Elia Vitturini received his PhD in social anthropology at the University of Milan-Bicocca (Italy). Since 2011 he has carried out fieldwork research in Somaliland. His analysis adopted the point of view of young political activists and party members in order to investigate the process of state institutions building, the relationships between plural political actors of Somalilander arena and political mobilisation during a pre-election phase. After 2014, he further developed the analysis of Somali society by focusing on local configurations of social stratification. He investigated the position of Gaboye groups and other marginalised minorities, i.e. hereditary groups of occupational specialists, within the Somalilander economic and political context. This historical-anthropological approach focused on some structuring elements of the intertwined dynamics of reproduction and transformation of social stratifications.
