On January 26, 2026, Sociology Department PhD candidate Abdirashid Diriye Kalmoy successfully defended his long-standing dissertation titled “Echoes of War: Politics, Memory, and Belonging in Post-Civil War Somalia” before a committee consisting of Prof. Dr. İrfan Ahmad, Assoc. Prof. Dr. İdlir Lika, Assist. Prof. Ali Kaya, and Assist. Prof. Mashuq Kurt.
In his thesis, Kalmoy examined Somalia’s social structure, which has been shaped by historical processes of civil war, state collapse, migration, and political violence. He provided an in-depth analysis of how these phenomena have impacted the collective memory, political understanding, and sense of belonging of the Somali people.
Abdirashid Diriye Kalmoy’s work goes beyond defining Somalia simply as a “failed state”, instead highlighting the resilience, agency, and complex lived realities of its people. The study reveals how the civil war in Somalia transformed social ties and how violence, while leaving lasting scars, affected trust within society and individual identities. Furthermore, it offers significant findings on how revisionist memory and official historical narratives have shaped the idea of the Somali nation.
Supervised by Prof. Dr. Ramazan Aras, the dissertation aims to give a voice to the Somali people by utilizing ethnographic fieldwork and oral history methods. To this end, it demonstrates how the experiences of violence in the region have transformed the social and political structure.
As Ibn Haldun University, we congratulate Mr. Kalmoy on his success and wish him continued excellence in his future endeavors.
