Pushing the Paradigm

Abstract

This study locates the scholarship on the Siddis of India and the Kaffirs of Sri Lanka—two Africana communities in the Indian Ocean. Using Afrocentric theories and concepts, this study interrogates the limitations of extant scholarship on the Siddis and Kaffirs using a content analysis of select scholarly texts. Through this content analysis, the discursive decentralization of the history, culture, perspectives, and experiences of the Siddis and Kaffirs submerged in Eurocentric and multicultural narratives of African presence in India and Sri Lanka is revealed. This study establishes typologies of the dominant discursive approaches that scholars are using to study the Siddis and Kaffirs. In uncovering these typologies, this study emphasizes the importance of a culturally grounded worldview, methodological framework, and scholarly location for the accurate and complete study and theorization about Africana people in the Indian Ocean region.

Keywords

Afrocentricity African diaspora Indian Ocean Siddi Kaffir

Introduction

The African presence in the Indian Ocean littoral remains the lesser-known migratory trajectory of African dispersion in the world (Alpers, 2000). The dispersion of Africans in this part of the world predates that of the Atlantic Ocean world (Alpers, 2000; de Silva Jayasuriya, 2008; Harris, 1971). Scholars studying the African Diaspora have tended to focus disproportionately on the Atlantic world and ignored that of the Indian Ocean (Alpers, 2004). This indicates a fairly narrow conceptualization of “African Diaspora” influencing the focus—academically and in public discourse—on the array of images, cultures, and histories of Africans who were involved in the Westward dispersion through the transatlantic slave trade (Harris, 1971).

There is no longstanding literary tradition of struggling either to recall African origins or to understand the retention and transformation of African ways in the Indian Ocean world where Africans found themselves as a consequence of the slave trade (Alpers, 2000). There is a general absence of historical sources that explore how settlements of African descendants were formed and when they took place (Camara, 2004). This documentation exists in fragments unlike the voluminous scholarship on dispersion across the Atlantic Ocean region (Harris, 1971).

A number of factors contribute to the complexity of the African Diaspora in this vast region of the world and distinguish it from that of the much-better-known Atlantic world (Alpers, 2000). Harris (1971) notes that “there are many travel accounts written by Arabs and Europeans who took notice of the slave trade and of Africans in Asia” including those of merchants, colonialists, and missionaries (p. xiii). American and European scholars appear to be less concerned with the African Diaspora in the East due to the narrow focus on Diaspora as being contained mostly in the Atlantic Ocean region, a lack of familiarity with Eastern languages, literature, and cultures, as well as a general absence of Pan African sentiment in these communities (Waltz & Brandt, 2006).

Contemporary scholars continue to rely on Eurocentric approaches and methodologies in the face of inadequate travel literature and scholarship by natives of the Indian Ocean region and/or those of African descent, thereby perpetuating colonial continuities and creating dangerous dichotomies in the discourse on Africana people (cf. Arnfred, 2004). The perspective taken in this scholarship tends to be linear, imposes European cultural standards on non-European cultural groups, and considers non-European groups backward and victims of their own marginalized circumstances (Carroll, 2008; Kambon, 1998). There is some scholarship on Africana people in the Indian Ocean region that tends to take on the kind of multicultural approach to research that Africana studies scholars argue does not view the human-nature relationship as interdependent and inseparable (Kambon, 1998). The fundamental issue with multicultural approaches is that although it is an acceptance of multiple cultures, subscription to this multiculturalism continues to function within a Eurocentric framework (Asante, 1991). The African-centered worldview acknowledges the interdependent human-nature relationship among Africana people, which is important because in so doing, it privileges the cultural themes and patterns unique to the continuous African experience. This relationship emphasizes positive and affirmative harmony between humanity, the self, and nature (Kambon, 1998).

Literature

Literature reviewed in this study critically engaged historical and contemporary scholarship. Four major themes were identified: A Historic Overview of African Dispersion in the Indian Ocean Region, Existing Scholarship on the Siddis and Kaffirs, Issues in the Discourse of Existing Scholarship, and The Afrocentric Paradigm and the Diaspora. Much of this scholarship begins with an exploration and discussion of migration and the historical significance of African dispersion across the Indian Ocean to India and Sri Lanka. Scholars engage and critique what is being formulated as the discourse on Africana people in South Asia. They are interested in finding material remains that link the Siddis and Kaffirs to a tangible African ancestry. While scholars acknowledge the inadequacies of models and theories developed in the West for the study of African Diaspora, they too fall into the trap of using these very analytical tools to theorize the experiences of the Siddis and Kaffirs. Such identifiable issues are exposed with careful examination of contemporary scholarship, indicating the need for culturally grounded approaches to the study of the Siddis and Kaffirs. A renewed conceptualization of African Diaspora that accounts for the multiplicity and heterogeneity of Africana people reinforces “Africa as homeland, Africans and their descendants, and the adopted residence/home abroad” as integrated notions rather than mutually exclusive ones because they represent the complete experience of the Siddis and Kaffirs (Harris, 2003, p. 158).

The literature also discusses the usefulness of the Afrocentric paradigm as a fundamental analytical tool in the study of Africana people for future scholarship about the Siddis and Kaffirs. Harris (2003) draws attention to the fact that “. . . cultural continuity does not always manifest itself in readily obvious forms,” and while documentation about music and dance among the Siddis and Kaffirs is an important scholarly contribution, “. . . scholars must still look into issues such as food and eating habits, dress, language, work, and contributions in agriculture and [. . . ] crafts, [and] the impact of the [B]lack struggle for human rights on the democratic traditions abroad” (p. 162). Acknowledging that Diasporic communities are in a constant process of reinterpreting and revitalizing their culture to articulate it in ways that are acceptable to their host societies is also important (Harris, 2003).

Gordon and Anderson (1999) suggest a theoretical model on African Diaspora in relation to questions of race, culture, and politics arguing for focus to be placed on “the various processes through which communities and individuals identify with one another, highlighting the central importance of race—racial constructions, racial oppressions, racial identification—and culture in the making and remaking of Diaspora” (p. 284). This is important because as Kambon (1998) notes, it encompasses a complete phenomenal experience that views everything as relational between the person and the experience. While some scholars prefer to think of Diasporic identities and cultures as a form of hybridity, ethnographic approaches to studying Africana people do not simply juxtapose this concept with what might be considered the ontological essentialism of Afrocentricity (Kambon, 1998). Rather, these approaches are dismissive of Afrocentricity as a tool for analysis. The research question pursued in this study was, Based on a content analysis of select scholarly texts, what are the approaches being used in the existing scholarship about the Siddis and Kaffirs—African-descended communities in India and Sri Lanka—and what are the implications of these approaches to their Africanity and Consciousness of Victory?

Method

The relationship between a researcher’s worldview, their particular research methodology, and research focus on culturally specific phenomenon is of utmost importance when studying Africana people (Carroll, 2008). Afrocentrists acknowledge the importance of assumptions to a researcher’s methodology because they reflect the researcher’s worldview (Carroll, 2008). Therefore, it is important to interrogate a researcher’s worldview and assumptions to fully understand the cultural implications on research projects about Africana people (Carroll, 2008). An Afrocentric methodology is a structural research approach that generates a re-conceptualization of Africana phenomena (Pellerin, 2012). This study situates the Afrocentric paradigm as a “governing tool of inquiry” (Pellerin, 2012). In this study, the paradigm is uniquely positioned outside the much-researched transatlantic model where Afrocentric scholarship is a growing body of research. An objective of this study was to highlight the importance of studying the various non-Afrocentric narratives and interpretations, analyze them and their consequences, and not simply ignore them.

The method used in this study was content analysis—a research tool used to determine the presence of certain themes, words, concepts, and sentences within texts to identify patterns, biases, and meanings (McDougal, 2012). Asante’s (2003) Location Theory was used to inform the coding system developed for content analysis. This approach facilitated an interpretation of the meanings of texts in a combination of historical and contemporary research about the Siddis and Kaffirs. The texts selected for the study satisfied one or both of the following criteria: (a) the authors having spent a considerable number of years studying the ethnic groups and/or (b) they had produced foundational texts that were being cited by at least three other scholars studying the same groups. This methodology explored 20 select scholarly texts on the Siddis and Kaffirs. These texts include monographs, journal articles, and essays in edited volumes. Content analysis was conducted on these texts to provide essential themes and categories for the development of typologies of the approaches to scholarship on Siddis and Kaffirs derived from these major scholarly texts. A coding schedule and manual form the coding system for content analysis.

Latent coding was conducted in order to interpret context and multiple meanings beyond what is revealed in the physical presence of words alone (McDougal, 2012). The coding criteria were subject area(s) about the ethnic group, the author’s attention to the African history and heritage of the ethnic group(s), the ethnic group’s consciousness of victory, the author’s explanation of present-day marginalization of the ethnic group, author’s disposition toward Africa and, author’s explanation of the ethnic group’s cultural identity and continuity. These dimensions allowed the researcher to determine the location or dislocation of a text in order to arrive at a meaningful understanding about the author’s representation of the ethnic group. It was also necessary to determine whether the researcher was grounded in the culture and history of the Africana community that he or she was seeking to gain a deeper understanding of (Pellerin, 2012). Six major questions were answered for each text analyzed:

What subject areas about the ethnic group(s) does the author focus on?

Does the author give attention to the ethnic group’s African history and heritage?

Does the author give attention to the present-day marginalized position of the ethnic group(s) in the host society?

How does the author explain the agency of the ethnic group(s)?

What is the author’s disposition toward the Africanity of the ethnic group(s)?

How does the author explain the cultural identity and continuity of the ethnic group(s)?

The analysis in this study revealed the presence of major themes such as the author’s explanation for the present-day marginalization of the ethnic group, the author’s disposition toward Africa, the author’s explanation for the cultural continuity and identity among the ethnic groups, and the author’s explanation for the group’s consciousness of victory. All these themes served to determine the conceptual approaches that the scholars operate from.

Findings

The major findings of the content analysis are based on the following coding dimensions: Marginalized Position of the Ethnic Group in Present Day Host Society, Consciousness of Victory, Disposition Toward Africa, and Cultural Continuity and Identity. Each of these coding dimensions provides a glimpse into how scholars are approaching the study of the Siddis and the Kaffirs.

Marginalization of Ethnic Group in Present Day Host Society

Scholars explain the current conditions of marginalization, impoverishment, and depressed socioeconomic status faced by the ethnic group in the host society. de Silva Jayasuriya (2008) discusses the connections between colonialism and the contemporary state of marginalization and impoverishment among the Kaffirs, stating,

. . . Once the European domination ended, and when the Europeans withdrew from Asia, the Africans were generally marginalized in their new surroundings. As people in-between the colonizer and the colonized, and having been identified with the colonial powers, they generally have suffered after decolonization. (p. 35)

Despite navigating a complex identity of being “in-between,” it is misleading to assert that the Kaffirs were positioned with privilege and power between the “colonizers” and the “colonized.” A more appropriate and accurate representation would be to shed light on how this “in-between” positioning, in fact, serves as another dimension of marginalization that is evidenced by their conditions today.

Lodhi (1992) highlights that prior to British rule in India, the Siddis had begun a process of “assimilation,” but due to divide-and-rule ideologies of the colonizers, they became segregated among themselves and other indigenous Indian people:

. . . the Sidis have been re-tribalised and have become impoverished in many areas. Those Sidi settlements which are organised as separate communities with a tribal system existing outside the main political stream and currents of socio-economic development, have been classified as Scheduled Tribes (as are dozens of other indigenous tribes of India) and get Central Government support. (p. 85)

In discussing the segregation of the Siddis during colonialism, Lodhi (1992) highlights class and socioeconomic disparities that prevail today.

The Scheduled Tribe status granted to the Siddis in 2003 allows them access to resources and facilities that previously were unavailable (Obeng, 2007). On the extent to what this Scheduled Tribe status affords the Siddis, Obeng (2007) states,

This new, legally and socially legitimate identity provides them with access to Indian educational, health, and other social facilities, not because of individual talent or military skills, but because they belong to an ethnic, racial, and social group that has suffered social and political disadvantage for centuries. (p. 226)

The reality remains that classification of Scheduled Tribe status entitles the Siddis to considerable state support in terms of education, political representation, and employment opportunities within the government. However, Obeng’s (2007) observations reflect aspects of Eurocentric groupings along the lines of ethnic difference.

Patel (2004) considers racial, sociocultural, and economic disadvantages faced by the Siddis as a marginalized population in India. Patel (2004) points to educational “backwardness” among the Siddis, which she attributes to two factors: “Firstly, they have distinctive ethnic features that set them apart [. . . and] a second factor is the social structure of Indian society within which they are living” (p. 214). Patel (2004) does not engage in probing this further to determine how these factors reinforce the Siddis’ “backwardness” or how the experience of disadvantage is related to performance in schools, access to education, and the availability of educational resources.

A scholarly interrogation of the impoverishment, marginalization, and discrimination faced by the Siddis and Kaffirs is necessary in order to design solutions that alleviate these conditions, highlight their self-determination, and cultivate liberation. However, an approach to this interrogation that does not consider the potential for achievement—in other words, a consciousness of victory—serves only to further impede the discursive cultural relocation and revitalization of Africana people.

Consciousness of Victory

The author’s attention to how the ethnic group has used available resources to shape their lives and adapt to new environments based on their own definitions of reality, self-image, agency, and interests was analyzed. This is what is meant by a victorious consciousness among Africana people and is characterized by reclamation, redefinition, and reconstruction eliminating the need for reactionary forms of knowledge (Welsh, 2003). Such a consciousness reiterates the will of the collective consciousness and “. . . is instructed by pain and struggle, thus becoming a world-view that organizes perspective [and] minimizes defeat . . .” (Welsh, 2003, p. 221).

Drewal (2004) aptly notes that although the Siddis have had limited options for actions, they have prevailed despite the odds. Siddi achievement and self-determination are justified by “. . . their ability to adapt, to be flexible, improvisational in their strategies and tactics,” positing survival strategies of this nature as being unique to Africana people (Drewal, 2004, p. 154):

. . . “going along” to “get along” has never been their only choice. They have also demonstrated extraordinary courage, will, and endurance in feeling bondage and literally carving out new lives of freedom and independence for themselves in the harsh and dangerous environment of the forests of the Western Ghats in places no one else was willing to tame until recently. There they established small, self-governing settlements and farms, and continued their hunting traditions in order to survive. (Drewal, 2004, p. 154)

Drewal’s (2004) observations demonstrate implicitly how the Siddis have continued to achieve and thrive. Afrocentrists would argue that the achievement, flexibility, and adaptability of the Siddis exemplify their consciousness of victory and are what link them to the broader collective consciousness and struggle of Africana people across the globe.

Obeng (2007) pursues an understanding of goma in highlighting the agency of the Siddis in ritual performances and exchanges. Obeng (2011) states,

[The] Siddis use their dance and street theatre as important cultural resources to resist exploitation while they struggle for their freedom, thereby generating new meaning systems and creating political action to empower themselves. (p. 3)

These rituals accomplish the reformulation of power relations focusing on dance and street theater among the Siddis “as a way to rethink the relegation of arts as apolitical, instead of examining one of the most powerful zones of cultural communication” (Obeng, 2011, p. 3). Like many groups of Africana people, the Siddis use performance arts to articulate their socioeconomic struggles by bridging the creative with the political. Obeng (2011) suggests that Siddi creative expression displays how the dominant and the dominated vie for power in a given cultural space. The notion of being dominated by a host society force in Obeng’s (2011) analysis appears to be the point of departure for the historical factors and cultural legacies embodied in Siddi performance arts. On the other hand, a culturally grounded approach to understanding these phenomena considers how their aesthetic imperative is driven by the history, mythology, and values that transcend time, geographical boundaries, and present itself in surface and deep-structure realities (Welsh, 2003).

de Silva Jayasuriya (2011) brings together vital pieces of the history of Africans in the British regiments in Sri Lanka by looking at colonial documents from the British era. During World War II, the British stationed troops of Africans on the island (Alpers, 2004). British African troops were purchased in Goa, India, and at the time, Governor Frederick North also sought a steady supply of Africans from Mozambique (de Silva Jayasuriya, 2011). de Silva Jayasuriya (2011) comments on the movement of Mozambiquans to Sri Lanka:

. . . the customary ill-treatment during the Mozambique passage had caused several deaths, to the Africans on board, mostly from beri-beri. Almost 25% of the first 600 Africans brought from Mozambique died during the initial year in Colombo [the capital city of Sri Lanka]. Those who survived the sudden uprooting, the Middle Passage and the displacement to a strange land, became good soldiers—“fine, hardy, stout, good-humoured fellows, and excellent road-makers . . . .” (p. 19)

de Silva Jayasuriya’s (2011) language around Africans becoming “good soldiers” following “displacement to a strange land” demonstrates the colonial continuity in narratives about Africana people that use Eurocentric approaches.

Camara (2004) highlights the activism and social justice orientation of the Siddis. In 1984, under the leadership of some elders, the Siddis formed an activist and welfare organization under the title, All Karnataka Siddi Development Association (AKSDA). Scholars bring attention to the series of challenges and obstacles that ensued:

As a result of internal difficulties and lack of knowledge about how to run an association, problems arose. Funds were mismanaged and plans did not materialise as planned. After a few years of existence with ups and downs AKSDA finally became dysfunctional. But that did not stop some of the younger Siddi men, who continue to struggle. A new attempt was made with a new set up and new set of management consisting of young Siddi men who at least were literate (in contrast to AKSDA management in which most of the members were illiterate). And again with financial support from abroad a new association was formed in 1990, the Siddi Development Project (SDP). (Camara, 2004, p. 159)

The underlying objective of the AKSDA appears to be that of elevating the Siddi community. Camara (2004) views literacy as a major challenge for the AKSDA. This approach to studying the AKSDA highlights how their individual lack of formal education has resulted in major setbacks for the Siddi collective. This is distinct from Obeng’s (2007) approach, which sheds light on the self-determining nature of the Siddis:

Some of the leaders of the Siddi Development Society [SDS] are social workers. The participation of social workers in the organization provides the group with people who are knowledgeable about the historically depressed conditions of African Indians. Those members further help the organization and other African Indians to understand the factors that contributed to their depressed conditions, as well as ways for improving some of these conditions. (Obeng, 2007, p. 202)

Obeng (2007) shows how the Siddis have been creative and strategic, despite the challenges of literacy, in providing services to improve their community.

Alpers (2004) looks at the prominent positions of leadership that Siddis occupied under successive rulers of the state of Gujarat during the middle decades of the century. Malik Ambar, the most influential Siddi (at that time referred to as Habshis) leader in the political history of the Deccan, was wazir (the Arabic term for minister) and virtual ruler of Ahmadnagar from 1600 to 1625 (Alpers, 2004):

Malik Ambar rose to prominence by defeating an invading Mughal army in 1601 and securing the throne for the heir to the Nizam Sharhi dynasty. He rearranged the kingdom’s revenue system, organized the army to defend against the Mughals, founded a new capital city at Khirki (later Aurangaba) in 1610, and ordered the construction of a sophisticated water system to the town. (p. 32)

Scholars writing about the contributions of Africans to India’s political history portray a favorable assessment of Ambar’s rise to power and period of reign. Harris’s (1971) narrative of Ambar’s rule is significant because it centralizes various aspects of his administration that indicate the richness of Siddi heritage:

He improved the communication system within his kingdom by developing a postal service with messengers dispatched throughout the region. He recognized that the Deccan was inhabited by several minority groups whose loyalty he would receive only if they had a stake in his kingdom. He particularly encouraged the enlistment of Habshis [Siddis] in his army and gave them a Koranic education. Some of them became businessmen, but the largest number were enlisted in his private guard. He reportedly purchased 1,000 Habshi [Siddi] slaves for this guard, which became a strong corps of shock troops. (pp. 94-95)

Ambar’s transition from a position of enslavement to one of power and positive influence on his community is another example of the victorious consciousness among the Siddis at that time. The fact that scholars have engaged this subject in a positive and life-affirming manner historically situates the political identity of the Siddis as marked by more than oppression. Documenting the achievements of Africana people in scholarship so that theory and discourse about Africans are reconnected to African core cultural values and collective existence is vital. Theorizing the victorious consciousness of Africana people disrupts the continuities of Eurocentric cultural domination and narratives that deny and suppress the multidimensional reality of Africana people.

Disposition Toward Africa

The author’s disposition toward Africa was determined in this coding dimension. Two subdimensions were also explored with this: (a) how the author engages Africa, as determined by the extent of connections made based on genetic or biological identity and/or in terms of cultural expression and production and (b) the author’s evaluation of Africa based on the use of positive or negative language suggesting the nature of the ethnic group’s relationship to Africa. Scholars are largely concerned with identifying some degree of what they refer to as “Africanisms” in the exploration and explanation of Siddi and Kaffir cultural phenomena.

Catlin-Jairazbhoy (2004) seeks to understand the African cultural traits found in Siddi musical instruments. She does this by looking at the names given to the musical instruments and the ways in which they physically resemble musical instruments found in Africa today. Catlin-Jairazbhoy’s (2004) explanation of the malunga, an instrument used in Siddi rituals even today, is an example of this. First, Catlin-Jairazbhoy (2004) notes that “the malunga, according to one Bantu linguist, is a ‘wonderfully Eastern African Bantu word in structure. It may derive from the word lung, meaning to join by tying’” (p. 187). Catlin-Jairazbhoy (2004) goes on to say,

The malunga’s name, structure, playing technique, and musical patterns closely resemble many African forms. The structure of the Sidi musical bow, with fixed gourd resonator and turning noose, is most similar to “. . . a large number of African instruments, covering a very wide area, chiefly south of the equator and principally associated with people within the limit of range of the great Bantu stock.” (p. 187)

The scholarly challenge here seems to be one of authenticity. Siddi Africanity is linked to how much authenticity can be located in their music and specifically, their musical instruments. Thus, scholars are wrestling with pinpointing to substantive and precise origins of the “Africanisms” they have identified among the Siddis, making broad speculative claims as to their specific geographical origin on the African continent. Afrocentric scholars might argue that this type of scholarly pursuit is focused on a superficial understanding of culture and cultural phenomena.

Origin narratives are a prime example of how scholars evaluate Africa. Some are distinctively more assertive in their approach and analysis of the African roots associated with the Siddis and Kaffirs, while others are not. The more assertive a scholar is about the African lineage of the Siddis and Kaffirs, the greater the positive and affirmative relationship between Africa and the ethnic group in their scholarly representation. For example, Obeng (2007) sets forth at the outset of his text, Shaping Membership, Defining Nation: The Cultural Politics of African Indians in South Asia, that present-day African Indians are, in fact, descendants of various dispersed and enslaved groups of Africans who arrived in India as part of the ancient trading relations across the Arabian and Red Seas and the Indian Ocean. Obeng (2007) asserts that this was occurring

from as early as the seventh century to the early twentieth century, Africans, called variously “Abyssinians,” “Ethiopians,” “Habshis,” and “Siddis,” had been transported to South Asia as part of the early Muslim Omani Arab and the later Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, and American trading companies. (p. 1)

With this representation, no doubt is cast about how the Siddis arrived in India.

de Silva Jayasuriya (2003, 2008) refers to Kaffir origin narratives as “theories,” “myths” or “legends.”

There are several theories about their origins. One theory asserts that the Kaffirs arrived via Goa [. . .] and that they originate from a region named Kaffa in Ethiopia, and that therefore they are called Kaffirs. (de Silva Jayasuriya, 2003, p. 272)

de Silva Jayasuriya (2008) places greater primacy on the written sources—which happen to be authored by European colonizers—over the Kaffirs’ own oral traditions of historical memory, stating,

According to Afro-Sri Lankans who I interviewed, their ancestors were brought to Sri Lanka by the Europeans; this identifies their migration with Sri Lanka’s colonial era that began in the sixteenth century and lasted until the middle of the twentieth century. Oral accounts are fragmented, but historical documents confirm that the successive waves of Portuguese, Dutch and British traders and colonizers brought Africans with them or imported them while they were in Sri Lanka. (p. 31)

It appears that for some scholars, oral histories are significant only when they can fill a gap in the written words of historical documentation.

This coding dimension revealed that scholars are driven by the desire to establish linkages to the African continent based on cultural reproductions and/or retentions of the Siddis’ and Kaffirs’ cultural phenomena they have sought to study and understand. There is little room for clarification and refinement in understanding Siddi and Kaffir cultural phenomena when assumptions about authenticity are rigid and not culturally grounded.

Cultural Continuity and Identity

The continuous cultural experience of the ethnic group in their current social location is determined by the scholar’s attention to the role of Africa in explaining how the ethnic group remembers their past and how memories and traditions are passed down to younger generations. This is determined by two sub-dimensions: (a) how the author accounts for the culture of the ethnic group, which is based on how the present state of this culture is explained (as being either fused and heavily influenced by the host society environment, as being transformed, or existing in complete isolation from the rest of society), and (b) the scholar’s evaluation of the culture. This analysis is based on the specific language the scholar uses to suggest the nature of the ethnic group’s literacy, self-determination, and advancement.

Scholars hypothesize that theories about the Kaffirs’ experience and history can be achieved by treating their creative expressions as historical and cultural resources that illuminate their past. de Silva Jayasuriya (2008) states that music and dance are the best indicators of an African legacy: “Negritude is expressed through a combination of music and song known as manjas” as well as “spontaneous unchoreographed dancing” that strongly resembles Kaffringha, which is a type of popular music in Sri Lanka. Kaffringha is built on a European melodic system and merges musical styles from three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is unclear what de Silva Jayasuriya (2008) means by “negritude” here, as it is not defined or contextualized beyond this statement.

According to Meier (2004), to counter their current socioeconomic conditions, the Siddis “have been encouraged to perform their dances as symbols of the diversity of India and as ‘survivals’ of ‘Africanness’” (p. 90). Siddis are generally enlisted to perform at religious festivals, diplomatic mission celebrations, and Independence Day events (Meier, 2004; Obeng, 2007). Thus, multiple local, national, and international agendas and mechanisms that intersect with the Siddis’ identity and Africanity appear to be at play.

Music and dance are more extensive than cultural articulation and preservation as the notion of spirituality in these exchanges is investigated. Obeng (2011) states that Siddis deploy the drama of spirit possession for self-definition and empowerment, emphasizing that the Karnataka Siddi spirit possession experience is similar to the Northern Sudan Zar cult, which is a traditional healing performance and involves possessed women working as mediums through which spirit beings communicate with the living. Zar has three references here: (a) a type of spirit, (b) the illness such a spirit can cause by possessing humans, and (c) the rituals necessary to pacify the spirit (Boddy, 2004).

In Baila Kaffrinna, Ariyaratne (2001) devotes a chapter to a discussion of the Kaffirs’ role in influencing the evolution of kaffringha in Sri Lanka. By the same token, Ariyaratne (2001) questions the modernity of the Kaffirs in their language use, their “peculiar” physical features such as “black complexion, curly hair, and protuberant lips,” as well as the colonial influence that has had a hand in elevating them as an ethnic group (p. 29). By interrogating modernity in language alongside the “peculiarities” of phenotype, Ariyaratne (2001) sets up a pejorative conceptualization of the Kaffirs and valorizes the colonial influence on the development of Kaffringha.

For Africana people, art is a conscious expression of impression and experience, individual and collective, regardless of whether transmission is by memory or activity (Welsh, 2003). An Afrocentric methodological framework for studying cultural phenomena of the Siddis and Kaffirs would highlight the overlapping and coexisting nature of spirit, rhythm, and creativity that stem from “epic memory,” or a “sense of ancestorism” (Welsh, 2003, p. 218). Thus, this trifold relationship links the past with the present and allows for full mediation of identity for Africana people (Welsh, 2003). An Afrocentric approach to studying cultural continuity among the Siddis and Kaffirs would, therefore, reveal that music, dance, and spirit possession rituals symbolize much more than survivals and retentions of “Africanisms.”

Conclusion

The content analysis in this study generated four typologies of approaches to research on the Siddis and Kaffirs. These approaches are as follows: Historical, Ontological, Cultural, and Sociopolitical (see Table 1). In each of these approaches, distinct factors relating to the attitude, direction, and language congruent with Location Theory was discovered. Attitude is the orientation and response to the situations and ideas that scholars are writing about (Mazama, 2003). Direction refers to symbols that are present in a text (Mazama, 2003). Language encompasses words used and includes semantic analysis (Mazama, 2003).

Table 1.

Typologies of Approaches.

	Characteristics of approach
Dominant discursive approach	Attitude (orientation and response of writers)	Direction (symbols)	Language (words used) examples
Historical	Primacy of written word over spoken word.	Oral histories of African ancestry, heritage, and migration are treated as “myth,” “legend,” or as a “theory” to explain the roots and routes of Siddi and Kaffir settlements in India and Sri Lanka.	“African slaves”
Ontological	Monoculturalism and monohistoricalism as evidenced by the location of the writer.	Overt statements about the ontological outlook employed in relation to the scholar’s motivations for researching African cultural phenomena among the Siddis and Kaffirs.	“Africanist,” “participatory”
Cultural	European cultural assumptions about the language and culture of the Siddis and Kaffirs.	Claims about cultural survivals, transformations, and continuities as displaying signs and symbols of continental African cultural characteristics.	“Africanisms,” “African vs. Indian identity”
Sociopolitical	European ideas of what it means to be advanced, progressive, and literate.	The agency and self-determination of the Siddis and Kaffirs is treated simply as resistance to the domination exercised by the host society.	“Backwardness,” “frozen in time,” “African slaves,” “Good soldiers,” “to write and to read like an educated man”

If scholars treated Siddi and Kaffir cultural practices as having gone through multiple transitions and therefore, transformations, the research objectives would be focused on studying the phenomena as a whole, thus, making the narratives less fractured and based on strengths rather than deficits. An approach that respects the cultural center of Africana people appropriately accounts for the complexities associated with culture, heritage, and identity among these groups whatever their geo-social location. Research approaches that reinforce colonial continuities allow imperialism and colonialism to see, name, and know the realities of cultural communities (cf. Smith, 1999). In turn, the resulting scholarship obscures the subaltern knowledge of the Siddis and Kaffirs, calling into question their indigeneity and membership in Pan African movements and African cultural groupings (cf. Smith, 1999).

Table 1 presents these typologies in a cohesive manner, highlighting the assumptions and orientations that inform how these approaches manifest in scholarly texts. Each of these approaches embodies the linguistic mechanism of “language planning” that Mazama (2003) highlights as being a significant concern in non-Afrocentric scholarship. It is in sorting and identifying what is already available in the scholarship about Africana people that Afrocentric scholars are able to “ferret out, resurrect, examine, and restore information about the [lives, experiences, and] effect[s] of African[a] people on past, present, and future [. . .] research” (Fischer, 2013, p. 10). This has been the objective of the present study and provides the imperative for scholars studying the African Diaspora to unsettle and disrupt the dominant discursive approaches and narratives of oppression about the Siddis and Kaffirs. For researchers from disciplines other than Africana studies, it is a fundamental task when studying Africana people to be committed to representing the history, culture, ideas, experiences, and behaviors of these groups from an African-centered perspective.

These typologies demonstrate how a Eurocentric worldview has guided research about the Siddis and Kaffirs further revealing that Western thought continues to find its way into a research agenda despite a scholar’s intentions to produce culturally sensitive and liberating scholarship. While this is no excuse for the volume of culturally irrelevant scholarship that exists about Africana people, it is crucial that scholars pay attention to their cultural location. A Eurocentric worldview does not allow an understanding of European colonization as “the systematic imposition of the European worldview, whereas [our own] ways of being, doing, seeing, feeling, knowing, etc. were being devalued, discarded, and replaced with supposedly better, i.e., European ones, resulting in Europe’s occupation of quasi-all human space” (Mazama, 2003, p. 4). Therefore, scholars embarking on research about Africana communities must necessarily acknowledge the amount of internal work required to disrupt these Western thought processes and Eurocentric ideas and assumptions about Africana people.

An Afrocentric worldview espouses an “epistemological centeredness” and engenders the critical need to “retrieve and embrace African cultural values and ideals” and is the most deliberate and powerful instruction for Africana liberation (Mazama, 2003, p. 13). Such a culturally grounded approach to studying the Siddis and Kaffirs provides a re-centering and relocation of cultural symbols, motifs, signs, rituals, and language. This is not to argue that Afrocentricity is flawless and a perfect solution to the problems this research study seeks to address. Rather, it is the acknowledgment that as the most pertinent and potent culturally grounded approach to studying Africana people, it is a starting point for those theorizing the history, culture, and experiences of the Siddis and Kaffirs. In the context of the Indian Ocean region where Afrocentric approaches have not been applied, the task of Afrocentric and African Diaspora scholars lies in pushing the paradigm to include the complexity, heterogeneity, and multiplicity of the Siddis and Kaffirs.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biography

Sureshi Jayawardene, MA, is a first-year PhD student in African American Studies at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on Africana communities in India and Sri Lanka and the importance of culturally grounded approaches to studying the African Diaspora. She has a master’s degree in ethnic studies with emphasis in Africana studies from San Francisco State University.

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