In Yemen, the issue of caste discrimination has become a real problem. Yemeni people created a stigma that is expressed by calling special group of people “Al Akhdam”. These people are not supposed to deserve to be treated as equals. This essays aims to define terms as stigma and caste, analyze reasons for discrimination of “Al Akhdam” people, and to look at other examples of such treatment.
To understand the issue of “Al Akhdam” people, the definition of “caste” and “stigma” is required. Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of stigma is: “a strong feeling of disapproval that most people in a society have about something” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d), and caste is: “social class in any society” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). Stigma is similar to stereotype, but a stereotype can be positive. Similarly, social class and caste are different. People’s perception of a caste stays the same no matter what, while social class is not constant, and people have an opportunity to change it.
The “Al Akhdam” people treatment is inferior-like because of their darker skin and society’s prejudices. As a result of applied stigmas, “Al Akhdam” people do not have access to education and usually have low self-esteem. They are scared of the possible harm done to them, which will not be regulated by law. They have nobody to protect them legally; thus, they are not advancing their position in society. Although they are Muslim and have lived in the country for thousands of years, they are foreigners to the Yemeni community. This stigma invokes hatred in the population of Yemen towards “Al Akhdam” people. As a result, they cannot find a well-paid job, which results in these people living in poor conditions.
The caste issue is present in many countries all over the world. One example is Romani people, whose mixed lineage puts them as one of the Europe’s lower castes. Due to the extent hostility in European society, there appeared a specific term “Antiziganism”, which represents the discrimination of Romani people (Kryuchukov, 2015).
Yemeni people’s treatment of “Al Akhdam” people is an example of custom discrimination. Alienation in society creates a very hostile environment, which leads to constant rivalry. Although it was a kind of discrimination originally, now “Al Akhdam” people suffer from both social and inner pressures since the former affected and resulted in low self-esteem and poor self-perception.
References
Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Caste. In Cambridge Dictionary. Web.
Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Stigma. In Cambridge Dictionary. Web.
Selling, J., End, M., Kyuchukov, H., Laskar, P. & Templer, B. (Eds.) (2015). Antiziganism: what’s in a word? Cambridge Scholars Publishing.