Three francophone writers from East Africa: William J. F. Syad, Daher Ahmed Farah, and Abdourahman A. Waberi, caravaners of words

This study examines nationalism and the figure of the nomad in the works of three Francophone writers from Djibouti: William J. F. Syad, Daher Ahmed Farah, and Abdourahman A. Waberi. Through close readings, this study examines the ways in which each writer refers to the mythical nomad of the Somali nationalist imagination. As the sons and grandsons of ethnic Somali nomads and "semi-nomads," Syad, Farah, and Waberi all claim the nomad as a primordial intellectual necessity despite or because of the fact that they themselves are no longer nomads. This figure of the nomad is examined as it corresponds with or contradicts nationalism, the civil wars in Somalia and Djibouti, the dead-ends of political corruption and tribalism, the general instability and hardship of dictatorships, neo-colonialism, and globalization.;Defined as the seasonal movement from place to place within a well-defined territory, nomadism as it is practiced by Somali pastoralists is contrasted with the so-called "rhizomatic nomadology" popularized by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in their book, Mille Plateaux. The figure of the nomad as he appears in the works of the three writers studied here is rather rooted in tradition because of his physical attachment to the land. While for Syad, Farah and Waberi, the nomad often symbolizes the dignity of an identity that was lost in colonial times, these writers themselves have experienced exile, immigration and diaspora, and have themselves paradoxically become "rootless" nomads who nevertheless continue to seek the pure cultural ideal that the "traditional" nomad represents.;This study also examines the ways in which Syad, Farah and Waberi displace the confines of Francophone African literature from West to East Africa by using French (the language of the former colonizer) to write their own stories so that they can be read by non-Somalis. They therefore expand global knowledge and understanding of the Horn of Africa while continuing to speak to Somalis and Djiboutians as well.