Cindy Horst

Dr. Cindy Horst

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Academic Career Length

58Years (1969-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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7 April 2014 in Ethnicities
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
Giulia SinattiGiulia Sinatti
Giulia Sinatti
CHCindy Horst
Cindy Horst
This article analyses how European governments and civil society actors engage diasporas in Europe as agents for the development of their countries of origin. Through a critical examination of diaspora engagement discourse and practice in various European countries, we identify three implicit understandings. First, development is conceived of as the planned activities of Western professional development actors; second, diasporas are seen as actual communities rooted in a national ‘home’ and sharing a group identity; and third, migration is regarded as binary mobility. We argue that these interpretations are informed by notions of ethnic or national rootedness in given places and that they lead to further assumptions about why, and in pursuit of what goals, diasporas engage. We conclude that such essentialized understandings limit the potential of diaspora engagement as a means of innovating the development industry by broadening understandings of what development entails and how it can be done.
6 March 2006 in Journal of Refugee Studies
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Journal Article
Closed access
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CHCindy Horst
Cindy Horst
The Somali word buufis is commonly used in the Kenyan refugee camps of Dadaab, referring to a person's dream of resettlement. It is an ambiguous phenomenon, bringing hope and remittances into the camps but also removing investments from the region and, when the dream cannot be reached, sometimes having adverse psychological effects. Buufis is triggered by the fact that, due to transnational flows of remittances and information, refugees in remote camps like Dadaab can compare their lives in the camps to those of others elsewhere. This illustrates how the opportunities, constraints, hopes and dreams that refugees experience locally are often determined by transnational factors. Whereas the resettlement dreams analysed in this article are thus likely to occur in other contexts as well, it is argued that they are more intense and elaborate amongst refugee communities with a strong culture of migration, like the Somalis.
1 June 2012 in International Migration Review
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
JCJørgen Carling
Jørgen Carling
MEMarta Bivand Erdal
Marta Bivand Erdal
CHCindy Horst
Cindy Horst
This article examines how conflict in the country of origin interacts with other factors in shaping migrants’ remittance-sending practices. Our data come from a survey of 10 immigrant groups in Norway and semi-structured interviews with Somali and Pakistani remittance-senders and receivers. First, we conduct an in-depth comparison to explore the differences in how Somali and Pakistani migrants decide about remittance-sending. Second, we use survey data on all 10 migrant groups to evaluate whether the differences that are not explained by socioeconomic characteristics, may partly reflect whether or not there is ongoing conflict in the country of origin. In our analyses we differentiate between (1) the effect of migrants’ capacity to remit and their prioritizing of local and transnational expenditures, and (2) the impact of state collapse and absence of human security on migrants’ and refugees’ desire to remit. We find that ongoing conflict in the country of origin exerts an upward pressure on remittance-sending.
23 August 2017 in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
CHCindy Horst
Cindy Horst
Civic participation today is increasingly multi-sited, operating in, between and across specific locations. Growing numbers of people experience multi-sited embeddedness, which I understand both in the sense of belonging to and engaging in multiple communities. In this article, I focus on those who left Somalia as young children or were born to Somali parents in exile, and ask what motivates these young people to return or turn to the Somali region. What experiences shape their civic engagement and where do they engage? How does their hybrid, multi-sited or embedded sense of identity impact their engagement in several locations? And how does that engagement affect their sense of identity? The article is based on 80 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions in Garowe, Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Oslo and the Twin Cities. Informants stayed for shorter or longer durations in the Somali region but lived for the larger part of their lives in Norway or the United States. I illustrate how young people’s civic engagement impact feelings of belonging as much as their sense of belonging influences their civic actions. In this article, I argue for non-binary ways of studying multi-sited embeddedness that do justice to diaspora youth’s everyday negotiations.
2 January 2019 in Conflict, Security & Development
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Journal Article
Open access
AMAhmed M. Musa
Ahmed M. Musa
CHCindy Horst
Cindy Horst
Unrecognised internationally, Somaliland operates as a hybrid political order where a range of state and non-state entities provide security, representation and social services. Local business elites have impacted state formation after war by lobbying against a range of regulations, providing the government with loans and contributions rather than paying sufficient taxes, and by hindering the development of sound financial institutions. The success of such activities has led to de facto protectionism, where foreign ventures have had limited access to the Somaliland market. While such protectionism may have negatively impacted economic development and growth opportunities, recent engagements by multinational corporations in the Berbera port suggest that foreign private investments risk sparking violent conflict. In contrast, domestic businessmen have played a role in preventing or resolving violent conflict at crucial stages in Somaliland’s recent history. Based on fieldwork in Somaliland, we argue that the impact of international corporate actors in post-war contexts needs to be understood in light of local culture and power dynamics, in which the political and economic roles of local business elites are central.
11 July 2013 in African Studies
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
CHCindy Horst
Cindy Horst
The potential for productive collaboration between European relief and development actors, on the one hand, and refugee diasporas from the Horn of Africa, on the other, has been seriously undermined by misunderstandings about the apolitical role diasporas ought to have. This article, which is based on findings from multi-sited research on diasporas from the Horn of Africa in Europe, analyses how current diaspora discourse and practice depoliticises refugee diasporas by demanding that they adhere to the principles of impartiality, neutrality and unity. Instead of seeking to understand diaspora engagement in terms of the so-called migration-development nexus, I argue in favour of focusing on such engagement as a form of civic participation in the country of settlement: engaged European citizens from the Horn of Africa give voice to societal concerns and organise solidarity in their countries of origin. Through their actions, they take an active role in public (foreign) affairs in their countries of settlement.