The South Asians of East Africa: Perspectives from a group in “in-between”
MIT-India and MIT-Africa were thrilled to team up to host a conversation with MIT alumni, students, and faculty on difficult but necessary topics around diaspora, race, inclusion, and identity.
From left to right: M.G. Vassanji, Professor Kenda Mutongi, Boluwatife Akinola, Deekshita Kacham, and Professor Sana Aiyar.
The event featured MG Vassanji, an MIT alum (B.S. ‘74) and Kenyan-born, Tanzanian-raised South Asian who currently lives in Canada. Dr. Vassanji is a prize-winning novelist, authoring celebrated novels such as The Gunny Sack and The Book of Secrets, among many others. While at MIT, Dr. Vassanji co-founded the MIT African Students Association. The panel also included MIT history Professor Kenda Mutongi, author of Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi; Boluwatife Akinola, an MIT student (Mathematical Economics ‘21) and President of the MIT African Student Association (ASA); and Deekshita Kacham, another MIT student (Computer Science ‘22) and President of the MIT South Asian Association of Students (SAAS).
The panelists’ discussion was moderated by MIT History Professor Sana Aiyar, author of Indians in Kenya: The Politics of Diaspora. Prof. Aiyar opened the event by reciting a popular Swahili proverb in East Africa: Baniani mbaya, kiatu chake dawa, which translates to Hindu trading cost is bad, but his shoes are medicine. “This proverb really sums up the kind of dependency of East Africans on an untrustworthy community,” explained Prof. Aiyar.
“This specter of the Indian as a trader who’s unwanted has been the main scholarly and popular framework in which South Asians of East Africa have been fit in. This problem really deploys two tropes that I think are important to me to flag at the beginning of our conversation: one, not all South Asians in East Africa were or are traders; and second, not all are or were Hindu. In fact, there is no singular South Asian diaspora community in East Africa.”
Prof. Aiyar invited Prof. Mutongi and Dr. Vassanji to the conversation, to help illustrate the unique experiences of a generation of Africans who came of age in a period of decolonization, Africanization, and nation-building. Prof. Mutongi started off by sharing her memories and anecdotes of encounters with South Asians growing up in western Kenya in the 1970s, while Dr. Vassanji recalled memories as an Asian growing up in East Africa, and spending time in both Kenya and Tanzania. Their personal stories emphasized the theme of an “in-between” world of South Asians in East Africa, and extended into a discussion around the place of South Asians in East Africa in literary work and African history.
As Dr. Vassanji spoke about his time at MIT and his decision to join other students from Africa to start the African Students Association (ASA), the student panelists were invited to join the conversation and offer their experiences as members and leaders of their identity-based affiliation groups on campus. Bolu discussed the ASA’s efforts to encourage discussions on intersectionality through an Africa learning circle, while Deekshita acknowledged the diversity of the South Asian identity and how SAAS will take steps to be more inclusive and cognizant of the different identities that make up the South Asian diaspora.
The discussion served as a fascinating introduction to a larger conversation around community and belonging, and offered a glimpse into the wealth of stories that have yet to be told by our diverse community at MIT. We look forward to partnering with our alumni, faculty, students, and student groups to uncover these stories further.
To view the webinar discussion in full, visit the link below.