This article explores ongoing return migration to Somaliland within a gendered perspective and sees it as a distinctly male practice. Whereas many studies of gender and migration focus primarily on women, this article unfolds practices and perceptions of masculinity among Somaliland male return migrants. Somali notions of masculinity, virility and potency have been challenged as a result of the civil war and global dispersal of Somalis. In the article it is argued that return migration from Western countries can be seen as a way of recreating lost images of masculinity and femininity. Male returnees express their masculinity in installing themselves as the potent agents of change and penetration of the purified, feminised and virgin homeland. The article argues that the actual circumcision of the male and the female body, that plays a fundamental role in the establishment of categorically clear and opposed gender categories, is replaced by a symbolic or more abstract circumcision of the diaspora and homeland.

The article argues that khat has both negative and positive effects on Somaliland society. Comparing the role of khat in Somaliland with khat in Puntland and South-central Somalia it is clear that khat in itself does not determine if it contributes to state building and peace, or state failure and violence. Rather, it is the socio-cultural, political and historical context in which it is consumed that determines its larger societal effects. A nuanced analysis of the positive and negative aspects of khat that builds on local perceptions and practices is necessary in order to work with khat from a regulatory and developmental perspective.

In this paper, I explore the links between migration and development in Tanzania and the formation of migration–development policies. I argue that current remittance and diaspora policies are not based on knowledge of the transnational practices of the existing diaspora but, rather, on general notions of remittances and diasporas that are circulated by international development institutions. I also argue that although migration–development policies arouse great optimism among some Tanzanian government officials and leading politicians, the use of remittances and the diaspora as vehicles for development and economic growth in fact collides with other policy considerations. Analytically, in this paper I examine the cultural values and ideas embedded in remittance and diaspora policy formation. I draw on the study of the religious movements known as “cargo cults”, to examine the emergence of Tanzanian migration–development policies and argue that there are striking similarities between remittance and diaspora policy formation and cargo cults. Most importantly, they both express belief in the existence of an external transformative power, with development and change seen as coming from the outside rather than from within. Cargo cults and remittance policies also share a sense of local ownership over a flow of resources emanating from the outside, and they both emphasize technical solutions and communication when trying to attract wealth back to local communities. I also use the analysis of cargo cults to understand why such optimism surrounds remittance and diaspora policies in Tanzania. Overall, in this paper I add to our understanding of the links between migration and development in Tanzania, and to our understanding of the difficulties faced by poor developing countries in effectively formulating and implementing migration–development policies.

This article explores the return of the Western Somaliland diaspora to the independent yet internationally unrecognised Republic of Somaliland. It focuses on one particular group of returnees, a relatively well-educated group of 'professionals', who position themselves as modern political subjects through a critique of the mild stimulant khat which is consumed daily by the large majority of Somaliland adult males. The paper shows how the unregulated and widespread consumption of khat is used by 'professionals' to pinpoint the shortcomings of the political leadership and to present themselves as more legitimate political leaders of Somaliland. Moreover, khat is used by 'professionals' to disqualify consumers as legitimate political subjects and citizens of Somaliland, as it nurtures clan identities and leads to passivity*seen as incompatible with the ideals of the nation-state.

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