Somali National Academy of Culture (SNAC), also known as the Somali National Academy of Arts, Sciences and Literature, was an important institution in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

that was responsible for the preservation and exploration of national artifacts and other material of national importance.

Establishment

The Somali National Academy of Culture was created to further the Somali cultural repository by collecting and researching all things Somali. In 1969, nine years after the country achieved independence, the Somali central government began many national development projects. SNAC was born out of the 1972 government decree, which called for a standard orthography for the

Somali language Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethio ...

. The Somali National Academy and its supporting institutions played an important role when it came to researching and understanding Somali

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

. The center's first president was the Somali

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

who invented the Somali National Script, Shire Jama Ahmed.

Area of responsibility

Somali National Academy of Culture collected and stored volumes of material which was previously in the hands of private individuals. SNAC administration and staff had direct collaborations with other higher learning institutions such as the Gaheyr and Lafoole universities. Garhey University later became the Somalia National University (Jaamacada Ummada Soomaaliyeed). Public institutions in Mogadishu including the Somali National University, received significant improvements and expansion throughout the 1970s and 80s. There were a number of Somali government ministries which housed material for the Somali National Academy of Culture. These ministries included education (Waxbarashada), National Guidance Hanuuninta), higher education (Tacliinta Sare), Movie Agency (Wakaalada Filimada) and other government centers.

Use as a research center

The Somali National Academy of Sciences, Arts and Culture presented any new material among other places, at either the National Theatre (Tiyaatarka Qaranka) or

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

(Madxafka Qaranka), both situated in

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

. University graduates went to do postgraduate work at the National Academy. I.M. Lewis, ''A Pastoral Democracy: A study of Pastoralis and politics among....'', (Hamburg, 1999, prevace to the 19982 The National Academy contributed in the famous Literacy Campaign in Somalia, where it released and collected new volumes of recorded material, movies, paintings and posters. Later on, by the mid 1970s, university students and foreign researchers found enough material to conduct research at various SNAC run centers.

References

{{Reflist Cultural organisations based in Somalia 1972 establishments in Somalia

Government agencies established in 1972 Government of Somalia Ministries established in 1972

Establishment

Area of responsibility

Use as a research center

See also

References