Post by Noah on Sept 21, 2011 23:05:20 GMT -5
A major area of concern vis-a-vis the general public is the lack of appreciation for or sheer ignorance of the caste systems amongst the various Hamitic peoples outside of Egypt and the Maghreb, including Horners, the Tuareg and Sahrawi/Moors i.e. populations that border Negroid majority regions.
All of these caste systems have a common original purpose and function, and that is to preserve the founding Hamitic element within each population. As such, not all members within each of said groups is equally Hamitic (both anthropological and genetic studies have shown this too, particularly amongst the Tuareg). Some are more so than others, and this largely depends on what caste they belong to i.e. noble vs. occupational vs. client, etc.. Generally-speaking, the noble or upper-caste clan members are the best-preserved Hamites. This is why they are considered 'noble' in the first place. That is, they are the keepers of the group's original Afro-Asiatic culture, language and tradition, and are its closest physical link to its Proto-Mediterranean origins.
The Scottish researcher Robert Gayre, who also lived in India for many years and thus was quite familiar with the intricacies of caste systems, wrote a bit about this in his various works. Anthropologically-speaking, the latter materials are especially valuable because they date from periods when the class barriers in question were still strong and hadn't yet really broken down on account of 'national' considerations. From Gayre's Ethnological Elements of Africa (1966):
This understanding of intra-ethnic differentiation and sub-structure within the various Hamitic populations is important, particularly if one is to credibly explain differing levels of Negroid influence within each group.
All of these caste systems have a common original purpose and function, and that is to preserve the founding Hamitic element within each population. As such, not all members within each of said groups is equally Hamitic (both anthropological and genetic studies have shown this too, particularly amongst the Tuareg). Some are more so than others, and this largely depends on what caste they belong to i.e. noble vs. occupational vs. client, etc.. Generally-speaking, the noble or upper-caste clan members are the best-preserved Hamites. This is why they are considered 'noble' in the first place. That is, they are the keepers of the group's original Afro-Asiatic culture, language and tradition, and are its closest physical link to its Proto-Mediterranean origins.
The Scottish researcher Robert Gayre, who also lived in India for many years and thus was quite familiar with the intricacies of caste systems, wrote a bit about this in his various works. Anthropologically-speaking, the latter materials are especially valuable because they date from periods when the class barriers in question were still strong and hadn't yet really broken down on account of 'national' considerations. From Gayre's Ethnological Elements of Africa (1966):
"It might be observed that in their contact with Negroids or Australoids (in India, for instance) the Caucasoids have always erected a caste system based on colour or other obvious attributes of racial difference. Thus arises a structure in which there are noble clans or higher caste and lower ones; and beneath the latter are those which are not recognized at all. The higher or noble segment of the society is more or less of the ancient blood, the intermediate is of less pure ancestry, and the members of the lowest are not recognized and are the slaves or outcastes --although no doubt they share some of the genes of the noble classes. It is quite evident that this is virtually instinctive in White-Black relationships, and so is not surprising to find that the Tauregs, who are of Caucasoid origin, have evolved a system in north-west Africa which is parallel to that produced by the Indo-European Hindus in India[...]"
"Generally speaking, as we have already observed, the Somalis look down upon the Negroes, and in fact, even in Somalia itself, the upper classes are lighter in complexion and generally non-Negroid in appearance. These facts also have a bearing on their relations with their southern, Kenyan, neighbours. It seems probable that if Somalia were not so pre-occupied with the quarrel with Ethiopia over possession of the Ogaden, the Somali guerillas working inside north-eastern Kenya, the so-called Shiftas, would be even more active than they are at present[...]"
"As far as the Hamites themselves are concerned, their absorption of Negroid blood appears to have been due to the fact that as a conquering and dominating group they were not only able to overcome their outer circle of Nilo-Hamites, from whose women indirectly Negroid genes would be absorbed, but also they were able to practice slavery in a big way. Indeed the word for slave in Amharic is the same word as for Negro -- as far as the Ethiopians were concerned the two were the same. Probably this, more than any other single factor, accounts for the absorption of Negroid genes by Ethiopians. In such places as Addis Ababa it is noticeable that the type carries more Negroid strains in the poorer quarters than in the country districts and in the higher social classes. This is confirmatory of the observation, since the lower classes in Addis Ababa would have been always slaves until recent times."
This understanding of intra-ethnic differentiation and sub-structure within the various Hamitic populations is important, particularly if one is to credibly explain differing levels of Negroid influence within each group.