Black India, the social constructions of the Siddis, African Descendants in India

Abstract

This thesis concerns the processes of identification and unification of the Siddis, Indians of African descent. They are defined by physical attributes which signal their African origins, at the root of their otherness in India. However, not all African descendants in India identify as Siddi, and conversely, not all Siddis possess the physical characteristics that may be associated with African origins. Siddis are scattered groups, and are attributed to low social status. They do not all speak the same language, have distinct religious practices, and live in geographically distant areas. This thesis is the product of an ethnographic study carried out between 2014 and 2020 among Siddis from Gujarat, Karnataka, Mumbai and Hyderabad, which examines life narratives, journeys, and individuals and collective memories of contemporary African descendants. These reveal the multiplicity of their ancestors’ trajectories, a result of the complex geopolitical relations between India, East Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Though slavery is the main cause of Africans’ mass deportation towards the Indian subcontinent, Africans and their descendants nevertheless occupied various social positions, sometimes even high-ranking ones. Despite this diversity, this research highlights processes of identification and unification between Siddis, set within regional, national and transnational networks. From Gujarat to Mumbai, Siddis have united for over two hundred years through Sufism, constructing their identity in relation to a cosmology of African Sufi saints that are worshipped and celebrated through music, rituals and kinship. In the forests of northern Karnataka, different Siddi communities (Christian, Muslim and Hindu) initiated a process of unification in the 1980s, establishing political, social, economic and artistic organisations, as well as interfaith marriages, to transcend religious barriers and create membership. Siddi networks are also developing at a n