Somali-American Muslin women's use of mediated technology in identity expression

Abstract

This thesis argues that social media give agency to a population of immigrant women within an imagined community—and real community—as they negotiate being both American and Somali Muslims in diaspora. Based on a study of 19 women’s personal Facebook sites—supplemented with interviews, a focus group and ethnographic methods—this project finds that women’s self-presentations reveal attributes that rarely show up in dominant news media coverage. Since little is written about Somali women, documentation of their integration into Minnesota is important to understanding the immigrant process and how online social media play a distinctive role. This study explores how these refugees interpret, re-construct, and try-out their multi-faceted identities as Somali immigrants and American citizens. The project contributes toward a better understanding of immigrant and minority communities and the role social media play in communication and development of ethnic, religious and cultural identities.