Afro-Asians in South Asia

A Siddi girl in Gujarat, India

Afro-Asians (African Asians) are African communities that have been living in the Indian subcontinent for several hundred years and have settled in countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India.

These communities are the Sheedis/Siddis, Siddi, Siddis settled in Karnataka and Gujrat just a 400 years ago, Sri Lanka Kaffirs. One of the largest communities of Africans in India and Pakistan, are the Siddis.

The term also encompasses the Negritos such as the Andamanese who are the aboriginal inhabitants of Southern Asia and Southeast Asia.

Slave Trade

The slave trade in Asia predated the Atlantic one, and it is generally believed that it was smaller in scale although accurate records were seldom kept because they were transporting fewer people, and because traders would intentionally not keep records.^[1]

Portuguese era slave trade (15th century – 17th century)

During the 16th-17th centuries Portugal was trying to control sea access to India and needed slave labor to build its empire at the sea which spiked the demand for slaves.^[2] Slaves here were mainly used for navy and military defense but were also used in business, farms, as domestics, teachers and priests due to the Portuguese shortage in personnel.^[2]

British era slave trade (17th century – 19th century)

By the 17th century, a struggle for imperialism grew amongst the Arabs, Dutch, British and French.^[2] The Dutch had needed labor for agriculture during the time and needed slaves.^[2] The French needed slave labor for plantations.^[2] The British needed slaves for their navy, marine yards and for work as caulkers in the East India Company. The battle supremacy in the area eventually led to British dominated era that lasted until the 19th century.

Conditions for Afro-Asians during slavery

Although slavery was oppressive and brutal in India and slaves were flogged or forced to work with little food, being a slave in India for most slaves, still meant access to some wealth or power, particularly during the Muslim era.^[3] For example, As slaves, the Siddis were allowed some degree of social mobility so it was possible for them to achieve high posts in the military and governing bodies.^[4] Muslim slaves were also allowed to become educated, marry freely, become political advisers, recruit other slaves through purchase, inducement, or capture.^[4] Slavery in India and the Indian subcontinent was not the same as chattel slavery that was found in the Atlantic, where people were treated like property. Most slaves were domestics or worked in the military, navy, or other trades. They could gain their freedom over time; the slavery found in South Asia encouraged assimilation.

Slavery abolished

By the 18th century, the British abolished the slave trade but efforts were made to circumvent this by the British in the colony, and other European imperialists.^[2] Across all eras though, there was a steady demand for personal slaves as slaves were seen as a social status and were employed as domestics.^[5] The economic situation determined the demand for slaves and was the underlying factor in the nature of slavery that developed in the Indian Ocean, and assimilation was possible for slaves in India. Slavery in British India was abolished in 1860.

European colonial era

During the era of European imperialism and colonialism, the African Asians became further marginalized as it is believed that the imperialists brought in attitudes about race into a complicated social and class system. Many of the Afro-Asians were systematically divided into settlements so that they could not organize politically. They were encouraged to assimilate.

Assimilations and acculturations

Assimilation

Due to the type of slavery that encouraged assimilation, many of the Afro-Asians assimilated into the main culture of the country and adopted the language, religion, names, and rituals of the people. For survival purposes, the enslaved adopted the culture of their slave masters.

Black African heritage and identity

Many Black African descendant groups still retain some of their African traditions. The Siddis of India for example, still speak Swahili, sing Swahili songs, and worship African Gods.

In recent years, after the World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa, many of them have been trying to organize politically so that they can improve their poor economic conditions.

Marginalization

Afro-Asians have largely been marginalized after the rise of the imperialist or colonial era in India and the subcontinent. Many live in poor economic conditions.

Racism in India

A great deal of racism exists in Asia. Racism in Asia

Influence on Afro-Asian culture

Sports

There have been a few athletes that have risen to fame in the region due to sports like running and wrestling.

Afro-Indian Diaspora in South Asia

African Diaspora in India

The Siddis are the largest settlement of slave descendants in India, many settled around the western coast and hinterland in cities like Janjira, Gujarat, and Goa. Today, it is estimated there about 6,000-7,000 Siddis in Gujarat (India), 400 in Mumbai and 40,000-50,000 in Pakistan (formerly, India).^[6] The Siddis are currently a poor and socially marginalized community in India. Due to the caste system and even though they assissimilated in culture but were physically different were not accepted into Indian society. The siddis lived in their own communities separate from the mainstream community such as the maroons. Due to discrimination they are ignored by the common people and the mainstream society.

African Diaspora in Pakistan

Pakistani African descents consist of the "Makrani", "Sheedi" or "Habshi". The Makrani (Urdu/Persian: مکرانی) are the inhabitants of Makran coast of Balochistan in Pakistan and lower Sindh. The Siddis (Sheedi) In Karachi live area of Lyari and other nearby coastal areas. Although most people use the term Siddis to describe many of the African populations in Pakistan, they are not all Siddis.

Shada ayesha

The Sheedis are divided into four clans, or houses: Kharadar Makan, Hyderabad Makan, Lassi Makan and Belaro Makan. The Sufi saint Pir Mangho is regarded by many as the patron saint of the Sheedis, and the annual Sheedi Mela festival, is the key event in the Sheedi community's cultural calendar. Some glimpses of the rituals at Sidi/Sheedi Festival 2010 include visit to sacred alligators at Mangho pir, playing music and dance.

Black African identity

Many of Afro-Pakistanis are described to have "assimilated" themselves into the "dominant culture" . The Sheedis have assimilated into Pakistani Baloch culture; the instrument, songs and dance of the Sheedis appear to be derived from Africa. Linguistically, Makranis are Balochi and Sindhi and speak a dialect of Urdu referred to as Makrani. Their local culture havs been influential in shaping the dominant culture of Pakistan. The musical anthem of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, Bija Teer, is a Balochi song in the musical style of the Sheedis with Black African style rhythm and drums.

African Diaspora in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan Kaffirs (cafrinhas in Portuguese, rendered as kāpiriyō (කාපිරි) in Sinhala, and kāpili (காப்பிலி) in Tamil, are a Sri Lankan community that would emerge in the 16th-century due to Portuguese colonialism.

Imperialism

When Dutch colonialists arrived in about 1600, the Kaffirs worked on cinnamon plantations along the southern coast. The Kaffirs ancestors were chained up and forced by the Dutch to take on the Sri Lankan army. After the Dutch military thrust was successfully repelled by Sri Lankan army in 1796, the Kaffirs were further marginalized by an influx of Indian laborers who took most work on tea and rubber estates. Their descendants survive in pockets along the island's coastal regions of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Negombo.

African identity

Sri Lankans of African descent are proud to be Sri Lankans. They also acknowledge their African history. Kaffirs have an orally recorded history by the families who are descendants of former Sinhalese slave traders. A substantial population among those Sri Lankans of African descent are believed to have roots in the region that today corresponds to the Republic of Mozambique. The community's classical traditions of dance and song performance are described as the strongest indicators of the communities cultural retention of and fidelity in preserving Africa's ancient traditions of religions, culture and civilization. The term Kaffir means 'non-believer' in the Arabic language, though it is said to not hold the same pejorative implications of the word as it would in countries like South Africa; its continued use by certain sections of Sri Lankan people is defended on the basis that term is not intended to be used as a racial slur.

Many Sri Lankans of African descent speak what has been described as a "creole" mixture of both the Sinhalese and Tamil languages. The community of Sri Lankans of African descent are also described as having been "'assimilated" over the years as they have married Tamils and Sinhalese Sri Lankans.

Afro-Sri Lankans today

The education level of the community is consistent with that of rural Sri Lankan populations. They have become dis-empowered (they were used as soldiers by the Europeans) since the European colonizers have left the island and have tried to find their role in Sri Lankan society.

See also

• Afro-Asians
• Afro-Arabs
• Afro-Indians
• Afro-Iranian
• African Pakistanis
• Afro-Turks
• Indo-African
• Indo-Caribbean
• Marabou (ethnicity)
• Swahili Coast

References