Indians, Pakistanis and Southeast Asians. Yet, Somali refugees struggle to survive in South Africa. Abdi concentrates less on the harsh conditions of the foreign countries where Somalis live, focusing instead on a range of positive experiences, such as the businesses they established in South Africa, the UAE and the USA. One would not find in these pages the horrors we occasionally see in the news about Somalis in South Africa being burned alive or killed by machete, the Somalis occasionally deported from the USA to war-torn Somalia, or those whose businesses are being shut down in the UAE for various reasons. While briefly mentioning her own reflections in the diaspora and at home, Abdi shows how Somalis in the UAE and South Africa fare better than their counterparts in the USA. These were not essentially refugees, but mostly economic immigrants who fled for better job opportunities. So why are Somalis in the UAE opting to travel to Europe, while those in South Africa are looking to the USA? For immigrants, there are lopsided prospects for a better life in the West (idealized in the Jannah) and the life-long ideal of one day returning ‘home’ (Somalia). In addition, the systems in the host countries determine their relations between one another and with immigrants from elsewhere. In the UAE, for example, men and women work hand in hand, but, in South Africa, they rarely work together or women stay and bear children at home (as tended to be customary among Somalis back home). The two contrasting positions notwithstanding, the fact that Abdi and Bjork deal separately with some crucial patterns and practices of everyday life in the Somali diaspora living in specific countries makes the books indispensable for scholars and students seeking to understand the dislocation of Somali society. That both books include women’s perspectives in their descriptions of the roles of Somalis in the diaspora, and a detailed explanation of how gender power relations affect their interlocutors, is itself commendable. Abdi and Bjork provide a good service to current and future generations of students studying the recent history of the Somali diaspora.

中文翻译：

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Marie Grace Brown，喀土穆之夜：苏丹帝国的时尚与身体政治。斯坦福加州：斯坦福大学出版社（hb US$85 – 978 1 503 60152 9；pb US$25 – 978 1 503 60264 9）。2017, v + 222 页。

印度人、巴基斯坦人和东南亚人。然而，索马里难民在南非挣扎求生。Abdi 较少关注索马里人居住的外国的恶劣条件，而是关注一系列积极的经历，例如他们在南非、阿联酋和美国建立的企业。人们不会在这些页面中找到我们偶尔在新闻中看到的关于南非索马里人被活活烧死或被砍刀杀害、索马里人偶尔从美国被驱逐到饱受战争蹂躏的索马里或那些在阿联酋出于各种原因。在简要提及她自己在侨民和国内的感想时，Abdi 展示了阿联酋和南非的索马里人如何比美国同行更好。这些基本上不是难民，但主要是为了更好的工作机会而逃离的经济移民。那么为什么阿联酋的索马里人选择前往欧洲，而南非的索马里人则选择前往美国呢？对于移民来说，在西方过上更好的生活（以詹纳为理想）和终生“回家”的终生理想（索马里）存在着不平衡的前景。此外，东道国的制度决定了他们彼此之间以及与来自其他地方的移民的关系。例如，在阿联酋，男人和女人手拉手一起工作，但在南非，他们很少一起工作，或者女人留在家里生孩子（这在家乡的索马里人中往往是惯例）。尽管存在两种截然不同的立场，Abdi 和 Bjork 分别处理生活在特定国家的索马里侨民日常生活的一些重要模式和实践，这使得这些书籍对于寻求了解索马里社会混乱的学者和学生来说是必不可少的。这两本书在描述索马里人在侨民中的作用时都包含了妇女的观点，并详细解释了性别权力关系如何影响他们的对话者，这本身就值得称赞。Abdi 和 Bjork 为研究索马里侨民近代史的当代和后代学生提供了良好的服务。对性别权力关系如何影响对话者的详细解释本身就值得称赞。Abdi 和 Bjork 为研究索马里侨民近代史的当代和后代学生提供了良好的服务。对性别权力关系如何影响对话者的详细解释本身就值得称赞。Abdi 和 Bjork 为研究索马里侨民近代史的当代和后代学生提供了良好的服务。