Somali women tell their stories, sharing experiences of love, war, displacement, family, identity, and everyday life.

After civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991, thousands of families fled the country and sought asylum all over the world. Many Somali women carried the responsibility through this catastrophic time for finding safe passage and new homes for their families. Minnesota now holds the largest number of Somali immigrants of any state. Despite many obstacles, Somali women have built new communities here and become business owners, authors, scholars, activists, elected officials, and change-makers. Unfortunately, the rich stories of Somali women are often reduced to cliches of devastation and trauma–or tokenization and exceptionalism. Rarely are these women depicted with the multilayered humanity they deserve.

Daughters of Arraweelo presents, in the women’s own words, the stories of mothers and daughters, teachers and social workers, scientists and medical professionals, lawyers and politicians–all Somali women who have made their marks on Minnesota.

Arraweelo, a legendary queen of Somalia, was a powerful and eccentric ruler, and her name is also used as a disapproving tease for assertive Somali girls. In this book, fourteen remarkable women who share her complexity and charisma demonstrate their insights, humor, and brilliance, telling stories of family, identity, love, war, displacement, and everyday life.