Ilhan Abdullahi

Ilhan Abdullahi is a Somali-Canadian whose parents’ forced migration journey brought her to the unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, (Vancouver, Canada) at a very young age. She’s a storyteller, public health instructor and filmmaker that is passionate about centering the lived realities of Black & Muslim migrant communities in her work. Through her work, research and passion in film, Ilhan looks to explore how community organizing and narrative storytelling can contribute to the liberation of the communities she is a part of. Recently, she embarked on a PhD journey to center Black refugees in her research and explore the role of community organizing and social innovation in public health systems transformation.

In 2021, Ilhan was selected as one of the emerging Black filmmakers in Vancouver to take part in the Being Black in Canada Film program, where she wrote and directed her short documentary, Dreamers, centering the Somali refugee community. Also a recipient of the Telus  StoryHive’s Black Creator’s Edition grant, Ilhan recently co-wrote and co-produced her short comedy film, Not For Us, available now on Telus Optik TV.

LinkedIn: Ilhan Abdullahi, PhD Candidate

Email: ilhan_abdullahi@sfu.ca

What have been the most rewarding aspects of your work so far?

Working within a collective of people who lead with their hearts, center justice and humanity in how they show up and everything they do has definitely been an incredible experience and rewarding aspect of my work. I draw inspiration from them and this is inclusive of my colleagues and my community that are working towards a better collective future. 

What have been some of the more challenging aspects?

I think within social justice and systems change work, losing hope can sometimes be a reality when you're thinking about how systems could change for the better and will that even be a reality in our lifetime? And I think it's good to sit with those thoughts and experience tensions in the work. It keeps me going when I work alongside people grappling and exploring similar challenges while figuring out a way to work through this together.

Name a Black Muslim woman who has been an inspiration to you and why.

My mother and my grandmother, may Allah SWT reward them <3 They taught me everything I know in life (along with my dad, shoutout to him!) and how to center Islamic values in all that I do. They taught me all I know in community engagement and organizing, as I grew up witnessing their efforts in our community- both in their own ways. My mother spent the 90's and 2000's running community engagement programming for Somali newcomer families and youth which inspired to follow in her footsteps. My grandmother had her own community engagement tactics which centered storytelling and centering joy & laughter wherever she went. She was so loved and truly embodied Islam in so many ways.