Talk:Rageh Omaar

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The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- -- Thesocialistesq/M.Lesocialiste 21:16, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

This Wikipedia page has Rageh Omaar born in Mogadishu. That contrasts with this BBC report apparently written by him "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/6458377.stm" "I was born in Somaliland, the self-declared republic in the north of Somalia, where my relatives still live" He was indeed very young at the time and I've met many more aged Somalis who do not know their birthdates but never any with uncertainty of hundreds of miles about the place.SilasW 20:25, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

I do not know where Rageh Omaar was born. I made the above note of the inconsistency and I included the pointer "See talk". "Mogadishu" also occurs on the back cover of one of his books. (My experience in the Somalilands was that one often did not give a correct initial reply lest somehow one was put at a disadvantage. I doubt if Rageh is indulging in such caginess.) Whoever changed "Mogadishu" to "Hargeisa" at the start of the article (and that person seems to be a frequent Wikipedia modifier) erred in two ways: 1. "See Talk" was not deleted when my "possibly Mogadishu, see Talk" was altered to "Hargeisa, see Talk" 2. The second paragraph now contradicts the first. Wikipedia needs well sourced facts carefully presented. SilasW 17:21, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

SOMALIS' NAMES The rest of us seem unable to understand that others do things differently. The article refers to "Omaar" but that is not the subject's name. His name is Rageh. Somalis do not have surnames, except when bureaucracy and expediency force them on them. Rageh Omaar is "Rageh son of Omaar" or Omaar's Rageh. To give an extended possible example: Ali Ahmed Mohamed is Ali s/o Ahmed s/o Mohamed and so on as far as needed to define the person unequivocally in the circumstances. Rageh and Omaar are not the commonest Somali names but a string of common names may need four though Somalis can quote a lineage of 12 or 20. (I mention, only to say that I do not, the complication of nicknames.) That works while the easiest English equivalent Z's Y's X's.........B's A could not as the most distant (and so for personal naming the least important comes) first.SilasW 18:04, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Don't the "correctors" of Wikipedia just enjoy typing in their hurried "corrections"! 18 March I noted a discrepency between the Wikipedia entry and a published source for Rageh Omaar's birthplace. Was it Mogadishu or Hargeisa? Someone jumped in and changed carelessly just one Mogadishu to Hargeisa. 27 March I pointed out that there was still an unchanged Mogadishu. By today the "new" Hargeisa has been replaced by Muqadisho with the second reference to Mogadishu spelled so. The English spelling is Mogadishu, the Italian is Mogadiscio, the Somali is Muqdisho (I think Google showed 110,000 prefering "Muqdisho" against 44 who go for "Muqadisho"). There is some elasticity in Somali spelling (most days even with no knowledge of the language you can spot differences between the headlines and the text in the BBC Somali pages) but Wikipedia should have consistency. What should one write for Mog? It would be weird to write "Roma" in a normal English reference to the capital of Italy. The more one sees the less one trusts Wikipedia. SilasW 19:44, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Programme on Muhammed

On July 11 2011, Omaar started a programme on BBC Four on the life of Muhammed. This ought to be added to the section on his television work. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 15:23, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

I see some one has now added it - thanks a million! ACEOREVIVED (talk) 23:08, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Rageh Omar writes about his black identity

In his autobiographical book, "Only Half of Me: Being a Muslim in Britain", journalist Rageh Omar writes, "The idea of Somalia as a newly independent black African nation was at the heart of the politics of the country, and to mark this my parents gave me the indigenous old Somali name of Rageh." Clearly, in Rageh's opinion, not only his parents, but himself and the whole of Somalia conceive of themselves as a 'black African nation'. For this reason, I shall be restoring the category "Black British writers" and checking to make sure that this article does not attempt to erase Rageh and his family's clear choice to self-identify as black people. Ackees (talk) 22:58, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

He is referring to skin color, not to race. Somalis (and Habesha) typically distinguish themselves racially from Black Africans. They refer to themselves racially as jileec, and to Black Africans as jareer [1]. That category is also up for deletion here. Middayexpress (talk) 23:20, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Your comments are irrelevant. Rageh Omar used the English word 'black' to refer to himself, his family and the entire Somali nation. This means that Omar self-identifies as a black person. Various OR theories about 'racial belonging', 'distinguishing themselves' etc, are completely irrelevant. The term 'skin colour' does not occur in the quoted phrase, and that would be silly as Omar's skin colour is patently not literally 'black' - any more than Muhammad Ali's is. 'Black British' is not a racial definition, nor a genetic code, nor a 'clan', 'tribe' or 'ethnicity'. It is not a language group, a religion or even a census category. It is a social identity, fluid, dynamic and self-expressive. Which is why I will reinstate the Academically valid category. Continue to revert this well-sourced edit and I shall report you for edit-warring. Ackees (talk) 00:43, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Apologies, my references on the cat category delete discussion page were poorly linked, and have now been fixed.Ackees (talk) 00:51, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

You can believe that if you wish. However, the fact remains that he is referring to dark skin color, not to race. Case in point, Rageh Omaar self-identifies as an Arab journalist and has been interviewed in that capacity too (c.f. [2]). Middayexpress (talk) 11:47, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Nowhere in that link does Omaar identify as an Arab. The article is about Arab journalism, Arab journalists and and Arab-owned TV station, so yes, the term Arab appears often. But you are mis-reading if you think that he claims to be 'an Arab'. Omaar has always been clear that he is Somali, while recognising that their are links and commonalities between the peoples. But, WP:FRINGE obsessions with 'race' and 'skin colour' as some kind of Apartheid-era scheme of rigid boundaries and demarcations is inappropriate. When people, such as Omaar, identify as 'black' they are not necessarily abandoning other identities (such as Somali, or British) they are embracing a further, nuanced complex series of social identities.

You are welcome to believe that as well. The fact remains, though, that Omaar is commenting in his capacity as a journalist from the Arab world (Somalia is in the Arab League, like the North African countries). He also won the Arab Media Watch Award for excellence in journalism [3]. Middayexpress (talk) 19:46, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

References

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See Also

The See also section ought to come right at the end of the article, even after the Links section; especially since it currently concerns another author entirely.

Nuttyskin (talk) 14:12, 16 July 2020 (UTC)