Ibrahim Hirsi
271 19th Ave S
Minneapolis,
MN
55455
Ibrahim Hirsi is a Ph.D. Candidate in History. His research and teaching focus on twentieth-century America, U.S. immigration and migration, transnational maritime labor, colonial Africa, and the Black diaspora. His dissertation investigates the lost history of Somali migrant laborers who toiled on British steamships and later settled in the United States and the United Kingdom during the first half of the twentieth century. It traces these workers from pastoral villages in British Somaliland to bustling cities in New York, Michigan, Ohio, Wales, and England. The dissertation situates their journeys and experiences in a broader historical context. For instance, it analyzes the ways in which colonialism facilitated their migrations as well as their integral role in both world wars and the anti-colonial movements in Somalia. Before graduate school, Ibrahim spent nearly a decade reporting on immigration and labor issues in Minnesota. His work has appeared in MinnPost, MPR News, Sahan Journal, The World, and The Nation. He speaks Somali and some Arabic and Swahili and has lived in the Twin Cities since 2005.
Educational Background
- MA: History, University of Minnesota
- BA: Journalism, University of Minnesota
Specialties
- The Black Diaspora
- U.S. Immigration History
- Global Maritime Labor
- 20th-century United States