreed
  • Theyre doing good
  • Theyve come a long way

12
Service Providers Collaboration
  • Almost no formal collaboration exists
  • Informal collaboration is necessarily ad hoc
  • Participant responses to collaborating
  • Yes (1)
  • Sort of (5)
  • No (2)
  • Half of participants believe lack of
    collaboration is negative
  • Contentious collaboration based on
  • Personality differences
  • Turf battles
  • Somali Bantus as resettlement agencys
    responsibility
  • Toes being stepped on/duplication of services
  • Need of the Somali Bantus drove much of the
    turf battles
  • Effect on the Somali Bantus
  • Duplication of services
  • Lack of reliable information sources

13
Results and DiscussionSomali Bantus
  • Questions focused on
  • Relationship with service provision agencies
  • Ease of adjusting to new life in Pittsburgh
  • Ability to navigate the system
  • Very quickly became clear the interviews
    themselves were data, not just what was said
  • Language was a barrier
  • Two interviewees used an interpreter
  • Interviews are means by which authority figures
    control services
  • UNHCR in refugee camps, provides basic
    necessities including food
  • USCIS, designates people as refugees eligible for
    resettlement
  • Local agencies, provide services based on stated
    need
  • No context to understand research

14
Somali BantusEnglish Language Skills
  • Lack of language skills equals lack of ability to
    control conversation
  • Especially problematic at beginning of
    resettlement process with only one interpreter
    available in Pittsburghall of the Somali Bantus
    had to trust that this one person was speaking
    for them in the way they wanted
  • Everything is good and everyone is nice
  • Indication of both lack of control over situation
    and perception of my ability to control service
    provision
  • 1 interviewee with very good English skills
    registered protest about resettlement process
  • Sign of ability to control the conversation and
    stake a claim for what is right

15
Somali BantusPersonal Agency
  • Personal agency
  • Concept from social cognitive theory
  • Judgments and actions are partly
    self-determinedpeople can effect change in
    themselves
  • Three modes of personal agency
  • Direct personal agency
  • Proxy agency
  • Collective agency
  • Somali Bantus have historically not be able to
    exercise personal agency
  • Fleeing homes
  • Living in camps
  • Being resettled in the U. S.
  • Third choice after asking to resettle in Tanzania
    and Mozambique

16
Somali BantusNavigating the System
  • Navigation of bureaucratic system is impossible
    without language skills
  • Personal agency is therefore gone
  • Proxy agency can exist
  • Difficult in Pittsburgh with history of
    non-collaboration between service providers
  • Collective agency was initially difficult, more
    established now
  • Who do you ask for help?
  • Interviews with minimal English skills
    caseworker
  • Interviewees with English language skills It
    depends

17
Evaluative Statements of Resettlement Process in
Pittsburgh
  • Research turned from evaluative to exploratory
  • Volunteers responded more quickly and completely
    to problems
  • Resettlement agency is constrained by contract
    requirements
  • Resettlement system is flawed

18
Challenges to Research with Refugees
  • Research as an outsider
  • Less a problem with service providers
  • Definite problem with Somali Bantus
  • Language
  • No linguistic ability to make Somali Bantus feel
    comfortable and in control
  • Did not want to recruit an interpreter from
    outside the community
  • Considerations for future research
  • Longitudinal study for long-term adjustment and
    integration
  • Language
  • Re-think interview method focus groups might
    work better with such a community-oriented
    culture
  • Include wider variety of service providers
  • Schools and hospitals

19
Recommendations
  • Reassess interactions with other agencies
  • Build collaborative initiative along BNAC lines
    (based on previous research)
  • Diversify funding to lessen contract-associated
    constraints in providing services
  • Somali Bantu organization consider setting up as
    a non-profit
  • Becomes face of Somali Bantu community in
    relation to outside groups

20
Bibliography
  • Besteman, C. and L. V. Cassanelli. (1996).
    Introduction Politics and Production in Southern
    Somalia. In C. Besteman and L. V. Cassanelli
    (Ed.), The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia
    The War Behind the War (pp. 3-12). Boulder, CO
    Westview Press.
  • Campbell, P. J., D. Kreisberg-Voss, J.
    Sobrepena. (1993). The UNHCR and the
    International Refugee Protection System
    Resources and Responses. In P. W. Van Arsdale
    (Ed.), Refugee Empowerment and Organizational
    Change (pp. 155-178). Arlington, Va American
    Anthropological Association.
  • Cassanelli, L. V. (1996). Explaining the Somali
    Crisis. In C. Besteman and L. V. Cassanelli
    (Eds.), The Struggle for Land in Southern
    Somalia The War Behind the War (pp. 29-46).
    Boulder, CO Westview Press.
  • Charmaz, K. (2002). Qualitative Interviewing and
    Grounded Theory Analysis. In J. F. Gubrium and
    J. A. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of Interview
    Research Context and Method. (pp. 675-694).
    Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications.
  • --------. (2006). Constructing Grounded Theory.
    London Sage Publications.
  • McSpadden, L A. (1993). Resettlement for Status
    Quo or Status Mobility Ethiopian and Eritrean
    Refugees in the Western United States. In P. W.
    Van Arsdale (Ed.), Refugee Empowerment and
    Organizational Change A Systems Perspective (pp.
    15-36). Arlington, VA American Anthropological
    Association.
  • McSpadden, L. A. (1998). I Must Have My Rights!
    The Presence of State Power in the Resettlement
    of Ethiopian and Eritrean Refugees. In R. M.
    Krulfeld and J L. MacDonald (Eds.), Power,
    Ethics, and Human Rights Anthropological Studies
    of Refugee research and Action (pp. 147-172).
    Lanham, MD Rowman Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
  • Temple, B. and R. Edwards. (2006). Limited
    Exchanges Approaches To Involving People Who Do
    Not Speak English in Research and Service
    Development. In B. Temple and R. Moran (Eds.),
    Doing Research With Refugees Issues and
    Guidelines (pp. 37-54). Bristol, UK The Policy
    Press.
  • Tollefson, J. W. (1989). Educating for Employment
    in Programs for Southeast Asian Refugees A
    Review of Research. TESOL Quarterly, 23(2),
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  • Van Lehman, D and O. Eno. (2002). The Somali
    Bantu Their History and Culture. Center for
    Applied Linguistics in cooperation with Bureau of
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    Department of State. Retrieved February 20, 2007
    http//www.cal.org/co/bantu/sbtoc.html
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