“Home Is Where Your Root Is”: Place Making, Belonging, and Community Building among Somalis in Chicago

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the notion of home as it relates to place making, belonging, and community building. Using a phenomenological method of inquiry, data were gathered through in-depth qualitative interviews with 15 Somali Americans and subjected to transcendental phenomenological analyses. Three major themes were found: (1) the meaning of community: being Somali and Muslim; (2) “We help each other. We are connected”; and (3) “Home is where your root is.” The study findings highlight how Somali participants drew on their faith and culture as foundational to community building and drew on acts of mutual giving and receiving to bind them together even as subjective feelings of “home” could be place based or could transcend geography. Although sometimes disrupted by bias and discrimination, Somalis persevered in defining themselves and pursuing a sense of belonging both within their own community and in the city at large. This study offers an expansive and dynamic view of the meaning of place making, community building, and belonging (home) in the lives of displaced refugees. Both research and practice can benefit from special attention given to the “natural” formation of refugee communities and their role in enhancing adjustment to life in a new land.

Ambiguous loss of home: Syrian refugees and the process of losing and remaking home

“…This is quizzical given that the single experience unifying refugees is that of uprooting from home and we commonly speak of such populations as dis placed ( Papadopoulos, 2018 ). Findings from this study, therefore, join other work in advocating for more environmentally oriented, place-based research and placemaking practices, which can inspire services and programs that more fully attend to a holistic view of people within their environments, and a multidimensional conceptualization of “home” ( Magan and Padgett, 2021 ; Kemp, 2009 ).…”

Mental Health Care With Refugee Families: A Transnational Collectivist Approach

“…This is especially true for families that come from collectivist cultures. In our practice and research, we found that family and community networks play a significant role in the lives of refugee individuals (Gonzalez Benson & Burnett, 2021; Gonzalez Benson et al, 2022; Magan & Padgett, 2021; Magan et al, 2022). Family members may include not only immediate family members—those within close location and proximity to each other—but also members who reside in other countries.…”

“…Third, because faith and culture are shared and often central to the development of the collective sense of self (Magan & Padgett, 2021), mental health services should take into account the role of faith and culture. Studies have shown that a holistic approach to mental health interventions and services for refugee populations cannot be employed without centering the role of faith and culture (Chaze et al, 2015; Magan et al, 2022).…”

Psychology of home and Ukrainian migrants’ socio-psychological adaptation abroad

“…SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND Scientific background. The creation of home is considered to be linked with group belonging, the creation of place, and the creation of community, based on a unifying faith and culture that facilitates adjustment to life in a new land (Madan, Padgett, 2021). The subjective sense of "home" can be related to a place or can transcend geography, in which case the formation of refugee communities becomes important.…”