McGOWN, Rima Berns, MUSLIMS IN THE DIASPORA: The Somali Communities of London and Toronto

Abstract

MCGOWN,Rima Berns,, MUSLIMS IN THE DIASPORA: The Sanati Communities London and Toronto. Toronto, Ontario: Toronto University Press, 1999, 302 pp., $60.00 hardcover / $24.95 softcover. Reviewed by: RABIBA ZAMAN Rima Berns McGown's book explores the dilemmas and choices of Somalis who have migrated to two major cities in the West: London, U.K., and Toronto, Canada. In her study of this single ethnic community, McGown explores two issues: (1) the Somali immigrants' experience in the West and (2) the transformation of Islam as it is practiced by diaspora Somalis. McGown convincingly argues that a country's political culture is a critical determinant of how immigrants and minorities integrate into its society. Looking at both Canadian and British political cultures, and comparing and contrasting the Somalis' experience in these two countries, McGown found that despite culture clash, loss, and unemployment, Somalis felt less alienated in Toronto than in London. She suggests in her conclusion that Canada was more willing to include ethnic minorities, whereas Britain was by far more resistant. Certainly McGown exhibits profound feelings for her study's participants, and her interaction with them is reflected in the long quotations from interviews. The book could be claimed to be exhaustive of the Somali communities in London and Toronto in 1995. But too many challenging questions remain explored. For example, McGown mentions in the context of Quebec's 1995 referendum, but bypasses its relevance to Somalis. She discusses racism within the context of wearing hejab, but downplays systemic and structural against the Somalis. McGown bases her conclusions about in Canada on this single metropolitan study. Her conclusion that appears to be less apparent in Canada than in Britain is quite problematic; it may allow some readers to generalize that does not exist in big cities in Canada. Certainly many immigrants would contest this statement. And what about small towns in Canada? Readers may also get the idea from McGown's book that secular forces are non-existent among Somali families. Analysis of cultural integration is obviously a key tenet of McGown's book, as she develops an alternative framework of cultural integration by defining the role of political culture. Through discussing Clifford Greetz and Harold Isaacs' primordial position, and reviewing literature from John Porter to Milton Gordon, McGown contributes an important historical overview of the experience of immigrants. She defines the role of political culture in integration, gives a critical view of multiculturalism in Canada according to certain sociologists, outlines Canada's differences from the US, and discusses race relations in the US and the UK. However, while discussing integration and assimilation, she comments: Our immigrants are no longer a product of their birth cultures, nor do they belong entirely to their adopted cultures. They have become something else (p.199). …