Summary:

Minnesota is home to a large Somali diaspora, but also to vibrant Ethiopian, Eritrean, Kenyan, and Sudanese communities. These communities have diverse ethnic groups and come from diverse faith traditions within Islam, Christianity, and indigenous faiths. However, the mainstream media narratives of East African communities are usually reduced to radicalism and poverty, or narrowly focus on one ethnic and religious community. I want to create a space for all East African communities in Minnesota to tell their own stories, their way.

I’d like to start an intercultural magazine called, “Voices from the Horn,” with an accompanying website, Youtube Channel, and Twitter feed. The magazine, published monthly, would be the main piece of my project, and it would be collaborative. I would work with a team of committed writers, who would contribute articles and accompanying photos on East African community issues. The content would range from political commentary, an opinions and editorials page, in-depth features, to profiles of East African leaders/change-makers in the Twin Cities.

The Youtube Channel would add a broadcast element by including video footage of some of the more interesting interviews and visuals. The Facebook and Twitter pages would provide a social media aspect in order to engage with youth and diverse communities online and statewide.

The purpose of "Voices of the Horn" is:
1) To create a sustainable, safe space where people of diverse ages and backgrounds, East African or not, can learn from each other;
2) To empower East African youth & citizen journalists by challenging them to use new media platforms in order to better represent their cultures, and engage with the changing face of new media;
3) To provide an outlet for fair, accurate and critical representations of East African communities in Minnesota as well as in Africa;
4) To provide alternative, contextualized, holistic and nuanced viewpoints about East Africans in Minnesota.