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The Permissible Outsider

Historian Charles Geshekter Opens Friends of History Lecture Series

On September 28 at 7 pm in PAC 134, history professor Charles Geshekter will kick off this year's Friends of History Lecture Series titled "Building Bridges: Historians View the Construction of Nationality." - Geshekter's talk will be "The Twentieth Century Death of the Somalia Nation: Murder or Suicide?" He will explore what has made Somalia's liberation history -- in this case, independence from Britain and Italy -- different from the rest of Africa's. Somalia is ethnically, racially, and religiously homoge-neous. The transition should have been relatively smooth, yet the central gov-ernment collapsed in 1991, and the coun-try has become "a symbol for chaos, fratricidal violence, an economy of death, and a culture of barbarism."

Geshekter grew up in Barry Levinson's Baltimore in the 1950s (in fact, he was in grade school classes with the famous director of such films as Diner, Tin Men, and Liberty Heights), the son of a small-businessman father and elementary schoolteacher mother. He attended the University of Richmond in Virginia and was active in LBJ's 1964 campaign and the Civil Rights movement. At that time, the college was Baptist and segregated, and African affairs -- the widespread liberation from colonial rule -- were very much in the news. Geshekter was immediately intrigued.

After earning a B.A. in 1965, he attended Howard University, which he loved, for an M.A. in 1966. At nearly all-black How-ard, Geshekter's fascination with African history, especially that of Somalia, "blossomed." He went to UCLA for his doctorate and came to CSU Chico in 1968 as the first professor to develop the curriculum in modern African history.

"I have always felt comfortable in all areas of Africa," Geshekter said. I've had a gift for fluency with language -- and a gift for gab. On that continent, where so much chaos and death have occurred, the people have an indelible sense of optimism and humor, with which I've had an easy compatibility," said Geshekter.

Somalia is in the northeast, the "horn" of Africa. "It's a harsh, semidesert area, one of the poorest," he said. "I'm attracted to the people; they're fiercely independent, unimpressed with others, and egalitarian." He added that even Somalia's patriarchal tradition has been weakening in the past 30 years.

"Somalis are warriors, farmers, and holy men. At least half still practice nomadic pastoralism, while another 15 percent are city or town dwellers," Geshekter said. "They're the poets of Africa." He sighed and then smiling said, "I've often sensed that the Somalis accepted me into their culture, looked after me and my family on many occasions, and it was they -- not I -- who decided I was a permissible outsider who sought to reconstruct parts of their twentieth century history."

The country has only six million people -- and probably a larger number of camels -- in its area the size of Texas. Geshekter said camel meat, only eaten in times of extreme emergency, is gamy and not at all tasty. Camel's milk is stored in wooden containers lined with charcoal for sealing. "It's like nonfat cow's milk di- luted 50 percent with water, heavily salted, curdled, and then left in a smoky room," Geshekter said. "It's ambrosia, though, to Somalis."

As nomads, Somalis must travel lightly, so their main art is the spoken word, especially poetry, "the lightest of all art forms," Geshekter said. "Men are never supposed to shed a tear except on one occasion -- when they're moved by a beautiful piece of poetry (which most often refers to history, landscape, women, and camels)."

The public lecture is free and co-sponsored by the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Department of History, and Humanities Center. A reception will follow. For information, call the Department of History at x5366.

-- Thomas Saxe