Margaret Laurence’s time in British Somaliland between 1950 and 1952 marked a formative period in her development as a writer. Although she is best known for her Canadian fiction set on the prairies of Manitoba, her early years in the Horn of Africa provided the intellectual, cultural, and ethical foundation for much of her later work. Laurence herself described this period as her “literary apprenticeship,” a time when she first learned to observe, listen, and write with cultural sensitivity and depth.

Laurence did not travel to Somaliland as an author, but as the wife of John Fergus “Jack” Laurence, a civil and hydraulic engineer employed by the British Colonial Office. Jack was assigned to oversee the construction of a series of ballehs, large earth dams designed to collect seasonal rainwater in the arid Haud region near the Ethiopian border. The project aimed to provide a more reliable water supply for nomadic pastoralists and their livestock. Because of the remote nature of the work, Laurence lived for extended periods in mobile desert camps, often as the only Western woman for hundreds of miles. This experience immersed her in a landscape of scarcity and resilience that challenged her assumptions and reshaped her worldview.

Initially, Laurence saw herself as an outsider with little understanding of Somali culture. However, she quickly became fascinated by the richness of Somali oral traditions. She famously referred to Somaliland as a “nation of poets,” observing that poetry functioned as both cultural record and social authority. Oral verse preserved history, expressed political arguments, and articulated personal emotion. This discovery profoundly influenced Laurence’s understanding of language and storytelling.

Her engagement with Somali oral culture led to her first published work, A Tree for Poverty (1954). Produced in collaboration with linguist B. W. Andrzejewski and Somali scholar Musa Haji Ismail Galaal, the book was the first English translation of Somali poetry and folk tales. Laurence focused on two major poetic forms: the gabei, a long and highly formal style traditionally used for serious subjects such as politics and philosophy, and the belwo, a brief lyric form often expressing love, longing, or beauty. Through these translations, Laurence sought to preserve voices that had previously existed only in spoken form, recognizing both the cultural value and vulnerability of oral traditions.

A decade later, Laurence reflected on her experiences in The Prophet’s Camel Bell (1963), a memoir that blends personal reflection with cultural observation. In this work, she examined her own position within the colonial system while expressing admiration for what she described as the Somali character—marked by dignity, humor, and resistance to external control. Rather than presenting Somaliland as an exotic backdrop, Laurence emphasized the humanity and agency of the people she encountered.

Although her later novels are set primarily in Canada, the influence of her Somaliland experience is evident throughout her fiction. One major thematic connection is her treatment of survival and dignity. In the harsh conditions of the Haud, Laurence observed that pride was not a flaw but a necessary survival mechanism. This insight later shaped characters such as Hagar Shipley in The Stone Angel, whose stubborn pride functions as emotional armor in an equally unforgiving environment.

Laurence’s time in Somaliland also sharpened her awareness of the outsider’s perspective. Living as a visible minority in a colonial context gave her what she described as a “double vision”—the ability to see her own culture through unfamiliar eyes. This perspective became central to her Canadian writing, which frequently explores emotional displacement, marginalization, and the struggle for identity.

Finally, her exposure to a society in which poets held cultural authority influenced her conception of literature itself. Laurence later referred to Canadian writers as a “tribe,” suggesting that authors share a collective responsibility to shape national identity. This idea mirrors the role of poets in Somali society, where storytelling functions as a communal act rather than an individual pursuit.

Margaret Laurence’s Somaliland years were not a detour from her literary career but its foundation. By encountering a culture defined by oral tradition, resilience, and dignity under extreme conditions, she developed the ethical and artistic principles that would later define her contributions to Canadian literature. Her ability to write convincingly about struggle, identity, and survival on the Canadian prairies can be traced directly to lessons learned in the deserts of the Horn of Africa.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)