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Cassanelli argues that the Scramble for Africa not only politically divided the Somali peninsula into five territories but also led to an intellectual partition in Western scholarship on the region. Each colonial power (Britain, Italy, France) produced knowledge about “their” Somali subjects within separate linguistic and academic traditions, creating fragmented colonial identities.
Before European colonization, knowledge about Somalis was more cosmopolitan, with travellers from various European nations contributing to a shared (though sometimes flawed) understanding of Somalis as a unified people. However, under colonial rule, research became siloed—British, Italian, and French scholars rarely engaged with each other’s work, leading to disconnected national scholarly traditions.
Though modern Somali Studies has revived multinational collaboration, legacies of colonial-era fragmentation persist, such as limited cross-cultural citation between scholars in different language traditions. This intellectual division had lasting consequences, as colonial researchers relied on biased administrative reports and ethnographies, shaping enduring but uneven interpretations of Somali society.
Key Points:
• Political & Intellectual Partition: Colonial borders created separate scholarly traditions.
• Pre-Colonial Cosmopolitanism: Early travellers (German, French, British, etc.) shared knowledge across nations.
• Colonial Fragmentation: Researchers worked in isolation, reinforcing national biases.
• Modern Legacy: Somali Studies remains influenced by these colonial divisions.
Cassanelli highlights how knowledge production mirrored political domination, with lasting effects on academic and cultural perceptions of Somalis.