“Not Belonging Is a Terrible Feeling.” It would be easier to feel this way when we are isolated, especially when it is a direct result of social discrimination. Many groups of people such as women, people of colour and people with disabilities are victimized in society. My sole concern here is for people with Albinism, who are more often ostracized and have limited social and medical support. Albinism is still profoundly misunderstood. Especially when it comes to a women with such defect- they are abandoned by their families, blamed for their condition by the community, are physically attacked and are even accused of witchcraft. They suffer sexual violence on various grounds including the belief that such intercourse can cure disease like HIV/ AIDS.
‘Exceptionally some populations find this defect as a sign of GoodLuck.’
Thousand feets above the desert floor, Black Mesa dominates the horizon of enchanted desert. It provides a landmark for travellers passing through northeastern Arizona. The Deserted Black Mesa had a scattered canopy of Hopi village. But, who these Hopi’s are? And what made them so fascinating to be the subject of this blog? The Hopi tribe were villagers and farmers living in the lofty plateaus of northern Arizona. They have kept their culture intact due to living in such isolated areas. The name Hopi means “Peaceful ones” which precisely describes the members of this ancient American Indian Tribe.
In 1900, Ales Herdlieka from American Museum of Natural History visited the Hopi villages of Black Mesaan. Ales was an anthropologist and physician, which led him to study the tribe in a more specific way. This discovery startled him. What he saw was 11 white persons – not “Caucasians” ( a European descent), but actually white Hopi native Americans. The people had a genetic condition known as Albinism.
But, what is Albinism?
Scientifically, the term Albinism refers to a disease caused by defect in several different genes that control the synthesis and storage of melanin. Many types of mutation can occur at each gene leading to this disease. People with albinism either don’t produce melanin at all or produce in small amounts thus resulting to white hair, light skin and no pigment in irises of their eye. Melanin normally protects the DNA of skin cells from the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. Thus, melanin’s presence in the developing eye is essential for proper eyesight. This renders them more vulnerable and makes them more prone to skin cancer and reduced visibility. The defect in OCA2 gene on chromosome 15, results in occulocutaneous Albinism type2 in Hopis.
Albinism is found in almost all human ethnic groups, thus, Hopi’s are not unique in having albinos in their tribes. However, what is unique about Hopi’s is the high frequency of Albinism-which is a hundred times as frequent as in most other population.
Why is Albinism so frequent among this Native American tribe?
Few possibilities suggested by the geneticists till now are:-
<1> A Dogmatic Belief in The Hopi Culture– Hopi’s had a belief that people with albinism are special and they are pretty, clean and intelligent. Thus, having a number of people with albinism in one’s village was considered a good sign, a symbol that the people of the village contained particularly pure Hopi blood.
<2> Advantage Of Selecting The Mate– Selection of the mate was altogether in hands of an albino male, who enjoyed this opportunity to spread its albino gene. As a result, male hopis with albinism were privileged to have been excused from the normal male labor. This allowed them to remain in the village with the women of the tribe, performing other duties.
<3> Size of the tribe– Another perfect reason for the high frequency of Albinism was the small population of the tribe. This rendered an increase in albino gene frequency.
Although, Hopi’s evidently show high frequency of Albinism, they have clearly valued and respected the albino members of their tribe. Other societies however, have often subjected such people to discrimination and prejudice.
“The value of life is not in its duration, but in its donation.”