In 1947, the Crown in the Jewel of the British Empire finally broke free to shine on its own, as the Indian Subcontinent won its independence from British rule and the current geopolitical map of the region was created. 73 years on, while the days of foreign occupation and unwanted flags fluttering in Indian lands may be a memory that few remember seeing, one would not necessarily have to turn to the history books to get an idea of their colonised past.
The lasting imprints of colonisation – in the form of various beliefs and stereotypes that directly maintain the regional Zeitgeist in a place where we still use foreign standards and yardsticks for measuring the value of our own people just like our foreign rulers used to – a thought process left inscribed in the mentalities of those who bore the brunt of foreign rule. As generations passed, these mentalities became embedded in our own culture, taking the shape of various unfair beauty standards, body shaming, and to an extent a hijacking of the perception of our artists and entertainers. Here, I look to contextualise these social habits that we appear to have been transfected with during the times of occupation.
The best place to start when looking at the cultural aftereffects of colonialism, and the most obvious issue that it may be responsible for, is the purported importance of skin complexion and its associated beauty connotations. Naturally and genetically, the common term for people in this part of the world is “brown”. A bit of an oversimplification but one that serves its function without causing disrespect nonetheless.
But while brown may be the skin tone that our melanin levels dictate, the preferences of our people, especially the older generations, tell a rather different story. As an easy way to gauge the general attitude in our countries regarding skin tone, one could turn to this beauty product advert for Fair & Lovely from over a decade ago.[1] This commercial follows a young woman who dreams of becoming a cricket commentator and has all the necessary skills to do so. But she lacks the confidence to pursue her dreams simply because her skin complexion is darker. Unsurprisingly enough, her life appears to be transformed when she discovers the fairness cream in question and is able attain a fairer skin tone within a short span of time. It is this external change and not any aspect of talent relevant to the profession that enables her to achieve her dreams. The entire premise of this ad is aimed at reinforcing a belief that a woman with a darker complexion, despite possessing necessary skills, will not be given the opportunity she deserves until she uses a top quality beauty product to make herself look fairer.
As inexplicable as it seems, it is in fact an accurate reflection of the general psyche prevailing amongst the people. Yes, this logic has been brought into question and condemned to a noticeable degree in recent times, but that has largely come from younger demographics in one of several avenues of generational clashes we observe in these parts today. Yet it should go without saying that “whiter” skin being used a barometer for measuring the worth of individuals in a non-white, Asian country, is morally crippling in more ways than can even be listed.
The question is: where and when did our people come to incorporate this kind of thought process? Some may point to a more ancient origin, with certain sacred texts often describing the antagonists or demons as being black. The alternate, and somewhat more recent, explanation is our colonial ex-rulers. Hereditary memory is a powerful thing. For centuries, the people in these parts were made to look up to the “white man” as superior, hence they were the ones in charge. Over time, this becomes entangled with an individual’s mental perception of several things, including beauty. Hence, white women, blessed with their fair skin, held a higher place compared to the darker skinned “lesser” women. Centuries of subservience had drained us of more than just wealth and resources, it had also stripped us off our sense of identity and who we were meant to be as a people.
From unfair and blatantly racist categorization of people according to skin tone to another kind of body based discrimination; much of our culture today promotes this inclination toward taller men with heights closer to a western average than a South Asian one. “Six feet”, has become more a cliché than a value of measurement as this pre-determined benchmark of masculine achievement. In other parts of the world, where the average height of individuals is higher in general, this can still be understandable. Make no mistake it is still an unfair measuring stick, but at least one that can be connected to the bodily features characteristic of the population there. Here though, it creates a different, more problematic question altogether.
The average height of men in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan is 5”4, 5”4 and 5”6 respectively. As part of our genetics, we showcase shorter bone growth and consequently a shorter height compared to say a country such as England where the average height hovers somewhere around 5”9. Yet again, we appear to have absorbed a foreign way of thinking, this time one concerning traits related to their physical features, and integrated it into our own norms.
“Cheleder lomba chora hoya uchit”, is a sentence most males in the region have heard growing up. Roughly speaking, it translates to “men should be tall and muscular”. Even if we do ignore the fact that this statement is wrong in on itself, the tall and muscular traits being referred to here use a foreign standard for judging people who most likely will not be able to meet them, simply by virtue of their genes.
These are just the cases of people subjecting their own to mistreatments inspired by unfair norms. Unfortunately, the idea of racial supremacy has also taken on the shape of more worrying behaviour patterns in the region. Taking Bangladesh as an example, at present there is a sizeable population of Africans living in the country, most of whom are students who were drawn here by the lower tuition fees compared to elsewhere. However the public perception of them often passes through a racial prejudice lens. As explained by this article in local newspaper the Daily Star,[2] these individuals are often subjected to racist taunts, they are denied acceptance in most social circles and prediction of criminality is often tagged onto their image, most of the time without any justifiable reason.
In case of the latter, I myself was witness to a situation where a local woman expressed outrage at the fact that a group of African men had approached her with the desire to rent one of her apartments. She went on to underline her sentiment towards them by accredited them with a generalized drug dealer tag. The inevitable comparison this draws is not with anything from regional history, but with the innumerable cases of racial profiling and abuse in the west, with cases such as Mike Bloomberg saying black neighbourhoods inherently have higher crime rates. The article goes on explain how this treatment is incredibly race and ethnicity specific. White foreigners are usually accorded a warm reception, whereas people of colour are commonly the target of stereotyping and placed far lower on the social importance scale.
Finally, it is also worth scrutinising the arts and entertainment preferences presently observed in these parts, especially among the younger demographics. While an inclination towards western products is completely understandable and, in terms of the better quality, often justified, we also consider the western template to be the only real archetype and disregard local television and film for not meeting that criteria.
Art is incredibly subjective and often different cultures garnish their art forms with certain unique traits. Ones that cannot copied onto art from other cultures because they in turn will have their own specific attributes. The easiest way to make this distinction is by simply looking at the differences in presentation and audio-visual aesthetics between Japanese anime and western animations. Yet, we still find ourselves shunning local film and TV artists because the taste palette they offer does not match the western example.
The world has moved well past the colonial era and entered a completely different global geopolitical power structure. As for former colonies such as ourselves, we too made strides towards establishing our own global niche and for the most part try to enjoy favourable relations with the countries that once occupied us. That is of course the only rational way forward. But, at the same time there is little denying that the combined psychodynamic of our people still tends to bear the aftereffects of the centuries of colonial rule.
[2] Khan, Maliha. “Being Black In Dhaka”. The Daily Star, 2018: https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/perspective/being-black-dhaka-1574449. Accessed 29 Feb 2020.
Saam Hasan