SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

“We’re Indian and African”: Sidis of India

Still from the film 'Voices of the Sidis: Ancestral Links' produced by Beheroze Shroff (University of California, Irvine, USA).

The diverse circumstances of African migration to India, their roles and achievements, their current status, issues of identity and belonging will be addressed.

The Lecture will be followed by the screening of two documentary films:

“We’re Indian and African”: Voices of the Sidis   (22 minutes)
Produced by Beheroze Shroff (University of California, Irvine, USA)

This film explores the lives of the Sidis in Gujarat. Sidi men and women speak about the challenges they face as caretakers of the shrine of their ancestral saint Bava Gor. The Sidis also discuss their sacred Goma-Dhammal dance performed for devotees and spectators. The film also gives a glimpse into the spiritual legacy of the Sidis through the Parsi devotees of Bava Gor in Bombay.

Voices of the Sidis: Ancestral Links (26 minutes)
Produced by Beheroze Shroff (University of California, Irvine, USA)

In this engaging portrait of an urban Sidi family in Bombay (Maharashtra), Babubhai traces his ancestry to Zanzibar. He also reminisces about his work as a stuntman in Bollywood films. Babubhai’s wife, Fatimaben, narrates her grandmother’s work in a Hindu royal court. Their daughter, Heena, speaks about issues of identity in contemporary India.

Speaker Biography

Dr Shihan de Silva is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (University of London).  She has a PhD (Linguistics), an MSc (Finance) and a BSc Honours (Economics) from the University of London. She is the author of Tagus to Taprobane (Tisara Prakasakayo, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2001), An Anthology of Indo-Portuguese Verse (Edwin Mellen Press, UK, 2001), Indo-Portuguese of Ceylon (Athena Publications, London, 2001),  The Portuguese in the East:  A Cultural History of a Maritime Trading Empire (I B Tauris, London, 2008),  African Identity in Asia (Markus Wiener Publishers: Princeton, New Jersey, 2008) and The African Diaspora in Asian Trade Routes and Cultural Memories (Edwin Mellen Press, UK, 2010).

Discussion/Q & A Session
Chair:  Dr David Taylor (SOAS & Institute of Commonwealth Studies)"