We are all at least somewhat familiar with the phenomenon of Indian migration to Africa, mostly in the form of persons of Gujarati origin working their way to East Africa, but little has been publicized about the opposite, about Africans migrating to India. I wasn’t even sure something like this existed until I read an advertisement for a lecture, “African Elites in India,” which is being given this Saturday, June 10 at 2 PM at the Smithsonian’s Meyer Auditorium by Kenneth Robbins and John McLeod, editors of the book African Elites in India: Habshi Amarat. The book focuses on the story of sub-Saharan Africans who migrated, beginning around the 15th century, to India and subsequently gained positions of power and status on the sub-Continent. Who knew hyphenated identities went so far back?
“Known as Habshis, the Arabic word for Abyssinian or Ethiopian,” the duo’s book tells the story of a “little-known group of elite sub-Saharan African-Indian merchants, soldiers, nobles, statesmen, and rulers who attained prominence in India in the fifteenth to twentieth centuries but also on the Africans who served at the courts of Indian monarchs as servants, slaves, eunuchs, or concubines.”
It turns out the Africa-to-India phenomenon is not all that limited. In 1996, the Anthropological Survey of India reported sizeable communities of African ancestry in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Gujarat, and the metropolises of Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai (link). For those of you who count yourself among the South Asian history geek-squad like I do, this lecture sounds fascinating. If you need more information, or to RSVP, you can call 202 633 0444. A book signing will follow the lecture.
Perhaps this answers why Anna, and so many other desis are often mistaken for Ethiopian. Incidentally, the Freer Gallery is also screening a few Sri Lankan films this month. The remaining two are Flying with One Wing (2002), which is showing tomorrow, and Guerilla Marketing (2005) which is screening on Sunday.
This sounds fascinating cool..I am so envious of those who live around to have access to the Smithsonian.
Sounds like an interesting books.
South Asians (ok fine, maybe it’s just me) are often mistaken for many other things too. I’ve gotten Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, Yemeni. Then there’s my all-time favorite: Pocahontas.
I remember I was once scanning through a travel book on India and saw pictures of a remote tribes woman who looked Turkana (a northen Kenyan tribe) down to the neck-elongating necklaces and body art. It was eerie at the time, but this explains sooo much.
there are also a large number of students who go every year to India for university, although more and more south africa is becoming the preferred choice because of the racism Africans face in India.
interesting post.
there was some mention of african immigrants in the bombay underworld in suketu mehta’s ‘maximum city’. amongs other things, he mentioned that they were particularly good at scaring away the police through various unmentionable (here, at least) tactics…
I will attest to the above. In my undergrad Uni. in India, I saw that students from Africa were mistreated by local students. Quite shameful actually.
Old BBC article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1035389.stm
A movie, Razia Sultan, starring Hema Malini and Dharmendra, is based on a true story wherein the sultan passes on his crown to the daughter (Razia Sultan) rather than to his son. If that was not radical enough, Razia Sultan falls in love with Yakoot, a former slave of African origin. If I remember correctly both Razia sultan and Yakoot are murdered by the people around her because they would not be ruled by a woman!!!
If you guys are so inclined, you should listen to “Aae dil-e nadaan” from the movie………. it is simply outstanding!!!!!!!
The racism in India (and not just against blacks, also against whites and Chinese) is something that jars me anew each time I encounter it. I can’t understand how a nation so aware of racism against its own people by other nations, and so infinitely diverse, composed of different religions, tribes, colours, sects, could have so many educated racists in it. It’s something different than the racism in the West – it appears to be a lack of a commitment on the part of the intelligentsia and the political class, I guess, to tackle racism as an issue. Here you have all kinds of closet racists, and trailer trash racists, and nice genteel veiled racists, true. But there is a strong social taboo against racism.
Some of the remarks I’ve heard in India: ‘Why do they smell like that?’ about whites. ‘Everyone knows they are very dirty over there.’ about whites. ‘If you marry a Chinese, at least you won’t have to do the laundry’. Other comments have implied that white people are fundamentally immoral or shallow. God knows what they say about black people.
It can’t be a lack of exposure, as there are lots of Chinese and blacks, not to mention the myriad other ethnic/racial minorities, in India. So what is it??
Hi, I’m a student in the Department of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. Two of my professors (who are married) Dr. Amy Catlin and Dr. Nazir Jairazbhoy have done extensive work on Sidi music and culture. I’ll be sure to let them know about this novel and I’ll also direct them this way in hopes that they shed some light for us on African-origin Indians.
@gargi, #8,
i guess it is human mentality to look down on others unless otherwise taught. it is not just indians, chinese are equally contemptous of non-chinese if not more. these are not the only examples—jews and arabs (mutually), etc etc.
the reason there is no open racism in the US is the official condemnation of racism. the proportion of non-indians in india, or non-chinese in china is miniscule, most people never meet with foreigners. and there is not even a recognition that outsiders are helpful—and that recognition i believe is the biggest reason there is no official sanction of racism in the US. on the contrary, at least in the indian case, outsiders are held to utmost suspicion.
not that any of it is right. just making up explanations, that is all.
@ravi,
it will be very interesting to compare the beat (tala) systems of carnatic and hindustani systems with the sidi music. i am sure you have probably looked at it already—but carnatic has these “irregular” beat patterns, 2+3 (odd and even counts are in the ratio 2:3 in duration), 3+4, and so on. you never find these anywhere else, except sometimes in jazz. of course, these may not be related, but it will be interesting to explore.
Bytewords, These types of rhythmic patterns appear in so many places around the world. Email me if you want to talk about it.–Ravi
I became aware of the Africa to India connection only recently. My band plays every now again on the U Street corridor of DC. The area is now known as “Little Ethiopia.” You’d be surprised how many of the club/bar owners have spent at least a little bit of time studying in India, either at the high school or college level.
Perhaps this answers why Anna, and so many other desis are often mistaken for Ethiopian.
no, though that is quaint.
1) in the generality remember that humans are constrained to a limited set of morphs. we can’t exactly grow wings and develop green skin, so within the constrained space of our “look & feel” parameters we’ll overlap in different regions as we re-explore adaptive territory. to give a better example, “melanesians” (“black islanders”) are only distantly related to africans, and in fact more genetically similar to east asians. the ainu of hokkaido are often assumed to be “caucasoid” because of their large noses and hairness, and i recall reading that the ainu term for themselves to contrast with the japanese was “those of the same socket,” referring to their lack of an epicanthic eye fold. but genetic testing has shown that the ainu cluster with other east asians (not surprisingly it seems that the japanese are an admixture population between ainu and immigrants from korea, at a 1:3 ratio). in terms of the ethiopian-south indian overlap, this makes sense because ethiopians are not “typical” sub-Saharan Africans. their language (or at least the socially dominant ones, like ahmaraic) are semitic and there has long been mixture with peoples from across the red sea. in other words, ethiopians can be considered an admixed population which both african and middle eastern features. additionally, they have lived at high altitudes for a long period of time so their nasal morphology is closer to populations that live in cooler drier regions. to be gross about it ethiopians and south indians might overlap because both exhibit features which render them “dark caucasoids” (using a european-african archetypical range, which is somewhat artificial).
the big picture point is that phylogeny != morphology
2) regarding the black africans in india, bengal was ruled by ethiopian warlords for a few decades. but, because india is so much more populous than black africa, and especially when compared to the eastern littoral from which the africans derived, i would bet that there is more genetic input from india to africa than vice versa because of slaving.
3) racism in india…uh, my impression is that to say someone is “black” (i.e., dark skinned) is insulting to most browns (asians in general). why would one be surprised with the apotheosis of blackness is present before us? additionally, many browns fancy themselves “white people with tans,” and having to compare ourselves with black africans might remind us that we aren’t really “white people with tans,” that there are resemblences in feature (as recounted by anna) between blacks and browns that would make browns “light skinned black people.” (the real answer is more complicated, but can be summed up to the fact that browns are neither black or white, but their own deal)
Hello Mississippi Masala!
Forget the Aryan Migration Theory!
I always wondered why to the west of us, people are much lighter skinned then us. Take the Persians, for example. I’ve never seen any Persians who are as dark as some Desis. Neither the Afghanistanis. On the other hand, to the east of us, people are of a mongol stock. To the north, Turco-Mongolian (of course, all these ethncities have lots of variation, but none get as brown, with curly hair as us. I may be wrong, though). We of South Asia are one big blob of brown smack in the middle of Asia.
My mother once mentioned the Sudanese coming and settling in Gujurat. Also, there is historical evidence that large numbers of Arab trading communities settled in Gujurat.
Speaking of Assyrians, there is a people in Ethiopia (I forget the name) whom many anthropologists hold are the descendents of the Assyrians. They have dark, dark skin and kinky hair but straight, long noses. A very attractive population. They live in the desert, and are noted for being armed and very protective of their territory. There are also the Tuaregs, a tribe that lives in the Sahara. They look similar.
It’s obvious we’ve had a little bit of “Jungle Fever” in the Sub Continent.
One of my neighbors rented out the second floor of their house in Vadodara to students. One such student was an African who was studying at MSU (Maharaja Sayajirao University). I forget where he came from. He was a nice guy.
BBC has profiled the Sidi community of India, and Pakistan. The Sidi apparently have gone on tour with their music, too.
Dr. Catlin mentioned above is quoted in these articles.
Talking of racism in India..here’s an example. The word “hasbhi” (Ethiopian) has a totally different connotation in colloquial Hindi…often used for a untidy person…with little or no manners.
i know this comment was meant partly in jest, but i want to ‘break it down’ a bit to suppress excessive speculation 🙂 i know, i know, party pooper, but we really do know a lot about the genetics now, so speculation is basically close to fantasy. kind of like wondering about the jungles of venus….
I always wondered why to the west of us, people are much lighter skinned then us. Take the Persians, for example. I’ve never seen any Persians who are as dark as some Desis. Neither the Afghanistanis. On the other hand, to the east of us, people are of a mongol stock. To the north, Turco-Mongolian (of course, all these ethncities have lots of variation, but none get as brown, with curly hair as us. I may be wrong, though). We of South Asia are one big blob of brown smack in the middle of Asia.
1) persians and browns will intersect (though it does seem that the two don’t have that much in common, at least compared to what some people would assume), but it would also make sense that the outward range of one distribution might not overlap with the median of another. that is, the darker browns might be out of the range of the darkest persians. this would make some sense since persians are much lighter, on average, than browns.
2) look at this map, south asia really is to the south! the reason that the ‘people to the west’ are ligher is that they are the people to the north-west.
3) the relative lightness of southeast asians as a function of latitude vis-a-vis browns is in part likely because of large scale ‘south chinese’ settlement after the neolithic revolution (‘south chinese’ is an anochronism as china did not exist during the time period i speak of). some ‘negrito’ peoples of south asia, assumed to be earlier residents, are very dark (i.e., the semang of malaysia).
4) Speaking of Assyrians, there is a people in Ethiopia (I forget the name) whom many anthropologists hold are the descendents of the Assyrians. They have dark, dark skin and kinky hair but straight, long noses. A very attractive population. They live in the desert, and are noted for being armed and very protective of their territory. There are also the Tuaregs, a tribe that lives in the Sahara. They look similar.
genetically the short of it is that you can think of ethiopians as 1 part caucasoid and 2 parts negroid with local features. the long of it is that ethiopia has long been “out of the box” racially because the “types” we fixate on exhibit different aspects of classically ethiopian features. there is a lot of evidence that ethiopians are an ancient population (foremost among them the fact that they are altitude adapted), though there is also genetic evidence that there has been introgression from various west asian groups into ethiopia (as well as sub-sahran groups to the west).
5) there is a consensus sequence for MC1R, which controls a great deal of skin color variation in many humans. this sequence codes for dark skin. browns tend to be between light skinned peoples and africans, with dark browns being more like africans and light browns less like africans on this locus. there are probably 4-5 loci (points in the genome) which control 90% of skin color variation, and because the number of these loci are small the high sampling variance when you mix up parental genes (mother and father contribute of their two copies to each offspring at each locus) results in a range of colors in populations like browns that exhibit polymorphism (diversity of genes, blacks and very fair whites don’t exhibit offspring with color ranges because their color genes don’t exhibit much diversity).
hope i didn’t bore you too much, just wanted to “go on the record.”
thank you for this post! hopefully, awareness of uncommon knowledge like this will counteract the stigma Africans face among desis.
awareness of uncommon knowledge like this will counteract the stigma Africans face among desis.
well…the africans often came as muslims who fought for muslim potentates or were part of muslim trade networks. so i doubt it.
Remember reading about Siddi’s in school history textbooks, but considering how one dimensional our shivaji oriented history lessons were in Bombay the Siddi’s were only foes that the ‘Great Maratha Warrior’ vanquished… nothing morenothing less…
Came across this a while back India through African Eyes ….. hmmm
Razib:
Um… thanks for the clarification 🙂 It wasn’t boring at all, except some things went over my head, ie.”4-5 loci”.
OK, I hear you 😉 However you put it, this population is nonetheless very attractive because of the fact that various features that we stereotypically associate with certain ethnicities– ie Africans with broad noses and blunter features, Europeans with straight long noses and sculptured features and so on– don’t hold true with this people. I suppose what’s striking is finding these features all in one: dark skin, kinky hair, straight, long noses and sharply defined features.
Yes, especially during the Islamic empire in India and military slaves. But there had been, like I stated in my above post, Arab communities who had come to India during pre-Islamic times. In addition, I’m not sure about this, but the parts where South Asians look like Africans didn’t necessarily come from African Muslims, did they? They could have come earlier than that.
Razib:
2 questions:
Isn’t the “Negro gene” recessive? If this is true, how is it that it would somehow carry on in the South Asian population?
I read in some evolution book (by Geofrey Miller??) that the Gujarati population is often studied by anthropoligists because apparently, their “genetic make-up” ethnically speaking hasn’t changed in about 2000 years. Is this hog wash?
1. Isn’t the “Negro gene” recessive? If this is true, how is it that it would somehow carry on in the South Asian population?
there is no “negro gene,” so it isn’t recessive. the recessive-dominance dichotomy is problematic.
2. I read in some evolution book (by Geofrey Miller??) that the Gujarati population is often studied by anthropoligists because apparently, their “genetic make-up” ethnically speaking hasn’t changed in about 2000 years. Is this hog wash?
miller wrote a book about sexual selection re: human beings. nothing about gujaratis that i recall, and no, they haven’t not changed in 2000 years. in fact, there seems a strong correlation between rate of change of populations (evolutionarily) and the local density of population. brownland, ergo, is a good candidate for a lot of in situ evolution.
I suppose what’s striking is finding these features all in one: dark skin, kinky hair, straight, long noses and sharply defined features.
blondes with black skin (e.g., aboriginals) are also striking!
In addition, I’m not sure about this, but the parts where South Asians look like Africans didn’t necessarily come from African Muslims, did they? They could have come earlier than that.
there are 1.25 billion brown people. the vast majority of the individuals who in the south asian subcontinent who could pass as “black” probably aren’t anymore sub-saharan african than you or i or the blue-eyed kashmiri, it is likely that proto-asian “negrito” ancestry is showing up. but, that does not mean that they are anymore ancestrally negrito than you or i! it is simply that in a large enough population all the various combinations, of any probability, of traits will come together.
short answer: most black or white or chinese looking brown people are probably mostly (or all) ancestrally brown, it is just that in 1.25 billion people of varied phenotype you’ll get lots of morphs.
formulaic like
P(sub-saharan ancestry|black looking south asian) is low.
Many years ago, there was an initiative by the Sports Authority of India to identify talented Sidi kids and train them in Athletics. I remember watching a TV programme on this initiative and was so sure that India would soon start bagging Gold at the Olympics! Some of those kids turned out to be toppers in their age group at the junior level. But, like many Indian initiatives, this too must have fizzled out, as I haven’t heard about any prominent Sidi athlete. An interesting point is that SAI’s theory was openly based on the premise that Africans are genetically more suited for athletics than Indians:0
The Mating Game on how sexual selection shaped human evolution. A very interesting read.
I must have read somewhere else, then. Yeah, when I read that, I thought that this couldn’t be true, despite the author’s claim that this could be attributed to arranged marriages. Spurious scholarship, I guess. How can they stay static?
Thanks for the explanations, Dr. Razib* 😉
Interesting link, but it contains one huge factual error:
Arjumand Banu Begum, who later became known as Mumtaz Mahal, was of Persian descent.
I wonder where the writer of that website heard she was Ethiopian ?
Obviously, the writer meant Utopian🙂
Frankly, all this fancy tish-tosh about genetics and colour is getting on my nerves. A cousin and me were the only dark-skinned grandkids that my grandmother had. She used to pray daily for us – to the christian god, mind – and now we are both light-skinned adults and extremely marriageable. Dark-skinned people should stop being Pagan:)
UnberMetroMallu, I watched the same programme many years ago(“Turning Point” I think) and wondered why them folks never showed up at the Olympics. I guess they got lost in the system. I saw a few Siddis at a temple in rural North Karnataka. It was quite strange. Apparently they’d been living in deep forests and were discovered quite recently.
Oh, and talking of racism, a pub in Hyderabad has a “No Blacks Allowed” policy. They had an incident involving some Kenyan students and decided to bar the black race from entering the pub. The disbelieving local media questioned the owner, and he confirmed the policy. The article didn’t appear in the online version of the English dailies, unfortunately, so no link. Fire away…
UMM:
hear, hear! anyone who’s ever had a tube of ‘fair and lovely’ subtly waved around their face would most surely agree. one of the best things about living in a pale-and-pasty populated place is that some brown people who think they’re white are reminded that they are mos’ def’ not!
brown people are brown and all people look better the more genes they got in ’em so big ups to our african brothers and sistas 🙂 now all we have to do is teach them to stare rudely at each other, be tight-assed with their money and stop running around winning marathons and start studying up for those spelling bees.
That amongs other things…
The writer in her enthusiasm seems to paint huge sections of the Indian polulation with an afrcian brush…
I recall visiting Mumbhai in 1994 and being shocked at an interview with sanjay dutt where he used the word spade.. i think us western indians have got use to anti racist attitude. Sad to know 15 years later nathing has changed in India…
RE: India through African Eyes…I have quite a few issues with this piece
1.
African and African American perspectives are NOT the same. I have an African perspective, maybe not a black one, but certainly an African one…African Americans on the other hand may have a black perspective, but it is definitely American…
2.
Newsflash: It’s because of the colour of your money honey!
3.
is this true? people from Orissa care to comment…maybe I need to send my granny there. Although that might backfire when she tries to then find me a dark-skin-loving Orissa man instead of another finicky Guju one 😛
People always think i’m South american / Spanish/ or Italian… When i tell people i’m Indian people are like ‘no you arent, u must be mixed then’ but i’m 100 % indian.
I think its cause i’m in an area where most indians don’t take showers (south east london) so they assume indians are greasy looking.. lol.
Habshis were also known as “Sidi”. The connection between Gujarat and Sidi can be seen in the world famous Sidi Syed’s Mosque located in Ahemedabad – round “Lal Darwaza” area in the inner city. Sidi Syed was slave of Ahmed Shah who built a city on older ruins and called it Ahmedabad. This Sidi was master in carving stones. The famous “Jali” was built in 1572 and covered with lattice-work, stone screens with flowers, tree, foliage. I have a beaytiful color picture i took juat last December. If only I knew how to upload and link it here!!
LOL … and I hadn’t even thought of the Afrian/African-American difference
yeah they don’t react the same way to my Kenyan shillings, or even better Zim dollars…hmmm wonder why?
I was in the country of Mexico last summer. I kept saying NO ESPANOL but no one cared, they were pretty convinced that I was a local.
I was in the country of Mexico last summer. I kept saying NO ESPANOL but no one cared, they were pretty convinced that I was a local.
Same thing happened to me in Norway. They kept referring to me as a ‘Paki’.
Just my two cents… Filipino, Ecuadorian, Puerto Rican, Cambodian, Nepalese, Native American, half black half white, etc. Once in a blue moon- Indian. I’m sure the fact that I’m in nyc has something to do with what people’s guesses; there’s infinite possibilities in a larger (and more diverse) metropolis.
It seems to me that we’ve got three different, and distinct, layers going on with this piece.
One is the historical migration of black Africans to the Indian subcontinent. Many came as slaves or indentured servants, and it appears that some others came in diplomatic or mercantile capacity. These are the people who are known today as Sidis. Many of them are Hindus, have very African features, and, as far as I can tell from my research, are poor, rural, forest dwellers. Some of these folks (as UberMetroMallu points out) are dragged kicking and screaming to “train” for India and use their “African prowess” to win Olympic medals.
A second layer has to do with African-born Africans who now live in India for whatever reason. The most common reason for this is scholarship, and there are Kenyan, Nigerian, etc, students in most major Indian cities. Some of them end up staying in India, and a few play for professional soccer clubs.
A third layer is represented by the authors of this book, and is part of a wider category: African-American Afrocentrism. Typically, the narrative is shaped in a way that glorifies black heritage all over the world. In its farther extremes, you get the “Beethoven was black” school of history. So, when they talk about meeting Indians blacker than anyone else they ever seen, it’s obviously based less on any science and more on a misplaced cultural pride. Yes, there are some very very dark brothers in Desh, but they are racially Dravidian, not African.
On a personal note, I visited India recently, and I must say, it’s unfortunate that I was subjected to so many stares and rude comments on account of my African background. What black people go through in America is almost nothing compared to the calumnies they endure in places like Eastern Europe, Italy, India, China and (in recent times, the worst of all) Russia.
The struggle for the freedom to be black without persecution is far from over.
I’ve got a narrative on my India journey. I’ll give you guys a heads up if/when it gets published.
A true story of my Gujrati friends: Two of my gujju friends hanging around this cafe in Gujrat were swearing at a black guy with gems like “Thari ma ne” etc etc. The black guy walks up to them and says “Shuddh Gujrati bol shaku chu” meaning I can speak pure Gujrati too.
More than one person has commented that I resemble Cosby kid Lisa Bonet.
Hey Al_M, Are you being sarcastic/kidding about the above?? Or you are serious. I know a lot of immigrants from Pakistan are in Norway, but “Paki” ??
Sidis in India face racial discrimination, which as Sufis in Gujarat they treat with humor in their dance performances. Sidi Goma: Black Sufis of Gujarat came to the USA again last Fall and brought down houses everywhere with their ‘sacred fun’. Sidis in India retain many African musical traits, especially in instruments and rhythms and song texts. One rhythm they call ‘tambol’ (from Swahili) is hemiola-like, 2+2+2 alternating/combined with 3+3. These elements and others are discussed in the following titles, carried by Apsara Media (apsara-media.com)
From Africa to India: Sidi Music in the Indian Ocean Diaspora (video) The Sidi Malunga Project: Rejuvenating the African Musical Bow in India (DVD) Sidis and Scholars: Essays on African Indians (book) Sidi Sufis: African Indian Mystics of Gujarat (CD)
I know we all fall into the trap of speaking about “race”, but “race” is a socially constructed concept. Scientifically, “race” has been refuted (at least as far as I know).
I can’t speak for Eastern Europe, China and Russia, but I have to disagree with you about Italy.
The Senegalese, who are extremely dark, do not face as much racism as the Albanians, for example. Or the Gypsies. Racism in Italy, as I have pointed out in comments elsewhere on SM, has less to do with skin color than with “culture”. This is not to say that Africans do not experience racism, but relative to other ethnicities in Italy, they experience less of it.
I know we all fall into the trap of speaking about “race”, but “race” is a socially constructed concept. Scientifically, “race” has been refuted (at least as far as I know).
Come on now, you’re preaching to the converted here. I know that race is a fiction. But try telling it to that bar owner in Andhra. As long as people continue to act as if “race” makes sense, then it’s sensible to address that in one’s thinking. The point of my comment was that the cluster of phenotypes that characterizes Dravidians shouldn’t be too blithely described as African.
This is not to say that Africans do not experience racism, but relative to other ethnicities in Italy, they experience less of it.
Really? Have you been African in Italy? I have.
I agree with you here.
I’m not African, just a dark brown Desi. And yes, I’ve been to Italy; I lived there for 4 1/2 years, and we had many friends from Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, and the Magreb.
Note that I did not say that they don’t experience racism at all; but compared to other groups, it is less. Especially compared to Albanians who are technically white. Moroccans rank next on the list. Both face racism largely due to the fact that they come from a “different culture” ie Muslim, but they don’t seem to have the same problem with the Sudanese, Senegalese, and Somalians who could be Muslim as well.