Xerudhalan

This book is about camels and the important role they play within the Somali culture. The book is divided into two parts. The first part of the book is about the history of camels and consists of five chapters. The first chapter focuses on the Somali camel rearing tradition, the early origins of camels and when the domestication of camels started. The second chapter analyses the peculiar camel characters. The third chapter discusses the many different camel benefits. The fourth chapter is about camel varieties, their names, meanings and camel life cycles. In chapter five the focus is on the deep civilization involving camel boy's lifestyle cycles, camel rearing tools and utensils, and descriptions of camel diseases. The second part of the book is about the oldest oral literature, poetry and work songs on camel herding and maintenance and consists of four chapters. In chapter six camel herding work songs are discussed. The seventh chapter focuses on oral literature composed about the benefits, disadvantages and hardships associated with camel rearing and herding. The eighth chapter is about camel raiding and the deliberate normalization of it among camel herders. The ninth and final chapter of the book sheds light on why Somalis used the camel as a symbol of their national independence in 1960 and the literature that has been composed for that occasion. [ASC Leiden abstract].