Reclaiming African Heritage

This paper explores the historical and structural marginalization of the Gabooye community in Somaliland through the lens of Chinweizu’s Afrocentric decolonial framework. Challenging dominant Somali nationalist narratives and genealogical myths that valorize Arab ancestry and nomadic heritage, the study situates the Gabooye as heirs of pre-Islamic, pre-colonial African civilizations systematically excluded by processes of Arabization, Islamization, Westernization, and internalized hierarchies. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and oral testimonies, the analysis foregrounds the Gabooye’s cultural resilience, politicalagency, and aspirations for equity in a society that continues to deny them full citizenship. By interrogating the epistemic and material legacies of empire and internal complicity, the paper advocates for a radical re-Africanization of Somali identity, one that recognizes the Gabooye not as peripheral victims but as central actors in the struggle for justice, inclusion, and decolonized sovereignty in Somaliland. It concludes by urging policymakers, scholars, and local actors to dismantle inherited taxonomies of exclusion and envision a democratic future wheren the Gabooye are integral to both national belonging and regional Pan-African resurgence.