A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on my Farsi blog about my experience with racial discrimination and racial prejudice in Afghanistan and today, I thought I should start writing a few posts about the semantics of ethnic slurs that Pashtuns, Tajiks, and even Sayyids, who are Shias and look like Hazaras, commonly use against the Hazara people. Here is one of the most popular racial slurs used toward the Hazaras: " God forbid my dog to be a Hazara " (خدا سگ مره هزاره نکنه khuda sagi mara hazara nakuna ). Here are four common features of this racial slur: 1. Dogs are renowned for being loyal, friendly, and protective. Hazaras are so disloyal, unfaithful, and unfriendly that they do not deserve to be even like dogs, and as such, God has created them a different species from humans. 2. Dogs in Islam are considered najis (Arabic word) , meaning untouchable and unclean. Hazaras are so vicious, wicked, and dirty that dogs are way kosher and clean, and deserve to be kept as frien...
sporadic thoughts and reflections of an anthropology phd student