Un-historicized Blackness:
Tracing the “Afro-Iranians” through Photographic Archives
Black and Afro-Iranian communities have been conspicuously marginalized within both Iranian and global narratives, their historical significance largely overlooked.
However, it is imperative to recognize that Black individuals constitute an integral thread within the rich tapestry of human experience and Iranian society. Join me in uncovering and amplifying their historically underrepresented stories, which have long languished in obscurity.
Antoin Sevruguin collection, The National Museum of Asian Art
Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda,
Henna Koskinen
Hilda Lloréns' significant scholarly contributions, as evidenced in Imaging The Great Puerto Rican Family: Framing Nation, Race, and Gender During the American Century, offer pertinent insights for my own research endeavors, albeit within a distinct global context. Lloréns elucidates the emergence of her book from a personal impetus to weave together the history of her own family, enabling her to craft a nuanced portrayal of the intersections of nation, race, and gender within various modes of representation, including photography, painting, film, and the poster (9). Similarly, my research aims to rewrite the history of Afro-Iranians through an exploration of visual culture, examining how notions of blackness are constructed within visual representations. Additionally, I seek to illuminate how these artistic depictions, primarily anachronistic photographs, have contributed to the erasure of the historical presence of slaves, thereby revealing the interconnectedness of ideas surrounding nation, race, and gender.
Gholam Hoseyn Mirza Masoud with his personal African slave, Julfa, Isfahan, 1880s Photograph: Thooni Johannes/Institute for Iranian Contemporary
Historical Studies, Tehran, Iran
Lisa Lowe’s comprehensive effort, as demonstrated in Intimacies of Four Continents, to elucidate the colonial relationships linking Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas have profoundly influenced my research project. Her methodological approach, akin to Edward Said’s advocacy for reevaluating historical narratives rooted in the geographical separation of peoples and cultures, has served as a guiding principle for my research endeavor. Specifically, I aim to rethink and reconstruct the history of slavery along a particular trajectory often neglected in existing scholarship. By examining the connections between Africa and the Middle East through the lens of the slave trade, I seek to shed light on the obliterated history of an overlooked demographic: Afro-Iranians through visuals.
Afro-Iranians
Source: Collective for Black Iranians
- Predominantly dwelling in the southern provinces alongside the Persian Gulf, notably the provinces of Hormozgan, Booshehr, and Khoozestan, and Sistan and Baloochestan, Afro-Iranians encapsulate a distinctive cultural amalgam, enriching the makeup of Iranian society.
- The lineage of Afro-Iranians can be traced back to the African continent, with their migration spanning across numerous centuries into diverse regions of Iran. The majority of this demographic are the progeny of those who survived the harrowing ordeal of slavery, ensnared by slave traders and transported to the Persian Gulf.
- This includes the involvement of Portuguese traders in the abhorrent slave trade along the Iranian shores, dating back to the 16th century until 1848, when Mohammad Shah Qajar issued the decree for abolition of slavery under the pressure from Britain (Bashiri 1).
The slave market in Zanzibar, circa 1860
Émile Bayard (1837-1891) -
Musée de la Compagnie des Indes
Since antiquity, the Persian Gulf, situated between southwestern Iran and Arabia, has served as a pivotal nexus for commerce between Africa and Asia. From as early as 500 BC, during the Achaemenid dynasty and beyond, Iranian sailors and merchants embarked on voyages to Muscat, Mogadishu, Zanzibar, Darussalam, and Tanganyika. These regular maritime expeditions facilitated the exchange of goods and ideas, leading to the integration of African cultural elements into the traditions and customs of the inhabitants along the Iranian coasts of the Persian Gulf.
The historical trajectory of the slave trade in this region, however, can be traced back to the early medieval era, as Muslim traders facilitated the transfer of slaves from regions like Zanzibar and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to the Persian Gulf, dispersing them throughout the Islamic Empire. In the wake of the Arab conquest of Iran, a group of Africans joined the Islamic forces and founded communities along the northern coastline of the Persian Gulf.
Moreover, the Portuguese engaged in the trade of Somalians and Zanzibarians, selling them along the coastlines and islands of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, primarily in the 15th and16th centuries.
Subsequently, Africans themselves, assuming roles as sailors, called ‘nakhoda’, manned the dhows and booms traversing the maritime routes between Mozambique, Zanzibar, and Kuwait, thereby becoming integral to the maritime fabric of the Gulf. This maritime expansion catalyzed the emergence of ethnically diverse communities, comprising individuals of Indo-Iranian and Afro-Iranians, which flourished around the Gulf. Inhabitants of locales such as Gheshm, Lark, Minab, Lengeh, Bandar Abbas, and several other small settlements along the Gulf coastline are examples of these cultural amalgams.
- Scholars of MENA and Iranian studies have generally overlooked the region’s involvement in slavery, with few recent exceptions including Behnaz Mirzai’s A History of Slavery and Emancipation in Iran, 1800– 1929, Parisa Vaziri’s Racial Blackness and Indian Ocean Slavery Iran’s Cinematic Archive, and Beeta Baghoolizadeh’s The Color Black:Enslavement and Erasure in Iran.
- This omission implies a highly problematic negligence regarding Indian Ocean slavery, suggesting either its nonexistence or insignificance in terms of its enduring impact.
- However, the shores of the Persian Gulf ports such as Booshehr, Kish, Hormoz, among other slave-trade maritime routes and networks, facilitated the influx of enslaved African labor into Iran and adjacent Southwest Asian regions from ancient times through to the early twentieth century. This system of slavery manifested in various forms including domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, military conscription, bureaucratic service, and agricultural labor. Its nature was multifaceted, stratified, and often underrepresented in historical records, particularly preceding the modern era.
Slave-trade into Iran, India, Iraq from East Africa through Indian ocean into Persian Gulf
Beeta Baghoolizadeh highlights an important factor regarding scholars’ negligence and erasure of issues of racism in Iran, particularly about African slaves and their subsequent descendants.
She argues that Persian language's lack of clear equivalents for concepts of race and racism has led to persistent denial and avoidance of these issues (11).
According to her, while "race" is often translated as "nezhad," it can also encompass lineage or ethnicity.
"Racism" is commonly rendered as "nezhad-parasti," meaning the worship of one's race, but newer terms like "nezhad-setizi" or "nezhad-zadeh" have recently emerged, denoting "race discrimination" or "raced" (11).
Despite debates over linguistic nuances, the absence of precise terms does not negate the existence of racial dynamics, structures, and discriminatory actions.
Some scholars and Iranians have used the language to dismiss the existence of racism, claiming that since Persian lacks clear terms for these concepts, they were never present in Iranian society.
Slave-trade into several regions of Iran and Iraq from East Africa through the Persian Gulf
Numbers of Enslaved People Imported into the Persian Gulf in 1847
Source: Farrant’s Despatch Slave Trade, enclosing a report from Kemball, assistant resident of the East India Company at Bushire,
on slave trade in the Persian Gulf to Palmerston, May 12, 1847, naUk, FO 84/692, 149–152; Kemball, Report on the Persian Gulf, 1847, naUk, FO 84/692.
Number of African slaves [from the east coast] sold in 1842 in different port-cities in Iran
Source: Data from Kemball to Robertson and Sheil, July 8, 1842, naUk, FO 84/426.
Despite the rejection of racism in linguistic grounds, in various forms of literature, including Qajar-era travelogues and accounts by European travelers, as well as in film, visual culture, and societal discourse, a range of derogatory terms has been employed to describe black individuals' skin tones in Iran.
These terms, from descriptors like "sabzeh," indicating an olive tone, to phrases like "kheyli Siyah," meaning "very Black," delineate a spectrum of Blackness that reflects the historical context of enslavement.
During the period of slavery, enslavement was a visible social category, often overshadowing nuanced knowledge of an individual's origins, with greater emphasis placed on their physical appearance.
Alongside this dubious and colorist ranking from somewhat Black to very Black, the Persian language also contained explicit pejorative terms used to refer to Black individuals, which carried connotations of geographical origins and the violence of enslavement.
The Persian language, in fact, features explicit derogatory terms used to describe Black people, reflecting the historical context of enslavement and violence. An important example would be “kaka," which carries connotations of both geographical origins and the brutality of enslavement.
Interestingly, "kaka" serves as the common word for "brother" in Swahili and various dialects of southern Iran, including Shiraz, where it is often pronounced as "kako." However, in other Persian dialects and particularly when used as a racial slur, it is pronounced and written as "kaka” (Baghoolizadeh 33-38)
While ‘brother’ typically conveys intimacy and affection, in central parts of Iran where "dada" is the more common term for brother, "kaka," and specifically "kaka Siyah," takes on a different meaning as a racial slur against enslaved Black people. This transformation imbues the word with violence within the very geographies it references.
Despite arguments suggesting that "kaka" is simply a term of endearment, its association with enslavement underscores its cruelty, particularly in central Iran where it sometimes functioned as a crude synonym for "gholam Siyah," as noted in Tehran's 1867 census. Even eunuchs, who were typically accorded titles of respect such as "agha" or "aqa," were at times referred to as "kaka." The prevalence of this term has prompted certain scholars, including Behnaz Mirzai, to assert that it is merely a term denoting closeness and familiarity. Rather than interpreting expressions like "my kakas" as indicative of possessing or controlling enslaved Black people, Mirzai mistakenly translates it directly as "my brothers."
Topic modeling/ pejorative terms used to refer to Black people in Persian
In Iran, enslaved people were seen primarily as commodities, their value as labor units outweighing racial considerations. Often referred to as ‘zarkharid‘, meaning purchased with gold, indicates their commodification (67). However, it's crucial to note that certain African slaves fetched higher prices due to racial biases, highlighting that sellers were aware of race as a social construct. The price of enslaved people, in Iran, depended mainly on where and when they were bought. Generally, the slaves were cheaper when first brought to coastal areas and became more expensive as they moved inland or further north. The profit margin on selling enslaved individuals was around 20% in Masqat and never less than 50% in Basra and Bushehr.
Source: Kemball to Robertson and Sheil, July 8, 1842, FO 84/426, nAuK.
Many Afro-Iranians have settled along the southern shores of Iran, particularly in the provinces of Hormozgan, Booshehr, and Khoozestan, and Sistan and Baloochestan, Southern Fars, and southern Kerman.
Despite the absence of precise or estimated demographic data, it is evident that wherever Afro-Iranians settled in the southern coastal regions of Iran, they assimilated the local language, dialect, and religious practices.
However, they have preserved cultural artifacts from their ancestral homeland, which have significantly influenced the culture of the southern region of Iran.
Notably, they have made a distinct impact on the music scene of the southern coastal areas, with many households, particularly in Hormozgan, possessing various sizes of tablas (African drums). Often, these musicians serve as itinerant troubadours and are summoned to perform during healing ceremonies.
- Heydar (Heydoo) Hedayati is an Iranian artist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and filmmaker whose work is deeply rooted in the folk traditions of southern Iran, with a particular emphasis on Afro-Iranian culture.
- Born in 1990 in the southern regions of Iran, Hedayati began learning to play the traditional African bagpipe at the age of approximately 8 years old. He describes his musical style as a fusion of southern Iranian folk music with elements of electronic and ambient genres.
- His debut album, titled "Tirishko," derives its name from the southern Booshehri dialect, an unexpected downpour, and embodies the musical heritage of southern Iran, interwoven with influences from Afro-Iranian culture. The album cover features a photograph captured by Morteza Niknahad, a visual photographer and artist hailing from southern Iran, showcasing an Afro-Iranian man and woman.
Source: Heydoo Hedayati’s Album Cover
Photo: Morteza Niknahad
You can enjoy Heydoo's song "Empty Train," which draws heavily from the rich folklore music of Afro-Iranians from the southern region, accompanied by a visually captivating music video portraying these individuals.
The influence of the African culture on the traditions and customs of the Iranian coasts of the Persian Gulf is evident in Erfan Tahmasbi’s work who is a notable artist-musician, known for his innovative approach that incorporates elements from various cultural traditions within Iran.
His efforts to showcase the diversity of Iranian society through his music videos are commendable, as they contribute to a more inclusive representation of the country's cultural landscape, defying the erasure of black Iranians.
By featuring instruments, costumes, dance, and individuals from different ethnic backgrounds, Tahmasbi's music videos highlight the rich tapestry of Iran's ethno-racial--cultural heritage.
Emphasizing the presence of Afro-Iranian, Arab-Iranian, and typically-represented Persian communities helps challenge the perception of Iran as a homogenous population and underscores the country's
multicultural reality.
Drawing inspiration from southern Afro-Iranian musical traditions and integrating them into his music, he contributes to the preservation and promotion of these cultural elements while also. fostering dialogue and collaboration across different communities
Through his music, he helps to break down stereotypes and promote a more inclusive vision of Iran that reflects its true cultural richness and works against obliteration and erasure.
The rest of my project will focus on three collections of photographs featuring Afro-Iranians from 19th century to the present.
First Collection ( 1851–1933): By Antoin Sevruguin, an Armenian-Russian resident professional photographer in Tehran.
Second Collection (2016): By German-Iranian photographer and designer based in Germany from his photo-book “Afro-Iran”.
Third Collection (2020-2021): By Afro-Iranian Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda as Creative Directior and
Henna Koskinen as the photographer
Myron Bement Smith Collection
Courtesy of The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art
Black Iranians:
The nobodies, passing figures, exotics:
inferiors, servants, eunuchs
Mahdi Ehsaei
Cultural Encounters: Persianness and African Consciousness through Profound Personalities
Priscillia Kounkou-Hoveyda:
Interweaving narratives;
Black-Iranian experiences
A creative initiative led by the Collective for Black Iranians has taken shape in the form of a captivating photography series. Creatively directed by priscillia kounkou-hoveyda, the series captures the essence of being Black, Iranian, and African, intertwining narratives from various backgrounds. The series showcases compelling stories that span Jamaican, Congolese, African American, Nigerian, and distinctly Black and Iranian experiences.
Siyah Zibast/Black is Beautiful
An artistic invitation into the intersection of Blackness, Iranianness, Iran and Africa.
A call into seeing Blackness within Iranian identity and Iranian identity within Black/African identity.
