In Rwanda the highly visible scapegoat minorities were the Tutsis. In much of North Africa but particularly Algeria they were, well, Jews. In India they were Muslims. Suddenly things got really, really bad for Muslims in India.
Replies
I was reading When Victims Become Killers by, well, Mamdani and that is a pretty simplistic view of what happened in Rwanda.
jul 4, 2025, 3:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Pretty sure European colonizers took a class concept (Tutsi-Hutu) and turned it into an ethnic one (which was awful and laid the foundations for ethnic violence) but it involved politically and socially elevating the Tutsi as a supposedly superior race, rather than a scapegoat.
jul 4, 2025, 12:32 pm • 3 0 • view
So what exactly were the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire and the smaller Muslim emirates and Sultanates? Book clubs? Muslims were not scapegoats, they were proto-conquistadors who despised the wife-burning pagans of Hindustan and made them their hewers of wood and drawers of water.
jul 5, 2025, 2:10 am • 0 0 • view
The British didn't do this in Rwanda; it was the Belgians. And they didn't scapegoat the Tutsis, they made them a privileged minority that later was resented by the scapegoated majority.
jul 5, 2025, 1:56 am • 0 0 • view
The leader of the Ismailis, having gone through this once already, were like “guys this is not gonna go well, you should go to Africa, where you will have jobs.” Ismailis mostly listened, and Ithna’asheri mostly followed because again: we are basically the same people.
jul 3, 2025, 11:46 pm • 1,780 59 • view
Thank you so much for this thread, it is extremely interesting! Rhymes with the story of the Jewish Sephardim, who largely got out of Spain/France into Persia and stayed there for a few hundred years (but mine went to Canada)
jul 4, 2025, 5:19 pm • 8 2 • view
I do wonder how many oppressed groups of nerds who like to argue about books there have been! I SUPER want to know if there was or is a similar group in China, it seems like there would be
jul 4, 2025, 5:19 pm • 5 0 • view
So you end up with a giant diaspora in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Now! Regardless of where we came from, in Lahore we identified as from Lahore, in Gujarat we identified as from Gujarat. In East Africa we were a bit more insular, somewhat because racism and somewhat because religion.
jul 3, 2025, 11:49 pm • 1,849 71 • view
Especially Tanzania, where the Khoja developed the best recipes.
jul 4, 2025, 3:37 am • 5 0 • view
As a Tanzanian khoja I wish I could triple-like this comment
jul 4, 2025, 3:44 am • 9 0 • view
❤️
jul 4, 2025, 4:08 am • 1 0 • view
This is fascinating. I mentioned seeing a lot of Indian-looking people in Tz back in the day but I had no idea about the history! bsky.app/profile/df1....
jul 4, 2025, 11:05 am • 2 0 • view
And then we lived there for several hundred years, and when the Partition happened and Gujarat slaughtered most of its Muslims (including many relatives of the Gujaratis in East Africa), we were… real glad to not be there.
jul 3, 2025, 11:50 pm • 1,810 55 • view
Your thread is not only fascinating but incredibly well written. I'd love to see every history book updated in your style of writing. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
jul 4, 2025, 5:10 am • 3 0 • view
Thank you!
jul 4, 2025, 5:10 am • 2 0 • view
yes, *this* is the essay the nyt should be running...
jul 4, 2025, 6:32 am • 3 0 • view
British colonization of Uganda only started in the late 1800s so I think several centuries is a bit on the high end...
jul 4, 2025, 4:04 am • 1 0 • view
Yes if I knew how big this thread was going to get I would have been more exact with my numbers! More accurate: we were trading with East Africans for 2000 years, had a small diaspora since at least the 1600s (which is where I got mixed up), then a much bigger wave of migration under British rule.
jul 4, 2025, 4:13 am • 5 0 • view
What a remarkable bit of narration. Thank you, this was the most interesting thing I learned today. Also, you can really write!
jul 4, 2025, 4:53 am • 0 0 • view
"we were… real glad to not be there." That's how I feel living in Canada 🇨🇦 today and not TrumpLand. But it's easy to be fearful here too with a madman in charge in USA where there are no checks and balances in their form of "democracy".
jul 4, 2025, 6:44 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank you all so much for the kind comments on this thread, they’re a delight to read. One correction: there has been a Gujarati diaspora in East Africa for at least 400-500 years (some estimate 2000+), but the big migration wave was in the 1800s. So “several hundred years” was sloppy phrasing 💜
jul 4, 2025, 4:42 am • 89 5 • view
As someone who lived in Uganda for a bit in the early 2000s, I was aware of the Idi Amin history (and enjoyed some amazing Indian food that I assumed was from people who had returned since). I was unaware of much of the prior history. Any good books you’d recommend to learn more?
jul 4, 2025, 6:33 am • 0 0 • view
Amazing! Thank you for this story.
jul 4, 2025, 5:07 am • 2 0 • view
An amazing thread. Kudos to you. 8500 'liked' the first post but 1700 were still around for the rest. Well done. So many great leaders said "You know a lot about a person or country by how they treat minorities and the vulnerable" Trudeau I wanted a 'kinder, gentler society" A work in progress
jul 4, 2025, 6:50 pm • 0 0 • view
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing. My takeaway is probably dumb - they stayed until they were forced to leave. Hard to tell what’s the point of no return. Don’t want to overreact and lose everything we worked for. Also don’t want to under react and lose our lives.
jul 4, 2025, 12:05 pm • 0 0 • view
However! HOWEVER!!! Remember the thing? I said? About how having a highly visible minority to target is great for oppressors? Yeah so guess who Uganda decides to target.
jul 3, 2025, 11:50 pm • 1,909 61 • view
Uganda had a leader named Idi Amin, a war-mongering corrupt asshole who Eric Adams apparently finds fascinating, and he decided it would be real fun to kick every Asian out of Uganda. Including my stepdad and Zohran’s dad.
jul 3, 2025, 11:51 pm • 2,323 153 • view
I remember it well, we had a lad start in my class who's family had been kicked out of Uganda by Amin in 1974, I was 12/13 at the time. They had been given British passports and at the time the right of abode in the UK.
jul 4, 2025, 8:06 pm • 0 0 • view
Was that the same guy who decided he named the cricket roster
jul 4, 2025, 7:43 pm • 0 0 • view
Oh, God, Idi Amin? I am so sorry.
jul 4, 2025, 3:38 am • 1 0 • view
Did Eric Adams get interested in him before or after Zohran running against him?
jul 4, 2025, 10:24 pm • 0 0 • view
Eric Adam’s might be fascinated because Idi Amin was Trumpily amazing at trolling. When Britain was in financial trouble in the 1970s Idi Amin offered PM Ted Heath part of his salary and told Heath and then the Queen that the Ugandan people had gathered a planeload of vegetables for them.
jul 4, 2025, 2:51 pm • 0 0 • view
...this is interesting...the influx of Asians were as a result of the British taking over India (aka "colonization)...Amin (who was basically put into power by the Israeli government) sought to reclaim economic power by deporting non-Ugandans... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Ami...
jul 4, 2025, 5:52 am • 0 0 • view
And we all know how it ended. It's a complicated issue but when you begin to scapegoat a section of the society like he did, tyranny will follow.
jul 4, 2025, 2:17 pm • 1 0 • view
...unfortunately some oppressed groups adopt the ways of the oppressor and may build upon their former oppressor's cruelty...refer to the Scots/Irish that "escaped" the English to come to America...
jul 4, 2025, 2:33 pm • 0 0 • view
Amin was worse than corrupt, he was another genocidaire.
jul 4, 2025, 2:14 pm • 3 0 • view
You'd think that Idi Amin's monstrous governance would make people hesitant to say he's right, but, inhumane treatment of humans has never stopped people from repeatedly repeating "But Hitler had a point!"
jul 4, 2025, 10:13 pm • 1 0 • view
As someone who has had many interactions with SouthEast Asians with Ugandan connections, I am concerned some points are inaccurately represented or unstated, despite having a significant bearing on the eventual turmoil which impacted the Asian-descent communities in Uganda.
jul 4, 2025, 5:48 am • 2 0 • view
British colonialism was already loathed in Africa generally, with the specificities of Uganda’s setup particularly grating. Most British colonies in Africa could only see One dividing line; that which separated the indigenous population from the White colonial oppressors. Not Uganda though..
jul 4, 2025, 5:48 am • 2 0 • view
Uganda saw the callous British ‘buffer’ themselves from the indigenous angst USING a middle tier of Asians. When the Brits saw the game was up for them, the ones loyal to the Crown headed off. This left the Asian community exposed; Idi Amin is on record having asked that those who wish to remain..
jul 4, 2025, 5:48 am • 2 0 • view
Fully adopt the Ugandan identity and stop waving other passports in around; a multi-tier/class system was not going to fly when tensions were so high over 1% of the population holding control over 95% of economic power and wealth. The Asian community did not recognise the opportunity extended..
jul 4, 2025, 5:48 am • 2 0 • view
To them in this moment; some aligned with the Amin objective while others openly defied it and in what is now considered a predictable outcome, the dam could not hold with so many holes. The extremist factions broke through and had their way, and atrocities ensued affecting ALL Asians in Uganda.
jul 4, 2025, 5:48 am • 2 0 • view
Exactly! That’s how that version of bigotry works — you create a highly visible scapegoat minority by making people perceive them as a “middle tier” below you.
jul 4, 2025, 5:52 am • 2 0 • view
Except that the opportunity to Align with the ultimate victims (the indigenous Ugandan population) was shunned by the Asian population in favour of the graces afforded to them by the proximity to whiteness that is seen in the ultimate migration by the same group TOWARDS Britain. Riddle me that 🤷🏾♂️
jul 4, 2025, 6:07 am • 0 0 • view
They spent a while in refugee camps but eventually most of them were resettled. The Ismailis mostly wound up in Canada, because the leader of the Ismailis was friends with Trudeau the former. Sometimes nepotism gives tax cuts to billionaires and sometimes it resettles refugees!
jul 3, 2025, 11:54 pm • 2,466 90 • view
One of my favorite books is the Book of Contemplation and one of my favorite stories from the Book is when ibn Munqidh is like "and then one day I woke up and my dad and uncles were battling the assassins/Ismailis in the halls of our castle" so when I say this is all gripping and fascinating. . .
jul 4, 2025, 4:55 am • 1 0 • view
Thanks for the insights Sophia
jul 4, 2025, 4:15 am • 2 0 • view
Would that now be Trudeau the First since they're now both former?
jul 7, 2025, 3:43 pm • 0 0 • view
Since the American Revolution, where the Rebels used the Irish, the Western political elite both centrist and right sought to create politically useful diasporas and voting blocs. (Thanks for sharing such a fascinating history)
jul 4, 2025, 12:26 pm • 1 0 • view
Shout-out to my Canadian-Ismaili homies At my first job, one was my boss - great guy
jul 4, 2025, 5:35 am • 6 0 • view
I like Ismailis. You seem heterodox. I’m going a good 40 years back so my memory is rusty. Myself, I’m a Mulla Nasruddin fan.
jul 4, 2025, 12:28 pm • 1 0 • view
Love it. But alas Canada still does give way too many tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.
jul 4, 2025, 6:46 pm • 1 0 • view
I remember the Ugandan refugees.
jul 5, 2025, 1:26 am • 0 0 • view
Yeah, he was friends with PET!
jul 5, 2025, 1:58 am • 0 0 • view
Trudeau the former was a much better man than his son.
jul 4, 2025, 7:16 pm • 0 0 • view
Hey, thank you for this - I drive by the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat every day on my way to work, and I understood that Ismailis and Canada have very good relations due to Pierre Trudeau in some way doing them a solid, but I never knew the history of it.
jul 4, 2025, 5:54 am • 3 0 • view
The Aga Khan Foundation is pretty visible here in Ottawa, and has been an absolute positive to our civic life, so it's lovely to learn a little more about our intersecting worlds. Again - thank you!
jul 4, 2025, 5:54 am • 6 0 • view
On the whole, the Gujarati African diaspora is wealthy, well-educated, and pretty obsessed with integration and respectability politics on account of all the trauma. We’re also very tight-knit, which is helpful because we also have a lot of poverty and refugees.
jul 3, 2025, 11:58 pm • 2,244 66 • view
Thank you for sharing this. It’s interesting for a geographer that likes social history & migration.
jul 4, 2025, 1:14 pm • 1 0 • view
Threads like this are so enlightening. Thank you very much for sharing this.
jul 4, 2025, 3:16 am • 22 0 • view
Thank you for taking the time! You are an excellent storyteller. I learned a lot tonight.
jul 4, 2025, 3:25 am • 50 0 • view
What a walk through the centuries! Thank you!
jul 4, 2025, 4:02 am • 3 0 • view
Thanks for posting. Very interesting!
jul 4, 2025, 4:39 am • 1 0 • view
Thank you! This is fascinating. Where are the places where many of the Gujarati African diaspora live now?
jul 4, 2025, 3:20 am • 4 0 • view
Quite a lot still live in East Africa still, but many had relatives who moved to the UK, British commonwealth & other anglophone countries. I find some in Malaysia — for example Sardar Patel’s relative from British East Africa married a Kashmiri Malaysian Sikh — Australia, the UK, Canada, & the US.
jul 4, 2025, 4:08 am • 7 0 • view
Yeah we’re quite dispersed! My family alone — plenty still in Tanzania and Kenya, a couple in India, one in Thailand, one in Hong Kong, one in Costa Rica, a few in the US, a bunch in Canada
jul 4, 2025, 4:16 am • 14 1 • view
This was very informative and fascinating! Thank you for sharing!
jul 4, 2025, 4:02 am • 3 0 • view
Thank you. That is a great explanation. I knew the British were involved somehow, because we're involved in any mess that doesn't involve the French or the Spanish (and quite a few that do). But not the full story. Much appreciated!
jul 4, 2025, 4:09 am • 23 0 • view
Thank you for posting this. Brilliant and incredibly informative.
jul 4, 2025, 3:15 am • 30 0 • view
Every Gujarati African I have ever met identifies as African first, and probably Indian second but possibly not Indian at all. Indians certainly consider us African, to a point where more traditional Indians will not intermarry with us, even if they are ethnically and religiously identical.
jul 4, 2025, 12:12 am • 4,324 381 • view
Thanks for the historical perspective. Very interesting.
jul 4, 2025, 8:16 pm • 0 0 • view
Interesting thread. However have to disagree. As one of the Logan’s a born in East Africa (albeit non converted one ) The reason Idi Amin threw out all Asians from Uganda are complex and includes insularity of the Asians in all those countries 1/2
jul 4, 2025, 7:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Most asians did not identify themselves as Africans and this is what caused the resentment in the local population. In the words of Kenneth Kaunda former of president of Zambia who chided Indians by saying “You Indians have your businesses in Africa, your hearts in India and your money in Europe”.
jul 4, 2025, 7:56 pm • 1 0 • view
Thank you very much for this educational thread! I had a vague idea of what diaspora was but it's much clearer to me now.
jul 4, 2025, 5:56 am • 0 0 • view
Great thread. I learned about Amin's expulsion of the Ismailis in my 40s, while researching a piece I was writing. I grew up in Nova Scotia, so my immediate comparison was the expulsion of the Acadians. Easygoing farmers, living at peace with the local natives, AND THEN THE FUCKING BRITISH etc
jul 4, 2025, 10:10 am • 11 0 • view
@skyview.social unroll
jul 4, 2025, 3:27 am • 0 0 • view
Really interesting - thank you:)
jul 4, 2025, 4:02 pm • 3 0 • view
Hmm the nerd is strong in this one, thank you for the interesting read. Also did not know Zohran was Ismaili (not that it matters.)
jul 4, 2025, 9:07 am • 6 0 • view
I don't know man, it seems very relevant that he's from an ethno-religious group that are apparently very good at being mayors bsky.app/profile/itmu... Probably shouldn't joke about this too much but allow me these few at least
jul 4, 2025, 10:51 am • 7 0 • view
Thanks for this fascinating history. Putting a visit to the Aga Khan Museum on my to do list.
jul 4, 2025, 1:27 pm • 1 0 • view
Thank you for sharing this fascinating thread 🙂
jul 4, 2025, 2:19 pm • 2 0 • view
Wow!
jul 4, 2025, 4:57 am • 0 0 • view
This is so true. My auntie is Malawian Indian and she always says the same as she identifies with Malawi first.
jul 4, 2025, 6:31 am • 24 0 • view
Thank you for this thread!
jul 4, 2025, 3:06 am • 11 0 • view
Fantastic thread!
jul 4, 2025, 10:42 pm • 4 0 • view
earned a follow from me...
jul 5, 2025, 1:33 am • 0 0 • view
I didnt know any of this, thank you so much!
jul 4, 2025, 3:46 am • 8 0 • view
if this does not become a Drunk History episode there is no justice. so well written.
jul 4, 2025, 6:03 pm • 24 0 • view
I need to be able to heart this more than once
jul 4, 2025, 6:43 pm • 8 0 • view
Thank you! This is the most fascinating thing I've read in a long time.
jul 4, 2025, 4:38 am • 15 0 • view
This "One of the fucking British" thinks this is absolutely magnificent piece of writing, which I enjoyed hugely! I hope the future Mayor lives up to his heritage and the social responsibilities that this backstory captures. Send it to the New York TImes.
jul 4, 2025, 11:56 am • 9 0 • view
Thank you! This has been tremendously helpful. 🌺
jul 5, 2025, 4:05 am • 0 0 • view
Thanks for writing this up, and for the opportunity to learn something new!
jul 4, 2025, 1:20 pm • 1 0 • view
Read this thread. Fascinating (but sad) history.
jul 4, 2025, 12:42 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank you. This context was super helpful.
jul 4, 2025, 3:33 am • 1 0 • view
I always wonder if the world would be a better place if there were no religions. Or would everyone just find something else to fight about?
jul 4, 2025, 10:42 pm • 2 0 • view
This is so fascinating and helpful. Thank you!
jul 4, 2025, 5:09 pm • 13 0 • view
I had a sub in college sociology back in 2019. He argued his African identity with a 1st Gen Ethiopian American student. It got heated. The student felt he was entitled to call himself Ugandan, not NOT African. I did not participate, but found it fascinating, yet very tense
jul 4, 2025, 6:52 pm • 4 0 • view
Truth. Kenyan Gujarati here and I am African and then American of Indian descent. No emotional or sentimental ties to India because I was born in Africa.
jul 4, 2025, 2:20 pm • 33 0 • view
Your people are really impressive. All the would-be obliterations that your culture survived. Thank you for this thread.
jul 4, 2025, 3:25 am • 24 0 • view
Your style is super engaging and the information just flows! Thank you for this clear and fascinating explainer!
jul 4, 2025, 2:37 am • 80 0 • view
Thank you so much for writing this!
jul 4, 2025, 3:32 am • 5 0 • view
What a fabulous write up. I really enjoyed your style of writing and I learnt so much! Thank you for educating us all 🤩
jul 4, 2025, 2:21 pm • 2 0 • view
I was in elementary school when many Ismailis came to Canada, and a significant number settled in my area of Toronto. I was familiar with Uganda and Tanzania at a young age, with red/green bracelets worn by Ismailis, and the idea of an Indian diaspora. THAT is the magic of a multicultural #Canada
jul 4, 2025, 12:41 pm • 60 0 • view
📌
jul 4, 2025, 9:25 am • 0 0 • view
Thank you. I knew none of that before and I very much appreciate you taking the time to share.
jul 4, 2025, 7:08 am • 3 0 • view
Thanks for this thread! Very interesting to learn this history.
jul 4, 2025, 2:04 am • 23 0 • view
Thank you for this.
jul 4, 2025, 7:03 pm • 1 0 • view
This is really informative! Thanks!
jul 4, 2025, 10:22 pm • 0 0 • view
Really stunning distillation. Thank you.
jul 4, 2025, 4:53 am • 0 0 • view
I have a Canadian friend who is of South Asian descent and born in Africa and who isn't Ismali; their father had a job in Kenya when they were born.
jul 7, 2025, 3:49 pm • 0 0 • view
We had Ismaili family friends growing up—they spoke Gujarati like us, but when someone asked where they were from? Their answer was, “from Uganda.”
jul 4, 2025, 3:40 am • 115 0 • view
Yep. I have a friend who was the first African to attend our college. He is of Indian heritage, but he is from Kenya. (And his wife of Indian heritage is from London.)
jul 4, 2025, 3:35 pm • 5 0 • view
jul 4, 2025, 12:34 pm • 14 1 • view
This is complicated, I could barely follow it all.
jul 4, 2025, 9:48 am • 0 0 • view
Thank you for sharing! (appreciative)
jul 4, 2025, 3:59 am • 1 0 • view
Thank you! for the most educational but not at all dull 🧵 of 2025.
jul 4, 2025, 3:39 am • 10 0 • view
I understand a little as I met both at sea/port a few times. the goa elec seemed normal 😂😂 we crossed a poop field together in Angola 😑 there's no turning back. The Kenyan foreman was 🤙🏻 because softer than back home in some east ports .. Anyhoo, there's nice and bad people everywhere, pinch noze😉🇫🇷
jul 4, 2025, 2:14 pm • 0 0 • view
This was beautifully written and informative. Thank you
jul 4, 2025, 1:54 pm • 5 0 • view
Thank you for taking the time to educate most of us. Fascinating piece of history I never knew.
jul 4, 2025, 1:42 pm • 6 0 • view
"AND THEN THE FUCKING BRITISH SHOWED UP" (along with some Dutch, Germans, Scots, Irish, and French) is the story of my family, which includes killing Indigenous people and taking their land, owning slaves, and fighting on both sides in the Civil War. It's not the glorious legacy I was taught it was.
jul 4, 2025, 4:53 pm • 51 3 • view
This should be the way that we teach the colonial era past elementary school. Less rah-rah white European jingoism, more “they brought superior tech and lots of oppression as the tradeoff of colonial rule”.
jul 4, 2025, 6:20 pm • 14 0 • view
Scots and Irish were included in the 'British' who showed up. (Scots and Northern Irish still are.) Highland Brigade critical in putting down rebellion mid C19th.
jul 4, 2025, 7:43 pm • 2 0 • view
This was great. Wish I knew this much about my own middle eastern heritage.
jul 4, 2025, 1:13 pm • 0 0 • view
Very interesting! Thank you for that. Of the many Indian friends I’ve had over my lifetime in Canada, they are from so many countries. Trinidad, Guyana, Uganda, Tanzania & Kenya. All interesting stories how they got there (all involved the British Empire).
jul 4, 2025, 6:52 am • 10 0 • view
@skyview.social unroll
jul 5, 2025, 6:07 am • 0 0 • view
My father in law worked in Uganda… had to leave because of Idi Amin. Went to the UK, and died there. Never recovered from having to leave Africa.
jul 5, 2025, 4:26 am • 8 0 • view
This hit close to home, I identify as Kenyan more than Indian. Though I haven’t seen/heard of more traditional Indians not wanting to marry the African Gujaratis. But great read nonetheless.
jul 4, 2025, 1:33 pm • 2 0 • view
Ethnic marital prohibitions are pretty disturbing to me.
jul 4, 2025, 3:16 am • 2 0 • view
This is a FASCINATING thread — thank you so much for sharing it!
jul 4, 2025, 12:05 pm • 3 0 • view
Thank you so much for this!!
jul 4, 2025, 12:40 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you for this thread!
jul 4, 2025, 3:17 am • 0 0 • view
The desire for forms to want to compartmentalise people in neat boxes has always been difficult to rationalise for people with complex family histories. I have a fairly straightforward one but it was not represented well in forms of the past. It's more inclusive now, but not all that clearer.
jul 4, 2025, 11:46 pm • 8 0 • view
Sophia, I wish you could post this whole explanation on Substack. It's so good (and can be done with a single post there, instead of a chain of limited characters).
jul 4, 2025, 3:55 pm • 3 0 • view
Thanks for this thread!
jul 4, 2025, 6:03 pm • 0 0 • view
This Armenian-American who's a bit familiar with the diaspora concept herself is fascinated by all this -- thank you for the history lesson! :)
jul 4, 2025, 3:24 am • 34 0 • view
As a Jewish American... So many people I get to know from diaspora cultures (Yemeni, ethnic Chinese in Vietnam, Armenian, etc)... So many of our histories don't exactly repeat, but they sure do rhyme.
jul 4, 2025, 3:32 am • 45 0 • view
Intriguing 🧐 and honorable. Would like to know more?
jul 4, 2025, 7:20 pm • 2 0 • view
I was making a comment about how Obama was part Irish I realised that due to the British in India it was concievable that Mamdani has irish ancestry but you might have a better understanding about whether that's really possible or not based on this history here (thank you) I expect unlikely, but...?
jul 4, 2025, 12:52 pm • 1 0 • view
There’s a book, “White Mughals” by William Dalrymple (2002) about the Irish intermarrying into India and vice versa in the 1800s. Really fascinating!
jul 6, 2025, 5:15 pm • 3 0 • view
📌
jul 4, 2025, 11:21 pm • 0 0 • view
What a fabulous and informative thread 🧵!
jul 4, 2025, 11:49 am • 0 0 • view
Amazing thread. My kids are Persian, but of mostly Azerbaijani origin. We should all know just a fraction of this history and the waves of genocide, migration, and integration of peoples throughout the region. Thank you for this concise lesson on a complex history spanning continents!!
jul 4, 2025, 11:13 am • 26 0 • view
Talk about an origin story- I love this
jul 4, 2025, 5:39 am • 0 0 • view
This was a super cool thread. As a Canadian I know lots and lots of Ismailis,so as soon as you mentioned them, I kinda knew where this was going.
jul 4, 2025, 4:17 am • 26 0 • view
Thank you very much.
jul 4, 2025, 1:15 pm • 1 0 • view
Great thread! Really interesting, I didn't have a clue!
jul 4, 2025, 5:50 am • 0 0 • view
Love the this thread and love the way you used all caps exactly onetime . AND THEN THE FUCKING BRITISH SHOWED UP
jul 4, 2025, 6:26 pm • 117 3 • view
Good grief, there are nigh-infinite personal and cultural histories which should include that phrase.
jul 4, 2025, 7:03 pm • 69 1 • view
Technically there was a HOWEVER. But the British showing up deserves that all caps.
jul 4, 2025, 7:58 pm • 2 0 • view
Not even for getting genocided by the Mongols 😭😭
jul 5, 2025, 6:25 am • 1 0 • view
Great thread I stumbled in. You should write a book. It's very interesting.
jul 5, 2025, 2:45 pm • 2 0 • view
the same Ismailis that worship the Aga Kahn? I have a couple of rants about his luxury real estate colonisation ventures in the mediterranean island I live in...
jul 4, 2025, 11:24 am • 0 0 • view
No, the ones associated with the Aga Khan are Nizari Ismailis, who mostly originate in Iran and Syria. The Ismailis from Gujarat are Musta'li Ismailis. The two split a little over 900 years ago around the collapse of the Fatimids.
jul 4, 2025, 11:47 am • 12 0 • view
Great thread, my dad (Punjabi parents) was born & raised in Tanzania before coming to England - he & the rest of my ‘African’ family here, definitely identify as Indian first but I’m mixed (Indian & Irish) & identify as English, despite having no English blood.
jul 4, 2025, 5:52 am • 56 2 • view
To be fair "English" blood isn't really a thing since it's a mix of the Celts, Romans, Saxons, Normans and a bunch of others thrown in too
jul 4, 2025, 6:33 am • 52 1 • view
One of my good friends is Indian by ethnic heritage but was born and raised in Kenya, then the US for college & grad school. While usually identifying as “Indian” her home & people are Kenya. I’m not even sure she has even been to India. It’s complicated & people don’t like complexity.
jul 4, 2025, 6:55 am • 16 1 • view
Thank you, I learned so much! What an incredible history.
jul 4, 2025, 10:47 pm • 1 0 • view
Thank you! This is fascinating and another diaspora story that I knew nothing about but am glad to learn.
jul 4, 2025, 4:56 am • 3 0 • view
Met an old man in the 1990s who never left Uganda during the expulsion. He sent his family to the UK, but he hid out the duration of Amin's reign. "Why should I go? This is my home." Revived his vegetable oil business when he came out of hiding.
jul 4, 2025, 8:52 pm • 6 0 • view
I enjoyed reading that. Thank you
jul 4, 2025, 4:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Thank you for writing and sharing this Sophia, it was an interesting and accessible read.
jul 4, 2025, 3:07 pm • 3 0 • view
Thanks for this. One of my best friends is a Gujurati Sikh who came to UK as a young kid when his family were kicked out of Kenya in the late 1960s. He's a cultural chameleon, able to adapt to fit in anywhere. His other good friend was a very devout muslim of Pakistani origin.
jul 4, 2025, 11:43 am • 15 0 • view
So well articulated and easily delivered so people can comprehend the complexities.
jul 4, 2025, 1:50 pm • 2 0 • view
Absolutely fascinating and very well done. Thanks for enlightening us all.
jul 4, 2025, 4:36 pm • 1 0 • view
Great thread and aligns with what I've learned from good friends who were Punjabi Sikhs who ended up in Kenya during the diaspora and now very proudly identify as Kenyans.
jul 4, 2025, 4:37 pm • 16 0 • view
Thank you ❤️️
jul 4, 2025, 3:29 pm • 1 0 • view
👌-read things here & there but never this succinctly put in 1 place. for me thinking goes whatever we can get the better. ppl living in their own bubble (esp indians) always miss out on larger pic & wish they consider how their sense of identity gets enriched with multitude of diaspora out there..
jul 4, 2025, 12:12 pm • 3 0 • view
This was the most interesting read I've had in a while. Thank you for that!
jul 4, 2025, 7:59 am • 4 0 • view
really appreciate this thread, thank you for sharing
jul 4, 2025, 2:33 pm • 1 0 • view
Brilliant—the whole thing! Thanks!
jul 4, 2025, 9:40 pm • 0 0 • view
Two posts into your thread, and I knew you had to be a writer!
jul 4, 2025, 8:19 pm • 1 0 • view
Brilliant thread. My family/community is also from East Africa (Gujarati/Jain). We are now scattered in a similar way, mostly UK but USA, Canada, Aus, NZ though many also remain in Kenya and others are back to India.
jul 4, 2025, 6:19 am • 7 0 • view
So our lot definitely identify as Indian (though also African, some first, some second). Many identify with Hinduism too and there's multiple Jain and Hindu communities that will engage with each other.
jul 4, 2025, 6:19 am • 2 0 • view
Recruited to work on the railways in East Africa . Shop owners later .
jul 4, 2025, 11:59 am • 0 0 • view
Fascinating history.
jul 4, 2025, 4:42 am • 37 1 • view
Thank you for taking the time to write out such a detailed account and informative thread! It was an interesting read and I always love reading about the histories of other diasporic peoples.
jul 4, 2025, 9:27 am • 7 0 • view
Terrific explanation! 🙏
jul 4, 2025, 3:57 am • 1 0 • view
These are the stories that make a history teacher happy. Personal, with emotions, easily connected to historical events and so interesting. Thank you for sharing for the important reason you did but also to give an old history teacher a way to re do an immigrant assignment.
jul 4, 2025, 12:28 pm • 166 2 • view
As a teacher, you might like the book “Orange for the Sunsets”, which takes place in Uganda in during the expulsion. I read it aloud to my Grade 4s and 5s every year, but your students could read it independently.
jul 4, 2025, 1:33 pm • 45 2 • view
Thank you for sharing! Such an interesting read and I learned something new
jul 4, 2025, 2:45 pm • 4 0 • view
Thank you for sharing this history! I lived in DRC a year or two after the expulsion. My best friend was the Ugandan daughter of a Supreme Court Justice that was murdered by Amin. I was 12 and only learned a lot of this when I was in college but initially I didn't make the connection with Mamdami.
jul 4, 2025, 9:19 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you for this.
jul 4, 2025, 12:11 pm • 3 0 • view
This was so interesting. Thank you!
jul 4, 2025, 3:13 am • 1 0 • view
That was fascinating history I've never learned, presented beautifully. Thank you.
jul 4, 2025, 11:56 am • 7 0 • view
Sounds like the perfect background to be a wonderful mayor in New York City
jul 4, 2025, 1:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank you for taking the time to share this, Sophia!
jul 22, 2025, 9:28 am • 0 0 • view
Wasn't the film Mississippi Masala about the diaspora in Uganda? In the film I remember it being labelled indian..
jul 4, 2025, 7:01 pm • 0 0 • view
Messy and very well told. Thank you.
jul 4, 2025, 5:00 am • 0 0 • view
Exceptional explanation of your diaspora. Thank you.
jul 4, 2025, 10:22 pm • 0 0 • view
What an interesting and informative thread – thank you!!
jul 4, 2025, 3:17 am • 1 0 • view
thank you
jul 4, 2025, 4:40 pm • 2 0 • view
Very interesting
jul 4, 2025, 7:08 am • 0 0 • view
📌
jul 4, 2025, 5:26 am • 0 0 • view
oh im bookmarking this because this very informative!
jul 4, 2025, 3:39 am • 0 0 • view
Its so funny because yes entirely true, but also the tip of the iceberg in terms of how complex inter ethnic dynamics are for south asian communities.
jul 4, 2025, 7:03 pm • 9 0 • view
Some Gujaratis ended up in central and southern Ethiopia as well; much of the oldest housing stock in Addis Ababa and the southern city of Harar is in the Gujarati style.
jul 4, 2025, 11:46 am • 9 0 • view
This was SO educational and a delight to read. Thanks for taking the time to share it.
jul 4, 2025, 4:57 pm • 15 0 • view
Fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing.
jul 4, 2025, 5:23 am • 0 0 • view
Genuinely extremely interesting! Do you happen to know of any books or articles that recount this whole history at greater length? (Perhaps not, I imagine it’s a pretty niche topic, but sometimes there are surprises!)
jul 4, 2025, 3:17 am • 2 0 • view
@derspekter.bsky.social did a piece on a related topic www.derspekter.org/doikayt-in-t...
jul 4, 2025, 7:12 pm • 4 2 • view
This explains why Charli XCX is so hot and cool.
jul 4, 2025, 8:10 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you for taking the time to write that. I wish it could also be posted on a blog, or written as an Op Ed in a newspaper. Publish it everywhere. I don’t see it has his story or your story, but our story. I wish I knew my own history as well.
jul 4, 2025, 1:05 pm • 5 0 • view
Thanks for this thread!
jul 4, 2025, 3:12 am • 3 0 • view
Thank you for this very educational thread. 🧵 Should be spread wide.
jul 4, 2025, 6:06 am • 2 0 • view
This is a tenuous general history lesson right up until how it is framed as a history lesson about the mamdani family escaping persecution, at which point it is garbage. Mahmood Mamdani was born in family in Bombay - there is no evidence of violence against muslim during the troubling partition.
jul 5, 2025, 12:02 am • 1 0 • view
Mira Nair is prominent bollywood celebrity born and raised a hindu. She continues to be influential married to an African-Indian Muslim, both groups african and muslim struggling for standing in India. the Mamdani's moved to africa as part of a larger migration due to british colonial oppression
jul 5, 2025, 12:02 am • 1 0 • view
This is fascinating! Thank you for sharing. I gotta say, the richness of a history of a people is a beautiful thing, even when that history is fraught & oppressive. Knowing the kind of people you came from is an amazing gift and white ppl don’t lean into that. I guess bc we come from the oppressors…
jul 4, 2025, 6:38 am • 6 0 • view
Thank you for this. Many of us wouldn’t have known (not that the jerks will care, but many of us like to be informed!)
jul 4, 2025, 2:44 pm • 2 0 • view
Are there any good books you would recommend on the subject?
jul 4, 2025, 8:42 am • 0 0 • view
Did you also settle in Zaire? There were a lot of Indians there when I lived there.
jul 4, 2025, 3:59 am • 0 0 • view
Ismailis did also settle in Zaire! But a fair bit after we settled in East Africa. There have been many waves of South Asian migration to Africa over the past 2000 years, especially East Africa since it’s the easiest to reach by boat, so there are also plenty of non-Ismaili Indians.
jul 4, 2025, 5:08 am • 13 0 • view
@skyview.social unroll
jul 4, 2025, 2:15 pm • 0 0 • view
Fascinating history! As a teen, I stayed with a Punjabi Sikh family in Kenya. The community there inhabited the same niche: shop owners and merchants, and so were the perfect scapegoats any time there was unrest.
jul 4, 2025, 11:56 am • 10 0 • view
that is fascinating, thank you. reminds me a bit of my Irish catholic mother not talking to the protestant Irish next door neighbour in the Australian suburb i grew up in. people are crazy.
jul 4, 2025, 12:05 pm • 19 1 • view
What a great read. Thank you for this fascinating history lesson!
jul 4, 2025, 6:01 pm • 0 0 • view
📌
jul 4, 2025, 3:52 am • 0 0 • view
Great thread, thanks!
jul 4, 2025, 5:58 am • 0 0 • view
Cousin! ❤️
jul 4, 2025, 4:56 pm • 2 0 • view
And the Aga Khan came to Sardinia
jul 4, 2025, 7:11 pm • 0 0 • view
Thank you for posting! This has been very interesting and informative
jul 4, 2025, 1:14 pm • 0 0 • view
Amazinf thread Sophia. so informative! I hope you publish it somewhere before it all gets out of hand 👍
jul 4, 2025, 4:40 pm • 6 0 • view
The former mayor of Calgary is Ismaili! People were racist dicks to him too, turns out.
jul 4, 2025, 3:57 am • 110 1 • view
Mamdani has been giving serious Nenshi vibes for a while now!
jul 4, 2025, 5:02 am • 15 0 • view
He’s the Best! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... Naheed Nenshi awarded 2014 World Mayor Prize | CBC News
jul 4, 2025, 5:23 am • 110 4 • view
The former mayor of Calgary is my MLA!
jul 5, 2025, 5:30 am • 0 0 • view
Or as an East African Asian
jul 4, 2025, 2:02 pm • 1 0 • view
Wasn’t a lot of the immigration also the British bringing Indian laborers to Africa?
jul 4, 2025, 8:57 am • 4 0 • view
Fascinating thread. I enjoyed reading it.
jul 4, 2025, 8:27 am • 0 0 • view
Thanks for sharing all of that. Fascinating history.
jul 4, 2025, 4:59 am • 0 0 • view
You wrote an intriguing but I must say preposterous thread in regard to facts. And it's a shame.
jul 5, 2025, 1:50 am • 0 0 • view
Be great if you elaborated on why it's preposterous
jul 5, 2025, 2:08 am • 4 0 • view
Genuinely one of the most interesting things I've randomly read on the internet. Thank you.
jul 4, 2025, 4:49 pm • 48 0 • view
Fascinating story! Thank you 💐
jul 4, 2025, 6:35 am • 0 0 • view
The amazing arrogance of all European colonizers disabled the ability of the entire world to advance civilization. Instead of respect for cultures, invaders believed they held the only keys to acceptable standards of living. Like yesterday's vote,religious zealots framed wealth takeover as justice.
jul 4, 2025, 5:33 pm • 16 1 • view
Very interesting and well written. There was a huge gap of hundreds of years where Muslims mutilated and killed millions of Hindus, though when Muslims were the rulers in India. They destroyed many incredibly beautiful ancient temples, too. You might want to be honest about that.
jul 5, 2025, 2:13 am • 0 0 • view
Thank you for your detailed, compelling narrative!😍
jul 4, 2025, 4:11 am • 1 0 • view
Thank you! But I read the whole thread and missed the part where you all became communists.
jul 5, 2025, 1:33 pm • 1 0 • view
She said they were nerds that like to argue about books
jul 6, 2025, 9:27 pm • 3 0 • view
Thank you for your story
jul 4, 2025, 6:43 pm • 1 0 • view
This was a fascinating read. Thank you.
jul 8, 2025, 5:31 am • 3 0 • view
This was an absolutely wonderful history I would never have known if you hadn't shared-thank you!
jul 5, 2025, 12:35 am • 8 0 • view
If you haven't seen it, I *highly* recommend the film "Mississippi Masala," directed by Mira Nair, who is Zohran's mother. It recounts some of this Indian-African history, and stars a very young Denzel Washington.
jul 5, 2025, 2:44 am • 23 1 • view
This thread is fantastic. I was recently reading about the Ismailis in Yemen when learning about pre- and post politics of Yemen’s unification.
jul 4, 2025, 4:20 am • 28 0 • view
Fabulous. Thank you. (I'm FUCKING BRITISH)
jul 4, 2025, 1:23 pm • 1 0 • view
😳 I had no idea. Interesting. (Not great, but interesting. ) 🙏
jul 4, 2025, 3:36 pm • 1 0 • view
Followed because of this train. Beautifully told!
jul 4, 2025, 4:16 am • 5 0 • view
📌
jul 4, 2025, 5:53 am • 0 0 • view
Have you considered posting this whole thread on Substack? It's free, and this would make a terrific piece and reach many more people.
jul 4, 2025, 1:40 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you for this education! Now I gotta go be a nerd and find a book about all this.
jul 4, 2025, 5:20 am • 3 0 • view
Please share when you find one
jul 4, 2025, 7:02 am • 2 0 • view
Wondering where Priti Patel fits undo this with her parents being refugees from Uganda
jul 4, 2025, 7:18 pm • 1 0 • view
Thank you for taking the time to explain this and share the history with us. This is a fascinating history and it is so important for people to remember there are SO MANY different diasporas in our world including the countless ones caused by things like "and then the British showed up".
jul 4, 2025, 7:11 pm • 21 1 • view
incridible thread, thank you !!
jul 4, 2025, 2:48 am • 86 0 • view
Not really .
jul 4, 2025, 5:54 pm • 0 0 • view
While this is 100% true, the truth is that the bigger scandal here is NYT publishing this in the first place, you would expect to see this kind of garbage in the sun or thrash like that
jul 4, 2025, 3:45 am • 12 0 • view
This was really fascinating! Thank you.
jul 4, 2025, 8:14 am • 0 0 • view
Thank you for this thorough history lesson. My heart yearns for a day when we can coexist without the oppression of one another; where people can pray to whatever deity they choose to follow, and when one of us is not more deserving than another of a safe, happy and healthy life.
jul 4, 2025, 4:31 pm • 35 0 • view
I believe that humans have some inherent tribalism/xenophobia in our nature that we’ll never fully eradicate. That being said, I long for the day when it’s turned way down to “sports team rivalry” levels.
jul 4, 2025, 6:31 pm • 10 0 • view
I can't imagine why a standard university form wouldn't have your beautiful thread as one of their options to the question about ethnicity. A) White B) Black C) Asian D) Non-Black Latin E) So theres this people from Lahore but they're not really from Lahore, probably from Afghanistan who settl...
jul 4, 2025, 3:44 am • 709 20 • view
Could be easier: ☐ British or just as white ☐ Fucked over by the British ☐ Somehow managed not to be fucked over by the British (rare)
jul 4, 2025, 2:44 pm • 225 5 • view
Note: The last sentence of the thread calls her people 'ethnically and religiously identical' to Indians. You could say that asking applicants to check the box of a simplified racial category is stupid, but then you'd be a liberal.
jul 4, 2025, 5:07 am • 5 0 • view
It's weird they ask in the first place, and if they do, it should be write-in
jul 4, 2025, 11:18 am • 0 0 • view
Why the hell will a university ask for your ethnicity?
jul 4, 2025, 5:53 pm • 0 0 • view
My mums go to was always other Heinz 57 which makes sense when you're born in Jamaica grew up in Singapore and Scotland and your family is Jamaican Jewish Greek Scots, Irish, Canadians and that's just the last 2 generations the most recent adds my Japanese, Chinese and Nigerian cousins
jul 4, 2025, 6:49 pm • 8 0 • view
Our, well my, knowledge of migrations is very Eurocentric. I didn't know about the South Asian communities in Africa until I visited Malawi. But there is so much more. I taught 2 sisters who were Portuguese Burghers from Sri Lanka. Very beautiful, they insisted they were white despite the evidence.
jul 4, 2025, 8:04 am • 28 1 • view
So well told! I keep picturing an amazing animated film to accompany this - old school collage and such -
jul 4, 2025, 5:11 am • 7 0 • view
I wish I had the skill to do little animations; I feel like that would be super fun
jul 4, 2025, 5:15 am • 12 0 • view
Great — select “Other” or “Asian” and write an essay about it. Don’t lie by selecting a box to misrepresent your ethnicity as “Black/African-American” cuz that’s not the diversity you’re bringing to college
jul 4, 2025, 6:23 pm • 0 0 • view
It's just too easy to blame people when you mischaracterize what they actually did. (He never claimed to be Black. African birthplace is true tho.) If you want to assign blame, choose the disinfo agents who politically manipulate you with rage bait. Don't reward them by repeating their trash takes.
jul 4, 2025, 7:15 pm • 3 0 • view
Why the fuck a college gotta know what diversity Im bringing it. Im not a sticker on your skateboard
jul 4, 2025, 8:17 pm • 5 0 • view
This was a fascinating thread and well written, about the kind of thing I love to learn! Thank you. I'll follow you in case (cough) you ever (cough) feel like telling more (cough) of the story.
jul 4, 2025, 9:37 am • 1 0 • view
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much - I'm a little less ignorant now. 😎
jul 4, 2025, 3:26 am • 13 0 • view
Thank you, so interesting. You mentioned Farsi. I’m wondering what you consider to be your mother tongue, and whether you use a dialect that’s distinct to your community.
jul 4, 2025, 3:31 am • 4 0 • view
Apocryphal story about why Canadian officials decided on initial numbers of Ismailis to welcome. 😁 policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/ma... And no that wasn’t the final number who came to Canada…but that story is famous in Canada, changed us as a country and all of our refugee/immigration system
jul 4, 2025, 3:27 pm • 2 0 • view
A very familiar name. Apparently my birth country (USSR) supported him and helped him seize and keep power. Don't remember why. Then glasnost happened, archives were unsealed, turns out my country had been propping up a leader who ATE PEOPLE
jul 4, 2025, 7:49 pm • 0 0 • view
yep.... Idi Amin's expulsion was horrible.. Idi Amin was a nutter, a psycho (Trump would have liked him.. 😏) I remember seeing a movie that included the expulsion.. Mississippi Masala, maybe? directed by Mira Nair, Mamdami's mother, as was Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake.. other great movies..
jul 5, 2025, 1:06 am • 2 0 • view
The Namesake is a great novel, by the way....
jul 5, 2025, 1:15 am • 0 0 • view
Gujarat, the state and its auxiliaries, did not slaughtered most of the Muslims living there when the partition happened. No organized attempt at such nor a toll significant enough to require the use of "slaughter"
jul 4, 2025, 7:55 pm • 2 0 • view
The two big riots were later. Barbaric but nowhere near close enough to culling what would've been 4.5 million Gujarati Muslims at the time
jul 4, 2025, 7:55 pm • 2 0 • view
Gujarat slaughtered most of its Muslims? Where did you come up with that misinformation?
jul 4, 2025, 3:21 pm • 1 0 • view
Very true. Good Post! #JaiHo is an Indian term, greeting, encouragement to stay positive and win. #India #Hindu open.spotify.com/track/4yhXVN...
jul 7, 2025, 9:26 am • 1 0 • view
in India it's still the Muslims.... especially now with Hindutva ruling India... the level of hatred they feel towards Muslins is off hhe charts.... (they also hate all non-Hindus....)
jul 5, 2025, 12:54 am • 0 0 • view