Aman: The Story of a Somali Girl

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Mar 24, 2010 - Biography & Autobiography - 368 pages

This is the extraordinary first-person account of a young woman's coming of age in Somalia and her struggles against the obligations and strictures of family and society.  By the time she is nine, Aman has undergone a ritual circumcision ceremony; at eleven, her innocent romance with a white boy leads to a murder; at thirteen she is given away in an arranged marriage to a stranger.  Aman eventually runs away to Mogadishu, where her beauty and rebellious spirit leads her to the decadent demimonde of white colonialists.  Hers is a world in which women are both chattel and freewheeling entrepreneurs, subject to the caprices of male relatives, yet keenly aware of the loopholes that lead to freedom.  Aman is an astonishing history, opening a window onto traditional Somali life and the universal quest for female self-awareness.  

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - HHS-Students - LibraryThing

Reviewed by kelsey (Class of 2014) She lost the love of her life. She lost her family’s respect. She lost her dignity. Aman is the story of a young girl in Somali, Africa, named Aman. Aman recounted ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - HHS-Students - LibraryThing

Reviewed by Nicole (Class of 2014) Most people know very little about what it’s like growing up in another culture. Aman is a true story of a young Somali girl who endured many hardships during her ...

About the author

Aman’s story was originally compiled by Virginia Lee Barnes, an anthropologist (Ph.D., University of Hawaii), and upon her death in 1989, the manuscript was completed by Janice Boddy, distinguished professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto, who added an introduction placing Aman’s story in its proper historical and social context.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Aman: The Story of a Somali Girl
• Contributors: Virginia Lee Barnes, Janice Boddy
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010
• ISBN: 0307554341, 9780307554345
• Length: 368 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / General; Biography & Autobiography / Women; History / Africa / General