Atul's Quest (Chapters 8 & 9)

Atul's Quest

Nader Habibi

Chapter Eight

Japan: A Perfect Example

Two week passed before Atul contacted me  again. In those two weeks, I was mostly preoccupied with preparing my portfolio for tenure evaluation. While copying my published articles, which did not amount to much, and the unpublished papers, which were painful reminders of my failed attempts, I felt angry again with myself for my inability to focus my attention on a single topic. As I gathered the required documents for my tenure evaluation, I felt less and less optimistic about my chances for tenure.

I even thought of withdrawing my application and saving myself the embarrassment of rejection. But then I realized that, historically, most of the tenure-track professors were denied tenure in our department anyway. So it was not as humiliating as it looked. Realizing that my chances for staying at Yale after the current year were small, I decided to enter the job market as a precaution. The largest job fair for econ- omists is held in early January during the annual meetings of  the  American  Economic Association.

There are several places on the Internet where academic job openings for economists are advertised. I checked these sites and compiled a list of universities with job openings that appeared close to my qualifi- cations. It was second week of October and I had to submit my application quickly if I wanted to be inter- viewed during the AEA meetings. Most universities have a November 15 deadline for job applications.

I got a phone call from Atul on the second Thursday of October around 1 p.m. He wanted an appointment for that afternoon. As usual, I asked him to stop by around 4:30. Elizabeth was also going to stop by that afternoon to drop off some quizzes that she was supposed to grade. I thought it would be amusing to see their interaction again. Atul arrived, breathing heavily, at 4:40.

“I thought you were going to get yourself in shape, and you are not even carrying your huge backpack today, “ I commented. Atul was holding a small  stack of papers and a pencil this time. “I wish I had time for a little exercise this semester, but no chance,” said Atul, as he sat down and reshuffled the stack of papers. “I was able to find some information on whitening pro- posals by Japanese intellectuals. I think I have got a solid example of whitening this time. “

“I’m all ears.’’

“I could not find much on that Suzuki person that I mentioned last time, but I found a lot of information about several other Japanese intellectuals who ad- vocated whitening. First, let me start with a little historical background. You probably have heard of the Meiji revolution in 19th century Japan. The second half of the 19th century was an important period of social and industrial transformation for Japan. The political elite  wanted  to  modernize the  country by introducing

western culture and technology. During the 1840s and 1850s, the Japanese elite was very worried about the industrial and military weakness of their country compared to Western powers. There was a growing fear that like other Asian countries, Japan might also be col- onized by Western powers. The Shogun that ruled Japan before the Meiji revolution was powerless against Western military might, and the Western nations had already extracted several trade concessions from Japan by the 1850s. These treaties led to deep feelings of resentment and xenophobia.

Finally, a group of warlords mobilized their forces and removed Shogun from power. Instead, they em- powered the 16-year old emperor Meiji in the hope of restoring Japan’s national strength. During the Meiji reign, the political elite decided that the only way to protect Japan against Western domination was by adopting Western ideas and  technology.  Soon there was a fascination with everything Western, including philosophy and political perspectives. As the encounters with the white Europeans and Americans increased, during the 1860s and 1870s, the Japanese elite developed a sense of inferiority with respect to Westerners.”

“What kind of inferiority are you referring    to?

Physical, cultural, industrial?” I asked.

“Well…” Atul took some time to organize his thoughts on this question. “I think it was all three. The Japanese acceptance of Western technological supe- riority was obvious. Their government brought thousands of Western experts and educators to modernize Japan’s industries. In the cultural field there was a fascination with Western art, philosophy and lit- erature, which led to the translation of a large  volume of Western books into Japanese. It was also in this

period that the European lifestyle and dress code were first introduced. These perceptions of cultural and technological inferiority must have led to feelings of physical inferiority among the Japanese elite. However, aside from these factors, some Japanese intellectuals and scientists who traveled to the US and Europe re- ported being subject to verbal and, occasionally, physical abuse because of their appearance and physical attributes. These encounters must have also contributed to feelings of physical inferiority. In the 1880s, an interesting debate on questions of race and racial improvement got underway. Atul stopped and looked at his notes for a few seconds, then continued.

“This brings me to the question of whitening. It turns out that during these debates about the need for racial improvement, some Japanese intellectuals ad- vocated interracial marriage with Europeans as a viable strategy.’’ Atul stopped to look at his notes again. ”There was even a book written on this issue. A Japanese intellectual named Takahashi Yoshio wrote a book entitled, On the Improvement of the Japanese Race, in 1884. It turns out that, in this book, he called for mixed marriage between Japanese and whites as a way of improving the Japanese race. However, since the paternal blood was the key to identity and citi- zenship in 19th century Japan, Takahashi advocated mixed marriage between Japanese men and white women, so that the Japanese identity of the offspring was preserved.

I was so happy when I found out about this author and his book. I hope you agree, Dr. H., that this is a perfect example of support for whitening from within a non-white community. Unlike the case of Brazil, where the whites were calling for the whitening of blacks, Takahashi is calling for the improvement of his own

race. So what do you think? Have I finally found a solid example?”

“It surely is a better example than the Brazilian case.

Who was this Takahashi Yoshio?”

I could not find much information about him, but I read that his mentor was a Western world specialist named Fukuzawa Yukichi.  He visited Europe and    the

U.S. several times. In the early 1880s, Fukuzawa translated Galton’s ideas on genetics and eugenics into Japanese. By the way, during the 1880s, Darwin’s ideas were also translated and attracted a lot of attention among Japanese intellectuals. This guy Fukuzawa supported Takahashi’s yellow-white marriage proposal and, since he was a big shot among Japanese intel- lectuals, his endorsement gave merit to Takahashi’s proposal, and other Japanese intellectuals of the time were drawn to it.

“This is all very interesting. Did Takahashi offer any practical proposals about how these yellow-white marriages were to be encouraged or perhaps even imposed on the Japanese people?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t find any detailed discussion of his ideas. However, I found out that Japanese intel- lectuals were debating the idea of “Mixed residence” in the 1880s. Takahashi’s mixed marriage proposal became very influential between 1884 and 1886.  One of the practical strategies for race mixing that was proposed in this period was to allow foreigners and Japanese to live in mixed residential areas. In those years, thousands of western educators, diplomats, mer- chants and technicians were living in Japan, but segregated from the Japanese.

Those Japanese intellectuals that supported Takahashi’s mixed-marriage proposal argued that, if whites were allowed to live among Japanese,

eventually there would be inter-marriage, and mixed off- spring would be produced.”

“But did they discuss the relative size of the two populations and the relative frequency of yellow-white marriage? It seems to me that the population of Westerners residing in Japan must have been very small, and, besides, who could have guaranteed that every Westerner would end up finding a Japanese partner for marriage?”

Atul replied: “I’m sure they must have thought about these issues. Unfortunately, I don’t have any more information about these debates. I only know that they took the issue of mixed marriage very seriously. In 1892 there was an interesting communication between the Japanese politician Kaneko Kentaro and the American social Darwinist, Herbert Spencer. Kaneko asked Spencer if, in his opinion, yellow-white marriage would be a good thing for Japan. Spencer wrote back that, since Japanese were inferior, they would be bio- logically and culturally dominated by whites, and the offspring of yellow-white marriages would lose their Japanese identity.”

“So. Did the Japanese actually take any action to promote mixed-marriages?” I asked.

“No. The idea lost its appeal, or I should say it evolved into something new in the 1890s. There was still a strong interest in racial improvement as Western eugenic ideas became more popular. However, Japanese eugenicists developed a new definition of the Japanese race. They divided the Japanese population into two categories of genetically superior and inferior types. They proposed improving the Japanese race in- ternally by encouraging more reproduction of the superior groups. Oh! There was also another devel- opment  that  led  to  the  decline  of  support for

Takahashi’s ideas. During the 1890’s, Japan grew stronger and feelings of inferiority to the West gave way to reactionary nationalism as more and more Japanese felt resentful of the unfair trade relations that were imposed on their country by the Western powers.

Japan’s victory in the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese war also played an important role in the rise of Japanese na- tionalism and a sense of national confidence against the West. All of these led to the rejection of Takahashi’s proposal, which was all but forgotten by the turn of the century. “

Atul stopped and stared at me as if waiting for my response or perhaps another question. I suddenly found myself fascinated with this issue and asked myself how these events in Japan could relate to the question of beauty and development. Takahashi must have offered some explanation about the positive consequences of    yellow-white marriage for the economic and industrial development of Japan. Another interesting question that crossed my mind was whether a nation perceives itself more beautiful after a period of industrial and military success. I finally broke the silence. “This is very good. I think what you should do next is to compare the whitening initiative in Brazil and Japan. You might find some similarities in what led to the emergence of these ideas and how they where received."

“Didn’t you already say that Brazil was not a good example because the desire for whitening did not originate in the non-white population?” asked Atul.

“Yes. But a comparison could still be worthwhile. Let’s see… in both countries the desire for whitening emerged during a period when the intellectuals and the political elite were suffering from feelings of inferiority versus Western Europeans. “

“That’s right. But this inferiority complex was stronger in Japan, and the Japanese were also very afraid of being colonized by the West. “

“What else?” We both thought for a few seconds.

“What about the impact of eugenics and social Darwinism?” asked Atul.

“What about it?”

“I think the desire for whitening emerged in both countries after the intellectuals were exposed to social Darwinism and the European claims to racial supe- riority. The people who advocated whitening in Japan and Brazil were those who deeply believed in the supe- riority of the white race and feared that other races would eventually be destroyed in the global compe- tition.“

”Very good, Atul, although what you said is more valid in the case of Japan than that of Brazil. What else?” We were silent for a few seconds again, as Atul took some notes. This time I broke the silence: “Ah hah. They have something else in common as well. “

Atul stopped writing and looked at me. ”Yes?” “Think about the fate of whitening proposals in both

countries. In Brazil, if I can recall correctly based on what you said last time, what brought the whitening movement to an end was the emergence of a new con- sciousness about Brazilians being a unique race apart from the Europeans. The elite finally accepted their national identity and actually took pride in Brazil’s multiracial population. You just mentioned that the Japanese abandoned Takahashi’s mixed-marriage proposal as their sense of national pride improved during the 1890s and early 1900. So it looks like in both countries desire for whitening surfaced when na- tional self-esteem was low and it diminished as the elite developed a sense of national pride.

There was silence again, but for only a few seconds. Then Atul said: “However, in the case of Japan, you should differentiate between public advocacy of whitening as a mechanism for racial improvement and personal feelings of preference for whiter skin and European facial features. The support for whitening in public policy debates ended before 1890 but I don’t think the Japanese admiration for the physical  beauty of the white race has diminished.” Atul paused a second but continued before I had a chance to react. “It is unfortunate though. If they had gone through with yellow-white marriage, they would have been much happier.”

I was taken by surprise by Atul’s last sentence. “Atul! Japan has the world’s second largest economy and its people enjoy a high standard of living. I don’t think the Japanese are walking around feeling sad because they don’t look like Europeans.”

Atul was quick to defend his comment: “They might not feel unhappy because of this, but they would have felt happier if they looked more European.”

“Do you have any evidence for this claim?”

“Have you ever seen Japanese animation, Dr. H?” asked Atul.

“Yes. What about it?”

“Have you noticed that the faces of Japanese cartoon characters look more European than Japanese?”

I recalled a news report a few days earlier on tele- vision about the rising level of sex and violence in Japanese animation movies. Thinking about the char- acters that I had seen in that report, I realized that Atul was right. I nodded my head in agreement without saying anything.

“Japanese seem to be especially sensitive about eye size. Their animation characters, unlike   themselves,

always have large eyes. Furthermore, the eye colors are often either blue or green, and the skin color of ani- mation characters is much whiter than that of an average Japanese. To me, these cartoon images rep- resent the ideal standards of beauty in Japanese culture. Through yellow-white marriage, they could have become a more beautiful race according to their own ideals. “

“However, you don’t have any survey to show that contemporary Japanese actually wish they looked more like Europeans, do you?’’ I asked.

“No, but do you have any survey that shows they are happy with their look?” replied Atul.

He seemed very convinced of his view, and I did not want to get into an argument with him when neither of us had any hard data to support his view.

“Let’s not argue over this. I already know your taste for physical beauty, and I think you are extending it to other people.” Atul wanted to respond, but I lifted my hands up to signal that I did not want to be interrupted and quickly continued: “ Let’s just go back to the com- parison of whitening in Japan and Brazil. So, we found similarities in social conditions that led to an ex- pression of desire for whitening in both countries, and we also found similarities in the circumstances that brought the whitening movement to an end. Overall, I think Takahashi’s proposal is a good historical example of the quest for whitening. Now you have established a solid precedence for your argument.”

There was a confident smile on Atul’s face as he replied, “Thank you.’’

“You should now combine the information on the Brazilian and Japanese experiences with whitening in a single report and call it   ‘Historical Examples of the

Quest for Whitening.’ Atul took a few seconds to write down this title. Then he looked up at me.

“So! What would you like to work on next? “ I asked.

Atul said, “I’d like to move away from the search for historical evidence and concentrate on showing that the desire for whitening is still very strong among non- whites and could be seen in all cultures. Perhaps I can even do some direct observations. My instincts tell me that attraction to white skin is universal and is felt at an individual level. As a result the whitening process is quietly underway in various parts of the world. “

“And my job is to make sure you can support your claims by accurate and unbiased evidence.”

“I already know this, Dr. H. You don’t need to remind me repeatedly.”

I realized that comment was uncalled for and tried to do some damage control: “Sorry, I did not mean to sound critical. Please continue.”

“What I mean is that I think any non-white man or woman would prefer a white, or, I should say, a lighter- skinned partner for marriage and dating. However, for most non-whites the opportunity for the realization of this dream does not exist. Those who are rich and re- sourceful will pursue this objective and, in my view, are currently doing it. “

“And how do you know that this is happening?”

“I don’t know it – yet. This is what I’d like to show by direct observation.”

“ You know, I think you are talking about two separate things here instead of one. The first one is your personal belief that non-whites have a general preference for lighter, “whiter” skin. The second issue is that most non-white individuals that are resourceful- meaning wealthy and/or well educated- are    indeed

marrying or dating partners with lighter skin colors than themselves.”

“I don’t exactly see the difference between these two.”

“The first one is about intentions and desires, while the second one is about actions that are motivated by those desires. It’s sort of like tastes and demands in economics. You can’t measure a consumer’s taste but you can observe what he buys. “

“I see,” Atul said. “Then I should concentrate on the second part that is observable. You know I have been thinking about this, and I was thinking of actually going to a mall and recording the difference between the skin complexion of non-white couples that pass by.”

“And how will the data that you collect help you prove your point?”

Atul was silent for a few seconds. “I think the data will show that, in most cases, the skin complexion of the woman is lighter than that of the man. This proves that darker men are attracted to lighter-skinned women.”

“There is just one problem,” I said after a few seconds of silence. “Just because a man and a woman go to the mall together, it does not mean that they are married or dating. They could be two co-workers or just friends. Since you are not interviewing the couples that you observe, you can’t ask them about the nature of their relationship. Consequently, you have no way of excluding the couples that are not involved in a rela- tionship. Besides, you won’t be able to determine if the couple is well off or not. “

I could see that Atul was a little disappointed, but I had to point out the problems with his method of obser- vation.

“So what do you suggest, Dr. H? Are you saying I should just stick to library research?”

“No. I just think that the mall is not a good place for your project. Think of some other place.”

We were both quiet again for a few seconds. Suddenly, Atul broke the silence: “How about the churches? Only married or seriously involved couples go to church together.’’

“Good idea, Atul. Besides, churches usually serve local neighborhoods. You can choose a church in a prosperous minority neighborhood and another in a lower income neighborhood. Then you can compare the complexion differential between the church-going couples in each church.” I looked at my watch as I finished this sentence. It was 5:30pm. Atul also looked at his watch. “Sorry it took so long. Then I guess I should start stalking some churchgoers,” said Atul with a smile. “Should I take note of any other character- istics of the couples that I observe?”

“I think it’s kind of late, and we have been chatting for almost an hour. Why don’t you think about this survey a little, and we’ll talk again in a week or so. “

Atul nodded his head in agreement. “You are right. I apologize.” He stood up to leave. As he was about to open the door, I suddenly remembered something. “Oh, one more thing before you leave… We must submit the literature review of your cover-up topic by next week. And also, don’t talk about the church project to any one. It is illegal to study people without their consent. If anyone finds out, he can give both of us a hard time.” “The literature review is ready. I’ll put it in your mailbox by Monday.  And don’t worry,  Dr.  H, I  never

talk about this entire project to anyone.”

After Atul left, I spent a few minutes reflecting on my long conversation with him and took some notes on

how his explanations on whitening in Japan related to my “Beauty and Development’’ project. The perception of the beauty differential with Western Europeans left Japanese with a feeling of physical inferiority. However, they made up for this perceived inferiority by hard work and dedication to the adaptation of Western technology. Japanese might not be the most beautiful race, but they surely have done a good job at economic development.

Chapter Nine

The All-India Family Contest

After that long session on Japan, I did not expect to hear from Atul for at least two weeks. But to my surprise, he called me the next day (Friday) and asked for an appointment. When I told him that we had just spoken the previous day, he mentioned that he had come up with a whole new idea for an empirical inves- tigation, and he wanted to get my approval as soon as possible. I was reluctant, but I agreed to meet him that afternoon after 3 p.m.

I spent the entire morning preparing my job appli- cation letters. The process reminded me of my search for my first job six years ago, during my last year at Harvard. It was more exciting back then, and I was almost certain that I could find a good position because of the article that I had published and Harvard’s reputation. Now I wasn’t so sure. Just to make sure that I would have at least one offer if my tenure was rejected, I chose some average and below average colleges that are less competitive. They would surely be happy to have a former Yale faculty member on their team.

One of the challenges I was facing that day was to choose three individuals whom I should ask for letters of recommendation. Most universities demand at least three letters of recommendation from applicants for faculty positions. I could not ask any of my colleagues at Yale, because I did not want anyone in the de- partment to find out that I was on the job market. I finally decided to ask two of my dissertation advisors and a professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. I had contacted this professor several times in 1995 when I was working on a research project that dealt with government expenditures. My research was an extension of a paper that he had published two years earlier. He was very pleased with the results of my work, which confirmed his earlier findings. All three agreed to write recommendation letters on my behalf.

Around 4:20 p.m., I heard a knock and, from its pattern, I recognized it was Atul. I decided that I was not going to let this conversation extend beyond 10 or 15 minutes. Atul’s excitement was clearly visible on his face. He must have somehow sensed my concern about time, because, as soon as he sat down, he got di- rectly to the point.

“As I mentioned on the phone, I think I have found a better way of testing my assumption about the desire of darker-skinned men for marriage with lighter-skinned women. I think this alternative will be more accurate than the church study.’’

“O.K. Let’s hear it. “

“Perhaps you have heard that 1997 was the fiftieth anniversary of India’s independence, and there were various festivities and cultural activities at Yale and other campuses to celebrate this event. My roommate Rakhil was involved in some of these activities throughout last year. One of the projects that he was

heavily involved in was a contest called: The All-India Family Appreciation Contest. Students of Indian origin at Yale, Harvard and MIT were invited to take part in this contest. The way it worked was that each par- ticipant provided information about the educational and professional achievements of his immediate family (father, mother, brothers, sisters and himself.)

Then, a committee was supposed to be set up to select a family as the most successful Indian family. The process is somewhat similar to beauty pageants, but here the unit under consideration is the entire family rather than a single individual. So instead of the swimsuit contest, each participant was asked to submit a family photo that included all members of his or her family. The nominations and applications arrived throughout last year, and the committee was supposed to announce the winner during this year’s I-day celebrations on August 15. But Rakhil told me that the committee’s work was delayed, and they haven’t com- pleted the selection process yet. I found out last night that Rakhil was taking care of all the application files. Each file includes a family photo and background in- formation on all members of the participant’s family. He told me that there were more than 230 application files. The reason so many people have participated in this contest is that the winner will get four round trip tickets to India.

The committee has asked Rakhil to generate a computer record for each applicant and construct com- parison tables that can be used to select the top ten candidates. The ten finalists will be invited to Yale for the final stage of the competition in December. This  is a golden opportunity for my research. I can analyze the family photos for husband-wife and father-child color differential.  I can analyze the family  pictures that  are

available in these files to see if there is a significant color difference between the spouses. Last night, Rakhil showed me a few of the application files. The quality of the pictures was excellent, and there are all sorts of information about the socioeconomic charac- teristics of family members in each file. Don’t you think this is a wonderful opportunity? Besides, the data is already available. “

I could see that the conversation was going to take more than 10 minutes. “I don’t know. I have to think about it. Do you think your roommate will let you study these files?’’ I asked.

“I don’t know. He brought the two boxes home last night, and I came up with this idea after he showed me some of the files,’’ replied Atul.

“Does he know about your independent study project?” I asked this question deliberately to see if Atul had kept the project secret.

“Of course not. No one knows about my IS. Rakhil and I don’t chat too often. “

“Then how are you going to convince him to let you use the files?” I asked.

“Dr. H, you still have not told me if you like my idea or not?”

“Let’s first make sure it’s feasible. Then we will talk about its merits.”

Atul was quiet for a few seconds: “Well, actually, I can offer to help him with data tabulation and use that as an excuse to look at the files and get all the infor- mation that I need. Besides, as long as the boxes are in our room, I can always access the files while he is in class. After all, I’m not going to publish the results of my research anywhere. It is just for my eyes and yours.”

“But there is a risk that you might get caught. What if your roommate suddenly walks in on you?”

“I will simply tell him that I was free and I decided to help him out a little bit. Don’t worry, Dr. H. I will be very careful.’’

Atul seemed highly motivated to carry out this exercise, but there were several flaws in the way he was going to collect this data. For one thing, the sample was not representative of all Indian families. Only the highly endowed and well-educated families could afford to send their children to Ivy League schools.

“But tell me, what’s the value of this exercise? Let’s say you measured the color difference between the husbands and wives among these families and showed that on average the Indian women in your sample have lighter skin color than their husbands. Isn’t this a well known fact already?” I asked.

Atul did not seem prepared for this question. “As far as I know, the desire of Indian men to marry lighter- skinned women is obvious, but it is not clear who succeeds and who does not. The rich have a better chance at it.”

“But you can’t use your roommate’s data to compare the color differential between the rich and the poor couples, because every family that has participated in this contest most likely belongs to the upper class of Indian society. Am I right? “

Atul seemed like he was cornered again. “So, in effect, you think it is a waste of time. “

“I’m saying this data set will not let you find who has a better chance at marrying a lighter-skinned woman. Unless you come up with some other questions that could be tested with the family contest data, it won’t be worth your effort.” I could clearly see the disappointment in Atul’s face. I  had had the    same

experience in my college years. However, Atul was not giving up.

“ I can also compare the skin color of the children to the parents and see if their skin color is closer to the lighter-skinned parent or not,” said Atul. “Who knows? Maybe in the future, I can find a similar sample for the lower income families in India and then combine the results.“

I was about to tell Atul that his idea was a waste of time when it suddenly occurred to me that, if Atul was indeed able to find samples from different socioe- conomic classes, the combined sample could be used to test the effect of income and wealth on skin color differentials. This could be worthwhile material for my Beauty and Development project. If indeed it is true that rich men marry whiter-skinned women, then there will emerge a color differential between the rich and the poor over time in any non-white society. I could further argue that there is a direct link between color differential and income inequality. As income inequality declines, the color gap might also be expected to decline.

Now I had found a personal motivation to support Atul’s proposal. “If you could find similar studies for the lower classes, then it would be worthwhile. However, you must try to record as much data about each family as possible. Since your roommate might move the contest files, try to record the data as soon as possible. Make sure to record information about age, education, occupation and any other socioeconomic characteristics available about each family member.”

Atul seemed a little surprised that I had suddenly become so supportive. “Are you saying that I can do it?’’  asked Atul.

“Yes.’’

He left my office with a promise to be very careful. I was glad that, this time, our meeting was rather short. I was also happy that I had found a use for Atul’s em- pirical work in my own project.

*  *  *

The next Monday, I found a large envelope from Atul in my office mailbox. There were two reports in it. One of them was the literature review for the cover-up project. It was about 25 pages, well-typed and contained more than 2 pages of cited references at the end. The second report was only two pages long and had a small note attached to it:

“Dr. H, Over the summer, I collected a lot of ad-hoc evidence of white admiration in non- white communities from various sources, including the Internet. As you can see, I’m not the only one who thinks that whites are more beautiful. It is found in many cultures all around the globe.”

Since I had to prepare for a lecture, I did not have a chance to read Atul’s brief report until Tuesday afternoon. The report had a catchy title: “Evidence of White Admiration in non-White Societies.” It was a collection of unrelated bullet paragraphs.

In the Arab world, a light complexion is highly praised. As a result, the cosmetics industry offers a variety of skin products that help bleach the skin color. The whitening crèmes are routinely advertised in TV commercials.

According to a statistical research by Douglas Besharov and Timothy Sullivan, the ratio of

mariages between black men and white women in the United States grew from 1.9% of all African- American marriages in 1970 to 8.9% in 1993. Over the same period, the share of black female- white male marriages grew from 0.7% to 3.9%.

Prominent black entertainers who represent the ideals of black beauty often have lighter com- plexions than most African-Americans. The same is true of many celebrities in African nations.

In India, light complexions are so popular that women explicitly mention the lightness of their skin color when describing themselves in match- making magazines and newspapers. Men also openly emphasize light-complexion in their adds as a trait that they are looking for in a spouse.

Despite their dark skin color, many Egyptians are offended when someone perceives them as black. In 1984, Columbia Pictures produced a mini-series about the life of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The series was banned in Egypt because Sadat’s role was played by the black actor Louis Gossett, Jr. They were offended by the fact that a black man was playing Sadat.

Foreign visitors commonly report on Chinese admiration for white Europeans. Chinese parents boast of their daughters who are married to European or American men. Furthermore, throughout Asia, women dye their hair blond (yellow!) because it is commonly perceived as more beautiful.

In Ghanaian culture, there are many examples of admiration for “Oburoni” (the white-man). The word “Oburoni” is commonly used as an adjective to describe good and admirable qualities (e.g. Oburoni  Orange,  Oburoni  Banana). Most

Ghanaian men and women prefer to date Oburoni members of the opposite sex, and Ghanaian women commonly try to bleach their skin. It has been reported that Ghanaian leader Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, refused to date Ghanaian women. He married an Egyptian woman with light complexion. The Ghanaians admired this “Oburoni” first lady. Other Ghanaian political leaders such as Joe Appiah were also admired because they married Oburoni women. President

J.J. Rawlings, the current leader, has politically benefited from his light complexion, which he has inherited from his white father. (Source: Dr. Robert Mensah-Biney, www.prempeh.org.)

From the 17th to early 19th centuries, the Ottoman Empire projected power and influence over Eastern Europe. Eastern European women were routinely captured and sold in Istanbul’s slave markets along with female slaves from other parts of the world. Slavery in the Ottoman Empire continued well into the 19th century. Westerners who had a chance to visit these slave markets commonly reported that light-skinned European women were sold for much higher prices compared to Asian and African women. (Source: R.R. Madden, Travels in Turkey, Egypt, Nubia and Palestine, 1824, 1825, 1826 &1827, 2nd ed. London 1833.)

*  *  *

On Thursday of that week, as I was browsing the Yale Daily News, I notices a seminar on fiscal policy in India and China, in the seminar announcement section. The speaker was the director of the Asian Development

Bank, and it was organized by the Yale Center for International and Area Studies (YCIAS), which was conveniently located only a few yards from the de- partment of economics. I decided to attend this seminar for two reasons. First, fiscal policy was my main field of research, and I needed to keep up with the latest developments in the field. Second, YCIAS usually held a reception after lectures by prominent speakers. I figured, since this guy was the director of a large re- gional development bank, they would surely have a nice reception for him. I was right. After the lecture, which began at 4 p.m. and lasted for one and a half hours, the audience was invited to a reception in the second floor common room, which included a variety of small cold-cut sandwiches and refreshments.

Since the lecture dealt with India and China, there were a lot of East Asians and Indians in the audience. After filling my plate with several sandwiches and sweets, I stood at a corner and began eating as I watched the people. I remembered Atul’s Family Contest Project and started looking at the skin com- plexion of the Indians present at the reception. There were two concentrations of Indian guests in the  room. A group of six or seven was gathered around the speaker. Only one of them, a tall student with a dark complexion, was conversing with the bank director. The rest were eating and listening with enthusiasm.

The second group of Indians was sitting around a coffee table. There were more than ten people in this group - mostly students, but also three older people. One of them was a retired professor whom I had seen before at several seminars. Looking at the faces of individuals in these two groups, the only thing that I was able to conclude for sure was that there was indeed a large  degree of  color diversity among those   present.

The color spectrum went from yellowish brown to very dark brown. It occurred to me to compare the complexion of younger and older Indians present, and I was about to start this experiment when suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling my name. It was Elizabeth.

“ Hi, Dr. H. Did you like the talk?”

“Yes. It was excellent. Were you there?” I said, as I noticed an Indian girl who was standing next to Elizabeth.

“Yes. I was sitting in the last row because I came late. Oh, this is my friend Sujita,” said Elizabeth, as she introduced the other girl to me. Sujita was a very thin girl with long black hair. She was a senior chemistry major. She was not nearly as attractive as Meena. Soon, the three of us started talking about the speaker and his frequent references to how corruption was undermining the effectiveness and credibility of Asian governments. After a few minutes, Elizabeth noticed someone on the other side of the room and excused herself. I changed the subject of conversation. “You must be from India. Am I right?” I asked Sujita.

“My parents migrated to the US when I was only one year old. So I’m either from India or from New Jersey, depending on your perspective. “ I realized that my question was out of context and apologized for my curiosity. I decided to change the subject again to avoid causing myself further embarrassment. So I asked Sujita if she knew an Indian student by the name of Atul Divan.

“Oh. Of course I know him. He is also from India/New Jersey!” said Sujita with a satirical tone. “We were in the same high school near Princeton.” I felt embarrassed again. I just laughed this time without any comment.

“Elizabeth told me that he is taking an Independent Study course with you!’’ said Sujita with a meaningful smile, as if to say  she was aware of a secret.

“Yes. That’s right. He is doing an IS on the economic conditions of immigrants in the U.S.”

“That’s so surprising,” said Sujita. Before I had a chance to respond to Sujita’s rather unusual comment, I suddenly noticed Atul coming towards us. “Speaking of the Devil… We were just talking about you,’’ I commented while shaking hands with Atul. He and Sujita said “Hi” to each other. “Sujita and I went to the same high school near Princeton,” said Atul. “She already told me. It must be good to know someone from your hometown at Yale.” Sujita did not show any reaction to my comment.

“Certainly,” said Atul after looking at Sujita for a second. “I just stopped by to tell you that things are going well with the project,” he continued. Before he had a chance to complete his sentence, I interrupted him to make sure he did not reveal too much infor- mation in front of Sujita.

“Excellent. I got your literature review. It seems fine,’’ I said as I winked at Atul in such a subtle way that Sujita did not notice.

She joined the conversation by making a compli- mentary comment about Atul. “Atul was always the math genius of our school.’’ I confirmed her comment with a nod of the head. After a short conversation about that afternoon’s talk, Atul left. Elizabeth was still talking to another student. I remembered Sujita’s last comment before Atul interrupted our conversation. So I asked her why she was surprised by the topic of Atul’s independent study.

“It’s just that I didn’t think he cared much for immigrants,” said Sujita.

“Why would he not care about immigrants when he himself belongs to an immigrant family?” I asked, hoping to ignite a conversation about Atul.

“It’s just that, while we were in high school, he was often reluctant to socialize with Indians, Chinese or other minority students. Instead he was always patronizing the white students, particularly the girls. Since he was so good at math, he was always trying to socialize with them by offering to help them with math problems. So I was always under the impression that he did not like minorities. Unfortunately for Atul, his pa- tronizing behavior annoyed most of the students that he was trying to befriend. And also the white students generally did not show much interest in socializing with minority students,’’  explained Sujita.

“Well, perhaps he has changed, because now he seems very interested and is making good progress with his study.”

“Well, I hope you are right, because back then his behavior was very embarrassing. I had never seen anyone who was as resentful of his own identity as Atul,” said Sujita.

I was not sure how to reply to Sujita’s remarks, but I was eager to learn more about Atul. Sujita excused herself to get a drink. People were gradually leaving. As I looked around, I noticed a beautiful well-dressed girl talking to Elizabeth and a male student. She had dark hair but her complexion was lighter than that of most Indians, and she was also taller than most. Another feature that made her stand out was the nu- merous pieces of jewelry on her fingers, neck and ears. Sujita was back, and she noticed that I was staring at this girl. “Her name is Sweta Patel. She is one of the most popular individuals among Indian students,’’ said Sujita.

“No wonder. She looks like a movie star,” I com- mented casually.

“She is also very active in Indian cultural events,’’ said Sujita.

I wanted to hear more about Atul, and I had a feeling Sujita did not mind talking about him even though we had just met. It was as if Atul’s private life and attitudes were not really that private among Indian students. I had observed a similar candor when Meena was talking about him. I asked Sujita why, in her opinion, Atul behaved the way he did in the high school.

“I think it has something to do with the attitudes of his parents. I saw them in a few Indian gatherings and once heard my father talk about them. Atul’s parents were very westernized. They rarely showed any interest in traditional Indian music and arts. As soon as they became U.S. citizens, they changed their last name from Vengsarkar to Divan to make it easier for their children to blend in.”

“Poor Atul. It seems that his parents destroyed his self esteem by transferring their own ethnic insecurities to him.” I commented.

“I agree with you. He would have been happier if they had taught him to accept himself and other Indians for what they are, rather than teaching him to live in denial. But what can you expect? Atul’s father also had a reputation for going out of his way to patronize the whites while minimizing his interactions with other Indians. These attitudes also had an impact on how they raised their children.

In the first years after they had moved into their suburban neighborhood, Atul’s parents used to throw lavish birthday parties for him. They invited all the neighborhood children hoping that  these  children

would accept Atul as their friend. They also used to buy very exotic and expensive toys for Atul in order to give other kids an incentive to play with him. So I think Atul’s behavior later on was a reflection of his parents’ values.”

By the time our conversation had reached this point, most people had left. Elizabeth was still there talking to that beautiful Indian girl, Sweta Patel. I thanked Sujita for the conversation and left the reception room as she walked towards them. That night I thought a lot about Atul and his personality. I wondered if his parents were aware of his interest in whitening.