On a different note. I would want to hear your observations regarding the popular "Tukaro" forming the segment of our people who live there permanetly. What we hear is they are living in a ghetto or a slum there.
Oooh, you got me there! When I did the Hajj, I did notice the appalling conditions the Tukolor lived in -- including the pathetic sights of amputee children being peddled around by their parents, the runs they had with authorities who confiscate their wares etc. If they know you are Hausa, they ignore you – and target their begging at a more Whiter skin. To the Pakistani and Indian merchants who control the trade systems in Makka and Madina, all Blacks are the same, and rarely do they bother to distinguish between genuine Hajjis and Tukolor – preferring to treat all with the usual contempt of someone who is Brown. And as for the Arabs (Saudi and all) – their racism is the worst; e.g. putting a physical barrier between you and them so that you don’t rub shoulders during prayers; ignoring you when you enter their designer shops (because they thought you can’t afford to buy Polo, Armani, YSL or Chanel items). So yes, the Tukolor in Saudia (at least in Makka and Madina) live in ghettos, slums and are the underdogs; but then they do things no White Arab will do – wash cars, carry loads, and their women do menial jobs around the house, often leading harrowing stories of sexual abuse. Their often illegal status means they are worse off than Asians (e.g. Filipinos, Bengalis, Pakistani, and the new Russians from Azerbaijan).
Based on these observations, and conversations with a few Tukolor who came close enough to be interacted with, I started outlining a book on the lives of Hausa Diaspora, purely as an ethnographic account of how people live in a strange land and how they negotiate their culture and identity (although many of the Tukolor were Hausa, their mindset was rather different from your typical Hausa). This is actually a sub-set of another project, Hausa Arabs: The Arabs in Northern Nigeria that I am still working, and which looked at how Arab immigrants integrated (or refused to integrate) with the dominant Hausa cultural identity.
A series of obstacles put paid to the project. First was lack of access to the Hausa Tukolor in Saudia. As many were illegal immigrants, they were too afraid to talk and thus betray themselves. Most hid out until during the Hajj when they emerge and mingle with Hajjis, as to the Arabs, all Blacks are the same. A further variable of this lack of access is their lack of structured research-based education. They simply don’t understand they have stories to tell that teach lessons about racial integration and tolerance, and how they could use new media to explain themselves.
Second was lack of funding. There is simply no agency that can house this kind of research for its anthropological significance – at least that I know of. Agencies sponsoring research usually do so on the basis of their own agendas – not the researchers. Third, I don’t have the kind of personal funds needed to conduct the study (for it involves residency in Saudia for at least six months – a prospect I don’t relish, for once you take away Makka to Madina, Saudi cities are is just like any third rate American city, and I have had enough of those).
But availability of funds from whatever source is overshadowed by the first obstacle – negotiating access to the Tukolor. The moment they see you with pen and paper, they clam up, and often become suspicious and hostile. I remember drawing hostile stares as I walked through the back alleys of Makka – far away from the Harami – with a notebook and pencil, trying to record the stench and filth (including a dead cat on a rubbish heap!) which contrasts with the false ultra-modern façade of the Harami area.
Waziri, since you are a whizz at obtaining funds (I have seen you in action), maybe you can take this up with some “big shots” who might be interested in a research for its own purpose (as a contribution towards understanding human nature) rather than as other means? The obvious clients are the Saudis themselves – for it will provide them with a mechanism of dealing with foreigners, though understanding them. But their structured and institutionalized racism is enough to put anyone off.
