Do Indians, Pakistani's, Persians, Arabs, Chinese, Nepalese, Japanese or Australians consider themselves White

Question

In other words, do these groups of people consider themselves to be Caucasian, Aryan or White? Do they claim heritage with Europeans? What is their relationship with White people?

Answer 1

Native Australians would probably consider themselves as that. (definitely not white).

Chinese, Koreans and Japanese (and others) would consider themselves as Asian.

People from India and Pakistan probably consider themselves from that part of the world, or Asian.

In many cases, there is a cultural difference between these groups. We can't exactly bundle people together from a USA point of view. Our Western cultures have their issues; which differ significantly from those with these eastern values.

Certainly, I made a spectacle of myself when I have been to places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing and Osaka. I first visited Beijing in 1997 (before the Tienanmen Square incident). The cultural differences between the western tourists and the Chinese were very significant. By 1991, I had already learned about the "spectacle" of being so different, so when I was in Australia and ran in to a group of Japanese tourists, it was funny to be the center of attention for their many cameras. (I am not a movie star).

Answer 2

I'm not quite sure how to answer this question because I am neither indian, pakistani, persian, arab, nepalese or japanese. my background is chinese but i was born and brought up in australia. so, from an australian point of view, and from growing up in a VERY multicultural country i have to point out that one must be careful when calling people "australian". I'm surrounded by fellow asians (including indians), white's and europeans. Although we do joke about our skin colour from time to time, we tend not to worry too much about it. We all consider ourselves simply "australians" and yet, when foreigners think of australia they immediately think white, which we certainly are not. If our ethnicity is from europe then we claim heritage with europeans. but other than that our relationship with white people is basically.. well we're all friends!

Answer 3

Indian whites=Kashmiris Pakistani whites= Baluch, Sindh and Pathans. Most Persians are white. Some Arabs are ethnicly white but culturally arab. For instance many in Syria and Lebanon are Greek in origin. Australians are mainly white. Never heard of Japanese,nepalese and Chinese claiming to be white

Answer 4

There is an interesting bias towards being lighter skinned in much of the world, a bias that seems unrelated to 19th century European colonialism opr any modern views on beauty.

Indians have historically prized lighter complexions on the marriage market. The darker a girl is, the less her dowery.

Arabs are incredibly racist when it comes to darker-skinned people, as with the situation in Darfur, Sudan. The Arabic word for '*****', 'black person' is the same as that for 'slave'.

The Japanese don't really take 'white' seriously, but they are extraordinarily racist when it comes to ancestry. Men cannot find wives if they have less than 100% Japanese ancestry. Koreans have similar notions.

Answer 5

Persians and other Iranians do consider themselves white. In fact, the name Iran is related to the term "Aryan."

Answer 6

The new word is "people of colour" as they obviously aren't black. But then "coloured" is non-PC? Confusing.
Depending on where they're from, they consider themselves Asian, etc.
Excuse my ignorance but...."Australians"? That would depend on which ethnic group you're talking about. Quite a mix there, just as in the States, Canada, and UK.

Answer 7

None of those groups is "white" except non-aboriginal Australians...Indians and people from that part of the world tend to have dark skin (brown), and asians used to be called 'yellow' although of course they are not (any more than black people are actually black)...

...however, the definition of caucasion is "Anthropology. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, marked by fair to dark skin, straight to tightly curled hair, and light to very dark eyes, and originally inhabiting Europe, parts of North Africa, western Asia, and India: no longer in technical use." and in that case, many of your above named groups could correctly be termed caucasian...

I could be wrong, but as I recall the human race is thought to have begun on the continent of Africa...if that is in fact the case, then we've got some ties to one another, but I doubt asians, arabs, indians think of themselves as european descendants...

Answer 8

Indians from India are South Asian

Answer 9

I've lived in the UK where there are lots of Indians, Pakistanis... and they never refer to any colour associated to anyone. So perhaps they think of themselves as colourless.....and ain't that a good idea!! no more segregation!

Answer 10

Anthropology. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, marked by fair to dark skin, straight to tightly curled hair, and light to very dark eyes, and originally inhabiting Europe, parts of North Africa, western Asia, and India.