Divided Loyalties

Young Somali Americans and the Lure of Extremism

Joseph Weber

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781611863727
• eBook ISBN:
  9781628954074
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Why do people join violent extremist movements? What attracts so many to fight for terrorist groups like al-Shabab, al-Qaida, and the Islamic State? Journalism professor Joseph Weber answers these questions by examining the case of the more than fifty Somali Americans, mostly young men from Minnesota, who made their way to Somalia or Syria, attempted to get to those countries, aided people who did, or financially backed terrorist groups there. Often defying parents who had fled to the United States seeking safety and prosperity for their children, many of these youths ended up dead, missing, or imprisoned. But for every person who went on or attempted this journey believing they were rising to the defense of Islam, more rejected the temptations of terrorism. What made the difference? The book takes a close look at one man from Minneapolis, the American-born son of a couple who had fled Somalia, who came dangerously close to answering the ISIS call. Abdirahman Abdirashid Bashir's cousins and friends had taken up arms for the group and reached out to him to join them. From 2014 to 2016 he and a dozen friends—some still in their teens—schemed to find ways to get to Syria. Some succeeded. In the end, Bashir made a different choice. Not only did he reject ISIS's call, he decided to work with the FBI to spy on his friends and ultimately to testify against them in court. Drawing on extensive interviews, Weber explains why.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Major Figures
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The Seeds of Jihad
• Chapter 2. A Land of Chaos
• Chapter 3. The First Wave
• Chapter 4. Blind Devotion
• Chapter 5. A Cautionary Tale
• Chapter 6. Don’t Let the Caravan Leave You
• Chapter 7. Why ISIS?
• Chapter 8. A Special Case
• Chapter 9. Peer to Peer
• Chapter 10. A Woman’s Place?
• Chapter 11. Brotherhood
• Chapter 12. The Caravan Beckons Again
• Chapter 13. The Glory of the Shahid
• Chapter 14. Breaking Down
• Chapter 15. A Very Real Threat
• Chapter 16. Straight Out of Hollywood
• Chapter 17. The Backlash
• Chapter 18. The Judge
• Chapter 19. A Closed World?
• Chapter 20. Taking a Hard Look
• Chapter 21. Moving On
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index