A brand new collaboration: Not sitting still

I returned from Lisbon in December 2017 after completing my MSc in International Studies with the honours of best Masters Dissertation. My dissertation was titled "Ambiguous Citizenship: The Siddis of Uttara Kannada".

Upon returning, I took some time out to consider my options in Goa. I soon took up a teaching job at Instituto Camões-Centro de Língua Portuguesa, Goa, which was my first experience of teaching Portuguese to a group. Almost immediately I began giving Portuguese language tuitions (from home) to school students.  These two activities kept me busy as well as afforded me ample free time to pursue my hobbies, during my process of resettling in Goa.

In March, 2018, I came across a Bangalore based NGO, Bridges of Sports (BoS). I learned from their webpage and blog that the objective of the NGO was to train backward communities in India (like adivasis, Gawlis, Siddis etc) in sports as a form of empowering these communities. I immediately liked the idea of this project as it was similar to the SAI Special Area Games project which aimed at training Siddis (African-Indians) in athletics, to eventually produce athletes that would represent India at International meets. Unfortunately, the SAI project was short-lived. The BoS project seemed like a fresh attempt, not just with the Siddis but with other backward communities in India. I thought to myself, I've just completed a dissertation on the Siddis of Uttara Kannada, where I conducted a successful field research. Incidentally, this had been the first field research that I conducted and I had gained sufficient confidence from this initial forage into field research. So why not go back into the field and develop on my initial study? Also, this was one way to keep working with the Siddis.

I subsequently wrote to the NGO, introducing myself and offering my services of collaboration, should they require it. Their response was prompt and they were very enthusiastic in securing my collaboration. I soon had a meeting with Mr Nitish Chiniwar, the founder of BoS, a strongly driven individual, who upon first meeting proved to be very resourceful. Soon, more calls with Nitish and Sourav Mukherji, Dean of IIM Bangalore, that was supporting the project, had me convinced that I could contribute in some way. We decided to get this project underway.

On the 9th of June, I boarded I bus from Panaji and headed to Haliyal,, back to Siddi territory.

The Siddis of Uttara Kannada: "We are Indian now, with African blood"

"East African slaves were randomly caught, or were recruited from different tribal lands; they usually spoke related languages and several individuals came from the same area or were members of the same ethnic group. For these reasons, they could communicate in an Eastern African language at the beginning, but as mixed groups, small in numbers and spread over wide areas, surrounded by Indian languages with a long tradition, they could not maintain nor transmit their original languages and cultures to future generations. Instead, they became indianized, leaving few African linguistic traces in their speech and cultural registers of terminology. Another factor was Islam, the religion of the politically dominant section of Indian society with whom the Siddis were initially allied, which became a common denominator of their cultural identification and also facilitated their social and linguistic integration, and economic, political and military success in many areas before the advent of the British colonial rule (Abdulaziz Lodhi, 2008). Lodhi also goes as far as to state that the Siddis are de facto indians, as they speak Indian languages as their  mother tongues and practice mostly the variant of Sunni Islam with the Indian Sufi cult of pir ("saint", roughly translated) with rituals and celebrations performed at a dargah (mausoleum, shrine). At these shrines, they worship also ancestors and founders of settlements (idem)."

The above is not the case of the Siddis of Uttara Kannada, but rather the case of the Siddis of Gujarat, where Islam is the dominant religion practiced by the Siddis. However, a similar phenomenon i.e indianization, can be observed among the Siddis of Uttara Kannada. They speak Indian languages (konkani, marathi, kannada, urdu) and in dressing sense appear to have adopted Indian attire. There are no traces or clear indicators of African influence in their language or dressing style.

The Siddis of Uttara Kannada, are runaway slaves from the Portuguese enclave of Goa and those who settled later, after slavery was abolished in 1869. The Siddis of Uttara Kannada are mostly Christian although there are a large number of Hindu and Muslim Siddis as well. The Hindu Siddis are believed to have been Christian at some point and later converted to Hinduism under the Havyak Brahmins for whom they worked in Uttara Kannada. Those Siddis who practice Islam in Uttara Kannada, were also probably slaves from Goa, who escaped to lands of the surrounding Muslim rulers and eventually converted to Islam.

The Siddis of Uttara Kannada are aware that they are of African origin, however, they believe they have no lingering link with Africa through social customs, language or way of life, in what they appear to be completely indianized. I asked the Siddis that I interviewed at the Gadgera school, if there was any African influence in their language or their lives and they believed there was none.

On if she felt African or Indian, or if she thought there was any African influence in her way of life, Ramita Prakash Christian, a Siddi teacher at the Gadgera school says:"There is no connection with Africa besides our physical appearance. I know that Siddis are originally from Africa, however, the language that must have been uniquely African has been lost and we have assimilated to Indian culture and customs and here is where we  belong" (Ramita Prakash Christian, personal communication 05.01.2017).

Premnath too doesn't feel the African connection and says that the language and the customs were lost by their ancestors as they adopted and adapted to Indian customs (Premnath Androj Chrisitian, personal communication 05.01.2017).

Jacinta Naik, another Siddi teacher at the Gadgera school said she considers herself Indian, even though she feels that at the same time, she is different. She does not feel any connection with Africa: "I was born here and all I knew and know is India and Indians and hence I have no connection with Africa" She too says that she doesn't believe that there is any African influence that lingers on in the Siddi lifestyle and believes that it has all been forgotten (Jacinta Naik, personal communication, 05.01.2017)

The Siddis are an endogamous community. This is largely how the community has survived the centuries and maintained their physical features. In fact, a Siddi is clearly discernible from a non-Siddi by his physical features-although I am not taking all phenotypical criteria to distinguish them from other social groups. However, it is interesting to observe that their dress code follows the Indian one at large. They speak local languages and follow the local religions and customs. Therefore, we may note a nexus of identities with regard to the Siddis of Utarra Kannada.

The Siddis use their Siddi, religious and multiple identities based upon the social setting in which they find themselves. In the Siddi settlement, with their Siddi  acquaintances, they are Siddis, African, different from the rest. When in larger society, aware of their difference, their Indian side comes to the fore. The Siddis of Uttara Kannada are multilingual, speaking Konkani, Marathi, Kannada and Urdu. They use Marathi, Kannada and Urdu when in the larger non-Siddi society and Konkani among themselves.

Francis Siddi,  went on to say that even though the notion of Africanness exists among the Siddis and they hold it very dear to themselves, they feel that their sense of belonging is to India.

To conclude, it is pertinent to note that several Siddi participants at the Goa Conference on the African Diaspora in Asia made statements to the extent that "we are Indians now, but we have African blood".

Education: The way forward for the Siddis of Uttara Kannada, India

In my previous blog post on the Siddis, I introduced the community of  the Siddis of Uttara Kannada and described the community, its origin, history, language and settlements. In this post, which is part of the series on the Siddis, I speak about education for the Siddis and how this is an important tool for emancipation of the community.

The  educational system of the state of Karnataka consists of the following sectors:  pre-primary education (balwadi), primary education, secondary education, pre-university, college education, medical education, technical education, legal education, teachers' training and graduate teachers' training (Obeng 2008:44).

According to the  2011 Census, there are 232 villages in Uttara Kannada that do not have primary schools withing the village, but these are available within the radius of 10km, and 615 villages do not have a middle school.

In an extensive and in-depth study on the Siddis of Uttara Kannada, Pashington Obeng concedes:

"Most of the African Indian villages (perhaps 60 percent or more) do not have lower primary schools in their locality. Lack of transport facilities and bad roads to the villages have added hurdles to their access to education".

Education is the means by which the Siddis can overcome the obstacles they face in society ad improve their economic livelihoods. This opinion is held by many Siddis, both literate and illiterate. The younger, literate and educated Siddis were convinced that it was the way forward for the Siddi community as is evident from the below statements:

"Education for Siddis is more important than monetary benefits and it is only through education that Siddis can progress as a community and be more independent". (Ramita Prakash Christian, Siddi, Gadgera School Teacher, personal communication, January 2017)

"The problem that Siddis are facing is the lack of education. Until very recently, there were very few educated Siddis and hence there were none with the necessary qualifications to engage in jobs other than farming or menial jobs." (Premnath Androj Christian, Siddi, Gadgera School Caretaker, personal communication, January 2017)

The Gadgera School for Siddis

The Gadgera School, built in 2006, was the brainchild of Bosco Kaweesi, a Ugandan scholar, residing in Haliyal for the past twenty years. The school was taken over by the organisation Springs of Hope, operating from Austria and Norway, which is basically a Seventh Day Adventist organisation. I was told that there were some Siddi youth who went to study at Spicer Memorial School in Pune, a Seventh Day Adventist School.

Although the school admits a small quota of non-Siddis, priority is given to Siddi students. The students can study up till the 4th grade, after which they continue in public and private schools. Plans are underway to extend studies at the Gadgera School till the 5th grade.

The school is located away from the Gadgera Siddi village in a clearing and is about 500 metres away from the main road. The access is a bumpy mud road through the forest. It has two buildings: the school building and the cafetaria. Students reside at the school itself. The Siddi students come from across villages across talukas in Uttara Kannada; Haliyal, Mundgod and Yellapur. They only go home for the holidays or for special family functions, occasions on which parents come to pick up their children.

The teachers are both Siddis and non-Siddis. the caretaker of the school is a Siddi, Premnath Androj Christian, who incidentally belongs to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Two female Siddi teachers that I interviewed at the school also belong to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, although they were formerly Roman Catholic.

It is not surprising that the Gadgera school is a resident one, where students stay for an entire duration of the term. If it hadn't been that way, it would have been a long arduous task for students to walk to the school every day. Such are the obstacles that the Siddis face in access to education.

The Siddi teachers, Ramita Prakash Christian and Jacinta Naik, as well as the caretaker Premnath were from different Siddi villages in Uttara Kannada and none of them were from Gadgera. This serves as an indicator for the reach of the Siddi Gadgera school in attracting students and teachers from across talukas despite its isolated location and difficult access.

Siddis from various villages came to Gadgera to help in building the foundation of the school during the initial phase when Bosco Kaweesi was in charge. However, due to interference from other organisations, Bosco was side-lined in the project and eventually quit the committee. According to him, the school was destined for great things and he intended it to be a grand project. Now however, I could see a certain disenchantment on his face when we visited the school. Students were sitting on the floor and studying, no different to other backward schools and this was not what Bosco had planned.

Educational patterns

At the village level, the government and religious organizations run most of the schools that go up only to the fifth and seventh standard, while the headquarters of the talukas house the schools that go up to the twelfth standard. Therefore, the majority of the people in the rural areas have limited levels of  education (Obeng 2008:45). In addition, the quality of educational facilities and teaching that the African children in these villages receive, cannot be compared to what other children receive, as former live in economically and socially depressed areas. In Bailandur for instance, school closes down during the ploughing and planting seasons (Obeng, 2008:45).

A rotation system for seating was introduced in government schools in Uttara Kannada wherein  each student eventually gets a chance to sit in the front desks. However, as Bosco Kaweesi narrated to me, the Siddis are made to sit at the back at all times. In addition, absenteeism from Siddi students goes unnoticed and they receive the least of the teachers' attention. This lack of attention from teachers contributes to the lack of motivation and high drop-out rates of Siddi students. Pashington Obeng speaks of the high dropout rate and adds that "while parents need motivation to send their children to schools, the children too need support from the teachers in the process of making education an attractive activity" (Obeng, 1984:44).

Such is the desire to educate their children, that most Siddi adults, though themselves not educated, choose to send their children to school. Yet, they worry about the distance to the schools and the high cost of fees. In addition to the lack of transport facilities and bad roads in the villages, which have only added hurdles to education, the parents have difficulty helping children with problems in schoolwork (Obeng 1984:44).

In a survey conducted by the Siddi Jana Vikas Sangh, a society with members of a Siddi Community, registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act since December 2010, it is stated that :

"of the 58 youth identified in the survey expressed that they are still interested in continuing studies if opportunities are provided. It is disheartening to note that these youth, after completion of their education, remain in their villages and work as coolies in agriculture fields, construction workers, forest nursery and bamboo cutting, loading and unloading, processing of areca nut, road formation under contractors and in case they do not have any work they go to the forest to collect forest produce. Because of the non-availability of jobs, the parents are discouraging their children from pursuing education".

Siddis and English

There is a positive trend however among the Siddi youth that have received some education. Most of the Siddi children who go to school or have received some education are able to speak English fairly well. In fact, this made my task of conducting interviews with young Siddis much easier. During a visit to Yellapur with Bosco Kaweesi, while we were at the Yellapur Bus Depot, a few youngsters going to school who recognized Bosco, came up to him to wish him and speak to him. Their conversation was in English.

It is interesting that a few years ago,a survey conducted by Siddi Jana Vikas Sangh found that the Siddis were very weak in English themes and many students failed in English. The society intervened and organized a spoken English class with the help of the Holy Cross Church, Mainalli. The finding of this survey is in stark contrast to what I observed when I visited the Siddi villages in 2016 and early 2017. This suggests a marked improvement in the performance of the Siddis in English. All Siddi youth that I interviewed spoke English. The elders didn't speak any English, therefore suggesting that education has had a positive impact on the Siddis.

This trend of learning English and being able to speak it fairly well is a powerful tool for the Siddis in their struggle for fitting into the mainstream society and achieving success. Knowledge of English will go a along way in helping Siddis get jobs in a wide variety of industries and will make their mobility easier. The tourism industry will become accessible to the Siddis in the bigger cities and might give them a distinct advantage over their non-English speaking non-Siddi counterparts.

I would conclude by saying that education is the tool that is required to help Siddis rise from their obscurity. However, this alone will not help the Siddis. The larger non-Siddi society also requires to be educated about the history and diversity of the country and taught to practice proper citizenship as proper citizenship shuns stereotyping and abuse of rights and promotes a more inclusive community and helps progress as a whole.

Who are the Siddis?

I recently completed my Msc in International Studies from ISCTE-IUL in Lisbon, with a Masters thesis titled "Ambiguous Citizenship: The Siddis of Uttara Kannada, India". I wasn't expecting the Portuguese youth and academics to know anything about this community in focus, however, I was rather surprised that on coming back to India, that most people I spoke to were completely unaware of the existence of this community in India. On mentioning the topic of my dissertation I often was met with the response "Siddis? Who are they?" "You wrote a thesis on who?"  I proceeded to explain who the Siddis were and what I was actually talking about.

The Siddis are a people of African descent settled in India for nearly five centuries. The Siddis or African-Indians as they are also referred to, that live in Uttara Kannada, were brought as slaves by the Portuguese in the 16th century. Most were brought from Moçambique and Sofala in Eastern Africa.

During the course of my research, I traveled to Uttara Kannada and visited three talukas with a substantial Siddi population: Haliyal, Mundgod and Yellapur. While I was able to get a reasonable perception of the three talukas, I could focus much of my fieldwork in Haliyal, where I could interact with Siddis in various villages scattered in remote parts of this region. On my first visit to Uttara Kannada in December 2016, I was able to briefly visit the villages of Wada, Ghardoli, Gadgera, Hosur, Bopin Kopp, Dodkop, Mavinkop, Dandeli, Kerwad, Nagashetikop and Tatigeri in the Haliyal district, Mainalli, Kegdal, Bilki and Gunjavatti among others in the Mundgod and Yellapur districts. Most of the villages, with the exception of a few, were located in isolated forested areas. These villages were accessible only by mud paths that cut off from the main road and were often a fair distance into the jungle. The villages were scattered all over and only a few were in close proximity to each other.

The African slaves brought to India go by various names. the most common of them is Siddi, taken to to be a corruption of Syed (Prasad 1984, supra note 15). They are also called Habshis. The term habshis is derived from the Arabic El-Habish, suggesting that the Siddis or the Habshis were brought from Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia). However, one is led to believe that the Habshis from this part of Africa were not the same Africans that are found in Uttara Kannada. In fact, the Siddis with whom I have carried  out my research are believed to have been brought to Goa, Daman and Diu by the Portuguese. In Goa, they were also called mulattos or Kaphris, a Portuguese term denoting the descendants of Negroes and non-Negroes (Prasad 1984, supra note 30).

The slave trade carried on by the European natives in coastal India was a fraction compared to the slave trade they carried on between the West Coast of Africa and their colonies in the West Indies and the Americas. The reason was that in India, the slaves were mainly required for domestic work whereas in the American and West Indian colonies, they were required to supply labour for the plantations (Prasad 1984:76).

A number of the Siddis that I met in Haliyal, had names of Portuguese origin like Caitan (Caetano), Santan (Santana), Juje (José), Agnel (Agnelo), Rosa, Minguel (Miguel). It was common practice for the Portuguese slave traders to baptise the slaves before they boarded the ships to be carried to India. These names are common in Goa, although spelled a bit differently, suggesting the Goan connection to the Siddis of Uttara Kannada.

Slavery was eventually abolished throughout the Portuguese Empire on 25th February 1869 (Prasad, 1984, supra note 72, p 83). The slaves that were freed after the abolition of slavery must have either continued in Goa or sought shelter in the forested regions of Uttara Kannada where they now form a fairly large community. There is a community of Siddis that live in Goa till today, some of whom I have met personally. Many Siddis from Uttara Kannada still seek work in Goa, where they work as domestic labour or in construction. On the bus back to Goa from Haliyal, I noticed a number of  Siddi youth also travelling to Goa.

The original language of the Siddis is said to be Swahili or another language spoken on the eastern coast of Africa. But nowadays, they speak exclusively local languages.

The Siddis of Haliyal speak a mixture of Konkani and Marathi, with a few Kannada and Urdu words thrown in. However, they refer to this language as Konkani. All Siddi settlements, irrespective of taluka, use the same language to communicate and  understand each other perfectly.

The Christian and the Hindu Siddis speak the same version or dialect of Konkani. Most of the Muslim Siddis speak Urdu (Prasad 1984:15). The Konkani spoken by the Siddis, as pointed out by Kiran Kamal Prasad is different from the Konkani of other local Christians of Mundgod, Haliyal and Yellapur. The main language spoken by the mainstream society in Uttara Kannada is Kannada. Why then do the Siddis speak Konkani and this variant of the language?

Konkani is the language of Goa and therefore this points firmly in the direction that the Siddis of Karnataka were original inhabitants of Goa under Portuguese rule, as slaves. Their eventual migration to Uttara Kannada brought with it, several local influences into the Konkani spoken  in Goa, leading to the contemporary variant spoken in Uttara Kannada.

The Hindu and Christian Siddis speak the same variant of Konkani, which suggests that both groups were together in the past or must have had a common past (Prasad, 1984:16). The Hindu Siddis may have been Christian at one point in time and later converted to Hinduism under the Havyak Brahmins for whom they worked. the Muslim Siddis are assumed to have picked up the Urdu language from their co-religionists (idem:17). Besides Konkani, all Siddis, especially the men folk, are very familiar with Kannada, the regional language (idem 1984:18)

During the time I was in Uttara Kannada, I was able to visit several Siddi settlements in the three talukas of Haliyal, Mundgod and Yellapur..

The Siddis settlements were all similar in nature. The settlements were often deep in the jungle and were made up of houses on either side of a newly constructed concrete road, in an isolated area.The houses were of concrete, with tiled roofs and faced the road. There were about 10-15 houses in each settlement. Most of the settlements that I visited were Siddi Christian. Each house had a crucifix constructed into the front wall,  and hence it was clear to the visitor that this was a Christian household. Inside there were often other holy pictures of the sacred heart and the virgin Mary. Some of the houses were recently renovated inside and were very modern looking, even though they were rather small. Other houses were of a simpler nature.

The Siddis of Uttara Kannada are an endogamous community. This is largely how the community has survived the centuries and maintained their physical features. In fact, a Siddi is clearly discernible from a non-Siddi by his physical features- although I am not taking all phenotypical criteria to distinguish them from other social groups. However, it is interesting to observe that their dress code follows the Indian one at large. They speak the local languages and follow the local religions. Therefore, we may note a nexus of identities with regard to the Siddis of Uttara Kannada.

The Siddis of Uttara Kannada have been living in obscurity and poverty and much needs to be done for their upliftment. Education is a powerful tool, one that needs to be made available to the Siddis so that they can emerge from their difficult predicament. Thankfully, in recent years, this has been recognized by local authorities and NGOs, many who have come forward to assist the Siddis.

The existence of the Siddi community in India is testament to the rich historical, ethnic and cultural diversity of India. Hopefully, more Indians realize this and take pride in this rich diversity and shun unwanted attitudes like racism and stereotyping, which the Siddis have had to face for a couple of centuries at least.