Forbidden Whack-a-mole

Yusuf ibn Ibrahim al-Tayyib  al-Kaysani’s Ethnicity

So I’ve read a lot of different fics and wanted to clarify the different terms I’ve seen applied to Yusuf. I’ll reference what is cannon, but more importantly I want to clarify that these terms are not synonyms. Not all Mediterranean/middle-eastern brown Arabic-speakers are the same.

Saracen: This is a historical term no longer used, but it was widespread in Europe during the period when Joe and Nicky are supposed to have met. It came to be used in place of “muslim” or “pagan” to describe someone. So, when you have Nicky call Joe “Saracen” you are both showing the narrow-mindedness of medieval Europe and only committing yourself to the fact that Joe practices Islam. However, this is more akin to a cultural slur than something Joe would every apply to himself. It’s not an ethnicity to Joe, it’s an insult. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracen

Maghrebhi: This references a region of Northwest Africa called “the Magreb” (“the west” in Arabic) and is similar to saying something like “Eastern European” to describe oneself. The real actor, Marwan Kenzari, is the son of Tunisian immigrants and this ethnicity term is one that he might use for himself. I believe this is accurate to cannon as well. This is historically accurate as well, an identity label that existed at the time. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghreb

Moor: This is the European counterpart to Magrebhi which was later expanded to cover Arabs as well. This is something that Nicky might call Joe without meaning to insult, but not something that Joe would call himself. I haven’t seen this one pop up yet, but I figured that I would add it. The historical term was actually Mauri which is fun to spell. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors

Berber or Amazigh/Imazighen (plural) : Berber is both largely anachronistic and could be considered offensive. The region of Northwest Africa did not come to be commonly known are the Barbary coast until the 1500s CE. Furthermore, the term originates from the Greek for “Barbarian”…as in calling the inhabitants of the area barbarians as a name. It is understandably confusing as the term “Berber” is totally normalized in historical sources in English. The name originating within this language group to describe the people is romanized as “Amazigh” (singular) but appears to be anachronistic. It would be better to reference a specific tribal group or region like “Numidian” (reference to a 200 BCE indigenous empire) for an ethnicity. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_Coast, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berbers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numidians

Arab/Arabian: This one gets me mad. The Maghreb was conquered by the Arabic empire. Arab originally referred to the Arabian peninsula which is thousands of miles away. Calling Joe “Arab” is like calling Booker “Roman” (but Gualle was controlled by the Roman Empire, so the French are Roman). Modern usage has blended the ethnicity across the former Islamic Empires because of conquest and the eventual ethnic blending. If you are going to refer to him this way, be reflective about it: it’s the result of the eradication of indigenous cultures. What gets me the most upset is realizing it’s probably just uniformed white writers thinking “speaks Arabic and is from a region I consider desert” but it’s very annoying. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabs

Seljuk: This derives from the Seljuq dynasty and references Turkish-Persian (modern Turkey, Iran, and the surrounding areas) people. The Seljuk Turks never occupied the Maghreb, though it is the correct time period. Maybe Joe is fighting with the Seljuk Turks, but he is not one. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuq_dynasty

TL;DR: some of the identity terms I’ve seen thrown around are either plain wrong or could be considered offensive. There’s a big difference in using the language of the inhabitants of a place and the language of foreigners to describe someone’s ethnicity and we as a fandom can do better. Also, the whole fandom is looking up Ligurian and Italian for Nicky, so let’s do better for Joe…

thank you for the tag 😊

favourite colour: either moss green or the shade of navy that the sky turns just when the sun sets

last song - close to you, Gracie Abrams

currently reading - the way of kings, Brandon Sanderson

currently watching - the bad batch, and everything dropout releases

currently craving - patatas bravas as I'm getting tapas tonight before I move back to London!

tea or coffee - tea all the way (living in Spain has not helped this, they cannot make tea here. By which I mean they tried to put black tea into steamed milk)

and a bonus cat photo because who doesn't want cat photos:

get to know me!

rules: answer + tag 9 people you want to get know better and/or catch up with!

Thanks bunk mate for the tag @burntheedges 😘

favorite color - purple 🪻

last song - Good Kisser by Lake Street Dive

currently reading - The Baghdad Clock by Shahad Al Rawi

currently watching - Rewatching Narcos for the ???? time

currently craving - Lemon anything

coffee or tea - Tea all the way, just got served an incredible cup of karak this afternoon

I will also tag the rest of our bunk mates @joelmillerisapunk @sixhours @ace-turned-confused @oonajaeadira

And some other folks who may or may not have already done this @treadlightlymydarlinggirl @ayeleye @mildredellie @22thumbs @elpickett

the spider in my parents garage: friend shaped. delightful. huge, to be clear, probably the largest native british spider I've ever seen, but proportioned in a friendly and charming way

the spider in their bloody shower: evil. cursed. why is it like that. somehow too many legs??? (still eight legs)

yes insects can be friend shaped or not friend shaped the same way snakes can be

i would like to say an apology to the poor pedestrian who walked by my yard just in time to hear me say "oh you are NOT friend shaped"

i can assure you that i was only speaking to the absolute unit of a fuck off bug that was menacing me while i was innocently trying to inspect my zucchini

well she's attracting me certainly

Helen + sitting like she wants to attract women 🌈👀

Water moodboard

Paul: 'im not the Messiah!'

Stilgar: 'that sounds like something the Messiah would say!'

Something I've realised recently is that my perception of pain is a mess. I had a headache the other day (probably tiredness or hayfever related you know nothing that unusual) and it just... Didn't occur to me to take painkillers? I think I having had a several year period with chronic pain which didn't respond to pain killers has just got me completely out of the habit of taking them for even really trivial stuff.

My face is having uncontrollable spasms. Great. It hurts really, really, really bad.

I think part of why I have trouble explaining pain to the doctor is when they ask about the pain scale I always think “Well, if someone threw me down a flight of stairs right now or punched me a few times, it would definitely hurt a lot more” so I end up saying a low number. I was reading an article that said that “10” is the most commonly reported number and that is baffling to me. When I woke up from surgery with an 8" incision in my body and I could hardly even speak, I was in the most horrific pain of my life but I said “6” because I thought “Well, if you hit me in the stomach, it would be worse.”

DARKLINA WEEK | free choice darklina according to tumblr