# The Shaping of Somali Society (1982) by Lee V. Cassanelli: Somali history from 1600 to 1900

> Lee V. Cassanelli's The Shaping of Somali Society (1982): its fieldwork and sources, its chapters on the Ajuran, Islam and trade, and how historians reviewed it.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/books/the-shaping-of-somali-society-cassanelli/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
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## The book

**The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900** is by **Lee V. Cassanelli**, an American historian of Africa. It was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in Philadelphia in 1982, with 311 pages, in a series on ethnohistory ([HRAF World Cultures](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mo04/documents/033); [Africa review listing](https://core-prod.cambridgecore.org/core/journals/africa/article/lee-v-cassanelli-the-shaping-of-somali-society-reconstructing-the-history-of-a-pastoral-people-16001900-ethnohistory-series-editors-anthony-f-c-wallace-and-lee-v-cassanelli-philadelphia-university-of-pennsylvania-press-1982-328-pp-2500/F6AD2A72D914780E411BF1E8E31FDF50)). The publisher describes it as the first book-length study of Somalia's history before colonial rule ([Bokus, publisher description](https://www.bokus.com/bok/9780812278323/shaping-of-somali-society)).

## Its sources

Cassanelli carried out fieldwork in Somalia from December 1970 to November 1971 and again from September to December 1977 ([HRAF World Cultures](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mo04/documents/033)). Few written records survive for the Somali interior in this period, and the book draws on Somali historical traditions as well as written sources; its chapter on the Ajuran, for example, compares what is known of them in history with how they are remembered in tradition.

## What it covers

The book first describes Somali society as it stood at the start of the twentieth century: differences between regions, ways of making a living, and how society and politics were organised. It then reviews how Somali history had been written in the twentieth century and the debates that shaped it. The rest of the book follows the processes that shaped Somali society ([HRAF World Cultures](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mo04/documents/033)):

- **Pastoral power.** A chapter titled "Pastoral Power: The [Ajuraan](/en/society/ajuuraan/) in History and Tradition" studies the Ajuran, the dynasty that controlled much of the [Shabelle](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/) valley and the southern coast for several centuries. See [The Ajuran state](/en/history/ajuran-state/).
- **Islam in history.** The role of Sufi saints and religious leaders in Somali society. See [Sufi orders in Somalia](/en/society/sufi-orders-in-somalia/).
- **Commerce and the economy.** Regional sultanates and the long-distance caravan trade that linked the interior with the Benadir ports ([Bokus](https://www.bokus.com/bok/9780812278323/shaping-of-somali-society)). See [The Geledi sultanate](/en/history/geledi-sultanate/).
- **Colonial occupation.** How Somali communities responded to the arrival of European colonial rule at the end of the nineteenth century ([HRAF World Cultures](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mo04/documents/033)).

Cassanelli explains change mainly through the resources within the region that different groups could draw on ([HRAF World Cultures](https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/cultures/mo04/documents/033)).

## How it was received

The book was reviewed in 1984 by the historian Edward A. Alpers in the Journal of African History, together with [Said S. Samatar](/en/people/said-samatar/)'s *[Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism](/en/books/oral-poetry-and-somali-nationalism-samatar/)* ([Journal of African History](https://cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/somali-history-and-poetry-the-shaping-of-somali-society-reconstructing-the-history-of-a-pastoral-people-16001900-by-lee-v-cassanelli-philadelphia-university-of-pennsylvania-press-1982-pp-xvi-311-no-price-stated-oral-poetry-and-somali-nationalism-the-case-of-sayyid-mohammad-abdille-hasan-by-said-s-samatar-cambridge-cambridge-university-press-1982-pp-xii-232-1950/0C9164C6539004C2F3D251A0E29E1C0F)), and by the anthropologist Herbert S. Lewis in the journal Africa ([Africa](https://core-prod.cambridgecore.org/core/journals/africa/article/lee-v-cassanelli-the-shaping-of-somali-society-reconstructing-the-history-of-a-pastoral-people-16001900-ethnohistory-series-editors-anthony-f-c-wallace-and-lee-v-cassanelli-philadelphia-university-of-pennsylvania-press-1982-328-pp-2500/F6AD2A72D914780E411BF1E8E31FDF50)).

## Where to read it

- Lending copy: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/shapingofsomalis0000cass)
- In a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=The+Shaping+of+Somali+Society+Cassanelli)

## Related pages

- [Books about Somalis, 1960 to 1990](/en/history/books-about-somalis-1960-1990/)
- [Sultanates, the coast and customary law, 1700s to 1880s](/en/history/sultanates-the-coast-and-customary-law-1700s-1880s/)

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