A brew of hard-core, cutting -edge science and
Eurocentric (Aryanist) stereotypes with respect to South Asia
GE
If there is any doubt about the political agenda informing this work, go to page 153 of the text.
What is the ancestry of Indus civilization people? Dr Reich makes it clear: Heads you lose. Tails you lose. The three different possibilities he proposes leave no room for the Indigenous creativity of the "unmixed" South Asian. Instead we are told that it was either the unmixed Iranian farmers, who somehow spoke a Dravidian language, that created this great civilization, or, the ANI, who of course were largely Indo-European speakers, according to him. Another option given by him is that a mix of people related to Iranian (Indo-European) farmers, and South Asian hunter gatherers were involved. With the stroke of a pen and a vial of veiled Indo-European supremacist mythology, the Indigenous South Asians were written out of Indus history. In similar vein, the unmixed South Asian hunter gatherers had to wait for a bunch of external migrants to show them how to farm. In his words, "farming was not invented in India." p. 127. It took the Near Eastern magical crops of wheat and barley and some genetic mixing to do so, he implies.But really, can anyone " invent" farming, as such? Is it not the culmination of local demographic, ecological and climatic situations that may or may not include adaptations. But recall that Dr.Reich also claimed that the South Asians adopted agriculture from the so-called Near East sometime after 9000 years (p. 127) and that the genetic mixture allegedly detected in the population was possibly as a result of " the movement of farmers of Near Eastern origin into South Asia." p. 138. Really? Where is the proof? By the way, is there such a thing as a farming gene? If so tell us more. Explain why open minded historians point to the indigenous growth of agriculture around the river valleys of the world. I tend to believe them. On a different note, the claim that ancient Greek religion and Hinduism were related in terms of 'unmistaken similarities' was unconvincing but let me defer to experts in comparative religion on that one.
I just sent the above short commentary to the "amazon" review page for this book. Reich's views on Africa are provocative and should not be left unchallenged. At the same time there is something new to note and to be aware of on the sequenced genomes from African populations. He talks about Yoruba genetic history 210-213. and Africa as a whole in ch. 9. How about some reviews of his discussion on Africa - especially chapter 9- for Africa Update? We can have an entire issue devoted to this topic. Any takers?
Please send reviews of any length of the above named text to 'emeagwali@ccsu.edu " by September 30. Meanwhile I am preparing my own review for that issue. I have an extra copy of the text for anyone interested.
GE
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries on
Africa and the African Diaspora
8608322815 Phone
8608322804 Fax
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