Book Launch by Dr. Christina Woolner

In this session we will celebrate the launch of Dr. Christina Woolner’s book Love Songs in Motion: Voicing Intimacy in Somaliland (University of Chicago Press, 2023), an ethnographic account of the social and political lives of love songs in contemporary Somaliland. Taking us from 1950s recordings preserved on dusty cassettes to new releases on YouTube, from intimate domestic music-making and listening spaces to live performances at Somaliland’s first postwar music venue, this book offers an account of love songs in motion that reveals the capacity of music to connect people and feelings across time and space, creating new possibilities for relating to oneself and others. Love Songs in Motion has been described as ‘one of the best ethnographies ever written about an African popular culture genre’ and ‘an instant classic’.

Christina Woolner is a social anthropologist who is interested in the role of popular arts and practices of ‘voicing’ in processes of sociopolitical transformation, with a focus on the music and poetry of Somaliland and its diaspora. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the University of Cambridge and Northumbria University, and recently joined the Kayd Team as Artistic Director. 

The event will be hosted by Amina Isir. Amina, a storyteller committed to celebrating and elevating Somali cultural production. Forever lost in a qaraami song, she beautifully intertwines the past, present, and future to further distill Somali cultural identity. Currently, she produces the ISIRKA podcast, a digital journey exploring identity, culture, and belonging, enriched with GREAT sounds and stories.

Host or Publisher Kayd Somali Arts and Culture