Mahsun Oti is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers–New Brunswick. His work explores the democratic engagement and everyday experiences of Somali communities in Minneapolis, examining how identity, belonging, and citizenship are negotiated in diaspora contexts. Oti holds an M.A. in African Studies from the University of Basel, where his research focused on the Rhodes Must Fall movement in South Africa, interrogating student-led decolonial protest and the politics of memory under coloniality. He has published in Anthropology News and The Middle East Journal and is the founding president of the Kurdish Studies Graduate Student Association at Rutgers University and funding director of the Kurdish Student Association of America.

“We are being hunted”: Policing Black Muslim Life and Limits of Democracy in Minneapolis

When federal immigration agents swept through Minneapolis's Somali community beginning in late 2025, the consequences spread far beyond those detained, businesses shuttered, children stayed home from school, and families stopped moving freely through their own neighborhoods. My research follows how Somali residents, across generations and immigration statuses, have experienced this targeting and fought back against it. Through interviews, participant observation, photo elicitation, and archival work, I examine how an entire community is made morally suspicious and removable and how the Somali community refused that designation. This project connects directly to the Rutgers Democracy Lab Fellowship's focus on democratic participation, exploring what happens to civic life when a community is systematically pushed out of the public square.