People, Power and Peace: The Public Obsessions of Jamal Gabobe and Mohamud Siad Togane

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the image of Siad Barre in Jamal Gabobe's and Mohamud S. Togane's poems and historicizes a decisive era in modern Somali history: the period between 1969 and 1990 during which Siad Barre ruled over Somalia. These poems explore the dictatorial nature of Barre's rule and the mechanisms by which he managed to stay in power. The personal trauma, which is expressed in some poems, is used as a foundation for Somalis' collective renaissance. By the act of writing and voicing their pain, the tormented empower themselves and shed light on a dark stage of Somali history, giving an inclusive image of the status of Somalis in Barre's and post-Barre's Somalia. Essential questions will be posed and addressed, such as: how did the poems written before the collapse of Barre's regime help Somalis fight dictatorship? What is the role of such poems in the construction of a new identity in the post-Barre era? Can they be seen as acts of discursive resistance?