But You Don’t Look Afghan?
Oh, that skin-crawling, gut-wrenching, piss-off of a statement myself and my countrymen get from time to time. One time, I got, “But you’re not dark.” Ok moron.
Look, I know the media makes us all look the same. I know that from an outsiders standpoint, Afghans are just brown people with brown hair and brown eyes and brown skin.
And there are many Afghans who fit that phenotype. BUT GUESS WHAT. THERE ARE ALSO A LOT WHO DON’T.
This post was inspired by something really stupid that happened last night:
I saw a really ignorant comment on a friends post. She is an ethnic Pashtun and gets mistaken for white, European, Anglo, whatever the hell you wanna call it. Well, she was wearing traditional clothing in the picture and someone who presumptuously thought she is “white” commented, inquiring if she was “culture-appropriating”.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. NOT ALL “BROWN PEOPLE” ARE ACTUALLY BROWN. Many, and I mean MANNYYYYY of us come out with “white” features. My mother was born with red hair, my youngest aunt with blonde, and my father with green eyes. And these features are NOT limited to Afghanistan; Iranians, Arabs, Desis, pretty much anywhere in our region, there are MANY people who wouldn’t get a second look from TSA.
“White” looking Afghans are not a phenomenon, they just don’t fit the stupid Western stereotypical phenotype of “those people over there” and so, are gazed at in awe.
Well, get the hell over it. For Gods sake, WE PUT CAUCASIAN ON OUR DOCUMENTS. They exist. And here are some pictures to prove it.
Then there’s those on the other side of the argument. Those who whitewash our histories and constantly put up pictures on their FB and Instagram pages of ONLY Afghans who have red and blonde hair. I have seen countless “Afghan pride” pages on Instagram with photos of people who look nothing like me. Why you tryna fit in so bad? Why can’t we celebrate the diversity of ALL Afghans, no matter their hair or eye color?
But I guess I understand that desire to “prove our whiteness”. Technically speaking, Afghans are Aryans, Caucasians. This fact is really only known to the people from this region, and it still weirds me out that I put “White” on my records. BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS.
My points, summed up:
- People need to understand that the media tries to box Middle Eastern and Central Asian Muslims in little stupid categories and looks. They do this to further a racist, policing agenda thats pushed by colonial, military governments. They do this so it is an Us-versus-Them thing; as in, “See! the enemy looks nothing like you!” But SURPRISE! As these pictures show, the “enemy” can look just like you, and ya daddy.
- Race is socially-constructed. In high school I used to love reading about the different “stocks” of people and was so about that Aryan life. I used to always love throwing it out there that Afghans were “white”, because it challenged people’s notions of race. But after I did a DNA test and found my ethnic makeup to be tremendously mixed, I got over that shit. I could care less that we’re Caucasian.
- However, this does not mean we must abide by the fixed stereotypical phenotype the Western media has imposed on us. If, for educational reasons, we must dig into and prove our “white” past – so be it. If that means some ignorant moron who thinks we all look like Osama will open their eyes to our diversity, then I’m all for plastering photos of blonde Afghans all over social media.
- All of this should not be done to put our brown brothers and sisters down. Afghans have all sorts of skin tones – and they’re all beautiful. I tan my skin on purpose for Gods sake. Many Afghans have dark skin too, and there’s nothing wrong with that either.
Afghans are some of the most phenotypically-diverse people on earth. As the crossroads of empires, along the Silk Road, and as the heart of Asia, of course we’re all gonna look like a United Colors of Benetton ad. When our non-Afghan friends get this, then we’ve made a small stride towards breaking the stereotype. And that’s always good.
Race is a social construct? Well if DNA can tell us what race a person is how is that a social construct? Race is very real regardless of what koombaya liberal professors tell you.
Thank you Ray for visiting the site & sharing your comment. I agree that race is very real. I don’t believe she uses the term “social construct” at all in her article — her points can be summed up from #1-4. Race is real but is not defined by the color of our skin, hair, or eyes.
Thank you Ray for visiting the site & sharing your comment. I agree that race is very real. I don’t believe she uses the term “social construct” at all in her article — her points can be summed up from #1-4. Race is real but is not defined by the color of our skin, hair, or eyes.
Thank you for responding Gina. Sorry for my initial tone. Her 2nd bullet point states race is a social-construct.
How dare an Anglo-Saxon make the “skin-crawling, gut-wrenching, piss-off” assumption that Afghans are “brown”, based simply on the fact that 99% of them are. Don’t they realize how much the Afghans enjoy being considered white? How outrageously insensitive. But in India, your “brown” relatives simply refuse to accept that the Mongoloids from the part of India bordering China are actually Indians. In fact, they are openly racist to these Mongoloids in their very own country. A few thousand suicides and protests have done nothing to change their mindset. But that’s okay, they’re not Anglo-Saxon, they can’t possibly be racist.
This is so interesting! I’ve read a few books on Afghanistan and even though I knew about the different races, it’s so nice to actually have some visuals! 🙂
Truly appreciate that!
We are all human. The social construct of race tries to divide people into sub-categories just because they look different. All these terms like mongoloids or caucasians etc.., they don’t mean anything, they are just more words that divide us. You are not your race or skin color, you are what you make yourself to be. Race is only real because you acknowledge it.
Absolutely! Thank you for your words, they are very impactful and I feel your passion 👏
That last picture of the little blond girl is a Kalashi girl from Pakistan. She isn’t Afghan at all and no offence sis Afghans are only considered ‘white’ in America. Come to the Europe or UK you’re definitely considered Asian (South or Central Asian) on paper like your neighbouring countries. I get the point you’re trying to make here but you really tried to beg it.
Gina,
I will read this to Christian. I’m sure he will love it.
Would Kurds be considered White?
I know this was about your personal experience, but I can relate also. I always get the “YOU DONT LOOK AFGHAN!” comments and it really invalidates my identity. I wish Hazara people were more represented in the media so people could finally understand the diversity of Afghanistan. I always get mistaken for Filipino or Indonesian, which is understandable. But, when people don’t consider me Afghan because of the media’s one dimensional and racist portrayal of Afghans, that’s when it pisses me off. We’re not all tanned or have big eyes. Sorry for the rant.
Thank you for being YOU!! I love what you shared.
The first photo are Kalash kids from Pakistan not Afghans.
Um Adam, Afghans are not “white”. White is apparently a European classification. Indians are not “relatives” to Afghans in any way. I think you don’t know what you’re talking about. In Afghanistan people do not identify with colored categories so the point is moot. Europeans can call themselves white and create whatever classifications they deem fit but these have no relevance to the whole rest of mankind, the vast majority of which have never had a tradition of color categorizing people. Afghans are simply Afghans, they may identify with their various tribes and as Afghans in general. There is no tradition of identifying racially with other people in neighboring regions or with alien races of Europe. If westerners have uneducated stereotypes on what an Afghan looks like that is their own naivete and lack of awareness.
How do you know she is a Kalahi girl? You say she is from pakistan as if pakistan is some ancient land. It’s an artificial construct if ever there was on with all of 70 years of “history”. pakistanis are indian muslims with no relation to Kalash, Turks Afghans, Persians or anyone else they try to conflate themselves with.