[Reader-list] First Posting -Sarai/CSDS Independent Fellowship Prog -06 ( OJ Patrick)

[Ojwando JP]

Greetings to Sarai/ CSDS fellowship holders and team
Sarai/CSDS!

For someone like me who takes pride in making a living
by writing about people and happenings in the society,
it is becomes a tad difficult to turn the spotlight on
myself.  
I will make an attempt though.

The Persona:
 
I am a Kenyan national who can also claim a little of
Indianess. I did my schooling in Kenya then left the
entire higher education in the hands of lecturers in
India. 
I have pursued a BA course (Mohanlal Sukhadia
University, Udaipur). Then followed it with an MS in
Communication course (Bangalore University).
Currently, I am in the final stages of my doctoral
research program (Department of Studies in
Communication and Journalism, University of Mysore) as
a self financing research scholar under the guidance
of Dr. N Usha Rani, Professor and Chairperson of the
same Department. 
The working title of my study is “Treatment of
Development News in the Print Media and its
Correlation with the Non Governmental Organization’s
Perception of Development News: A Comparative Study of
India and Kenya.” 
The study is an attempt to explore the linkages
between Print Media and Non Governmental
Organizations. 
The study documents the experiences of the actors in
these sectors in both India and Kenya. 
I have also been involved in a couple of activities
the most significant being the leadership roles in
international students associations, and voluntary
activities with organizations such as Seva Mandir
(Udaipur) and Samvada (Bangalore). 
Aside, I have regularly written articles for The New
Indian Express, The Hindu and Deccan Herald and
delivered a guests lectures in a couple of colleges,
including Garden City College, Bangalore.  

The Study:

An Exploration of the Experiences of Afro Students in
the South Asian Sub Continent

A life hinged on uncertainties and overwhelming
expectations, the world of students especially those
on foreign shores present fascinating as well as
bewildering prospects. Surviving separation from loved
ones, battling cultural shock and keeping afloat the
larger goal, of building a career are some of the
regularly documented facets. 
Intriguingly, underlying the same, there are other
subtle difficulties that if not rebuffed- getting in
place appropriate structures or calling upon the
students’ survival skills and loads of enthusiasm-
could be a recipe for disaster. 
The South Asian Sub continent, has been host to a slew
of youngsters in pursuit of their academic goals many
of them drawn from far flung continents, Africa, the
Middle and far East, Asia and in the recent past, a
sizeable number from Europe. Most of them seem to have
been taken by the county’s rich traditions, diverse
customs and professed hospitality. All seemed to be
going well in the past but there is a growing
disenchant slowly creeping in that could have far
reaching consequences. Though not entirely out in the
open, a sizeable number of these students are becoming
increasingly frustrated with a society they believe is
insensitive to their concerns and the result is there
for all to see. Many students of Afro descent are now
over flying the South Asian Sub Continent that not in
the distant past was a favorite educational haunt for
hitherto not so popular destinations. Others who have
stayed back feel an entrenched distrust between them
and their local hosts, remaining strangers despite
spending years living and studying in the country. 

Some Concerns:

Is this the result of growing insensitivity or absence
of suitable support systems? Is this the outpouring of
a malaise that has been prevalent in the society but
so far swept under the carpet? Or perhaps a bias
ingrained in the society?
This study will draw upon the experiences of students
of African descent, and look at the unique educational
convergence in the South Asian Sub Continent that
seems to be under severe strain. The study will
document their experiences, lifestyles, ways in which
they have managed to keep afloat their aspirations in
the face of great odds, and some of the novel ways
they have added or taken during their sojourn.
Further, it will make attempts to cast a glance at
some of the institutions that have made their
existence possible, if any. 

Background to the Study: 

The study draws its inspiration from an article I
wrote and got published in the Deccan Herald, a
leading English publication in Karnataka State, 
Here, I reproduce the article for the benefit of
readers.

The Hostile Dark Side of Hospitality 

Outgoing, talkative and confident, their faces suggest
they are quite comfortable far away from home and
building their career seems to have taken a prominent
space in their lives. But this confidence, if you may
term it so, is betrayed by a lurking sense of
insecurity with what goes on around them. 
For Said Mohammed, a computer software student from
Sudan, the lure of ‘foreign’ credentials was too hard
to resist. Considering the educational prospects and
cost of living, India turned out to be his best
option. That was then. Having come to Bangalore, he
has come to believe that amidst the hospitality of the
local communities, there is an underlying bias
directed against the dark skinned foreigners,
something he never anticipated in a culturally diverse
country like India. 
Mohammed is not alone. He and the numerous other
African students in the city have come to discover
that apart from the demands of academic erudition,
there is the added burden of dealing with highly
prejudiced local communities attitudes and pressures. 
The co-existence between these students and their host
is one fraught with a host of contradictions and hard
feelings. In most cases, it is extremely difficult for
the students to get decent accommodation. ‘Vacant-To
Let’ boards often vanish mysteriously when they seek
rental houses. Promises of getting a rental room by
real Estate agents more often than not end up with the
ubiquitous ‘do not feel bad, we are like this only.’  
Only if and when one can cough the sometimes highly
inflated advances or is a married person would he be
considered worthy to stay in the same environment with
their hosts. 
Also, in colleges, many Indian students, males and
females alike, find it hard to digest that some of
their colleagues go out with their boyfriends of
African descent or take them to their homes. They do
not understand how their parents allow ‘such’ things
to happen. The girls are more happy talking to these
‘friends’ within the safe confines of the college
walls, preferably with a text book on their laps. 
Some would be glad to exhibit their supposed ‘foreign’
friends at home but are worried what their neighbors
will think of them. Invariably, some of these students
have come to discover to that invitations extended to
visits some of their hosts homes is usually out of
curiousity and seen as a great favour to make them
‘feel at home’. 
“Even after staying with my Indian friends for such
along period of time, they still have their own
prejudices,” regrets Thadayo Okatch Okunda, a graduate
of law. I have always felt the need to associate more
closely with the local people but the questions they
ask often leave me baffled. I feel I should stay
aloof,’ he adds referring to the common questions the
students of African origin face regarding their
sexuality. 
No matter how swift the denial may be, it is clear
different yardsticks exist for the ‘fair’ and ‘dark’
skinned foreigners in the Indian society. An African
going out with an Indian girl is frowned upon and some
find it unacceptable. At the same time, no objections
are raised if it is a ‘fair skinned’ foreigner. Does
this mean a ‘black man’ is seen as someone evil? 
Some of the Indian girls who have ventured out with
students of African origins often find themselves on
the receiving end. They are branded ‘loose’ or ‘of low
moral character’. They become objects of ridicule and
attract all kinds of glances and passing remarks
whenever they accompany their friends to social
gatherings or public places.  
“It is something I have leant to live with,” confides
Vidya, a hotel management student. “To me, I am not
really bothered because it is our friendship that
counts and as long as we have common interests skin
color does not count,” she adds. One wonders why even
normal friendship is also taken to mean ‘something
more’. 
But does this mean Indians are racists? While many
Indians would like others to believe racism is a
western phenomenon, the Indian society is racist as
well though this is often downplayed. The tendency is
more pronounced in public places, transport systems of
social functions where the sight of persons of African
descent attracts unwarranted glances. Many would
dismiss this as matter of curiosity but not the
victims.  
It is really embarrassing to travel in public buses,”
says Kevin, a graduate of Law. Commuters look at you
and pass racial remarks amidst boisterous laughter,”
he hastens to add. 
Racism in the Indian context finds expression in
different forms although one may find it subtle in
nature. Whether it is in the day to day interactions,
learning institutions or homes, there is a stigma
attached to being dark skinned and this is ingrained
into the psyche that no one ponders to think what it
means to an individual, particularly an African. 
In India, fairness of the skin is rated along side
personal qualities such as ‘pleasant’, homely’, and
even worse ‘domestically trained’, which are
considered virtues in an Indian woman. A cursory
glance at the matrimonial pages of the local
newspapers which lay emphasis on fair skinned brides
and grooms, and the aggressive marketing of the so-
called fairness creams makes it clear that being
‘dark’ or ‘dusky’ is not ‘in’. 
The tendency to demean other races because of their
colour flows through the social structure of the
Indian society. Often, you will find parents in the
safe confines of their homes drawing attention of
their children to a ‘kaalia’ passing by. 
The bottom line is that ‘kaalia’ is bad and should be
avoided at all cost. To them, Africans are not only
‘bad elements’ but ‘a barbaric lot’. Taunts of
‘koothi’ (Monkey) are all too familiar insults.
Occasionally, while some of the African students
retort back, others find it easier to ignore these
insults than engage in verbal exchange of words, which
could lead to physical confrontations. 
What then is the way out of all these divisions? Ms.
Anita Ganesh of Samvada, a voluntary organization
working with college students in the city feels that
all societies have institutionalized racism. Children
from an early age imbibe racial tendencies since their
parents rarely look at its repercussions ad herein
lies the problem. Citing her own experiences in
Britain recently, she overheard a small child point at
her and say, “There goes the vampire!” as she was
passing by their house. 
It is therefore surprising that most of the Indians
who look down on ‘blacks’ also look up to ‘whites’.
This could be taken to mean that they categorise the
world into three segments – whites, browns and blacks.
It is a fact that Indians face racist attitudes abroad
but they do not want to fight back or relate such
incidences when they return back home. Their reasons?
They do not want to be looked down upon as victims. 
On their part, the students have made attempts to be
closer to their hosts. Charles Kagiri, a student of
University Law College, and the current Chairman of
the Kenya African Student Associations in Bangalore
feels that the prejudices and misconceptions between
the students and their hosts can be bridged if one
understands the local language. As of now, he finds
the Indian society ‘an exclusive club’ where anything
not Indian is considered retrograde.
Meanwhile, efforts aimed at making living pleasurable
for the foreign students (Africans included) by the
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in
Bangalore, and a host of Indian families need to be
lauded. 
However, the approach has to shift from helping the
African students cope with animosity and racial
provocations to sensitizing the general public towards
other races. After all, racism is not only about
specific incidences but an evil deeply entrenched in
our social institutions. 

#End#      


John Patrick Ojwando,
Research Scholar,
Dept. of Studies 
in Communication & Journalism,
University of Mysore,
Manasagangothri Campus,
Mysore -570 006
Mobile: 98454 00477

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