Title: Somali Bantus in Pittsburgh: An Adventure in Qualitative Research
1Somali 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
2Background
- 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
3Somali 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
4Somali 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
5Choosing 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
6Research 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
7Research 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
8Changing 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?
9Changing 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
10Results 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
11Service 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
12Service 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
13Results 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
14Somali 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
15Somali 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
16Somali 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
17Evaluative 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
18Challenges 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
19Recommendations
- 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
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