Experiences of Somalis as a Racialized Refugee Population: Narrative of Migration, Placemaking, and Faith
ACGIS Guest Lecture |Dr. Ifrah Magan (Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work)
Thursday, October 31, 2024 1:30 PM EDT
Zoom Virtual Event
Somali refugees are one of the largest and most visible African refugee groups in the United States. Yet, there is limited scholarship on their overall migration paths and the ways in which their intersectional identities as both Muslim and Black may impact their resettlement and integration in the United States. This presentation will focus on the experiences of Somali refugees in the United States, with particular attention given to how their racialized identities as both Black and Muslim may impact their experiences throughout their migratory journeys. The talk will also highlight the significant role of faith, culture, and placemaking in the migration narrative of Somali refugees. This talk will draw on field data from a community-engaged qualitative research with Somali refugees in Chicago. Implications for policy and mental health practice will be discussed.
About Ifrah Magan:
Dr. Ifrah Magan currently serves as an Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. A qualitative researcher and social worker practitioner, Dr. Magan takes a critical intersectional approach to research exploring how institutional and structural racism and oppression impact the lived experiences of Black, Muslim, and forcibly displaced populations. She draws upon her own lived experiences as a refugee from Somalia coupled with extensive community organizing and practice work with diverse refugee communities in the United States. Dr. Magan was recently awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Equity Scholars for Action (HES4A) grant for her project, “Examining the critical role refugee-led organizations play in shaping health and health equity outcomes.”
Dr. Magan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Community Services from Michigan State University, where she was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. She then went on to receive a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration where she received the Kathryn Davis Peace Award and served as a Child Advocate for unaccompanied undocumented children through the Young Center at the University of Chicago School of Law. She received her doctorate from University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work, where she received the Abraham Lincoln Fellowship and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award.
Dr. Magan is fluent in English, Somali, and Arabic
