South Asian claimants used Iranian ‘Aryan’ origin to argue their whiteness

Evidence

In racial prerequisite cases spanning from 1909 to 1939, nearly every applicant for naturalization from Hindustan identified himself as Parsee, Caucasian, or Aryan and proffered Iran as both the historic cradle of white civilization and indigenous point of origin for his ancestral migration. — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 151

Categorization

• XREF: The instrumentalized Aryan-origin claim — adopted strategically by claimants — is a historical precursor to the reader’s question of whether strategic/ironic essentialism can be selectively invoked (here with a reversed valence, claiming whiteness by distance from Iran vs. by proximity to it). — connects to: Earlier immigrants argued their own whiteness by distancing from Iranians — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian…, 33; The first generation inherited Aryan whiteness from Iranian state socialization — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian…, 379; The Aryan-Iran etymology is a recent invented racial fiction — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian…, 558 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Earlier immigrants argued their own whiteness by distancing from Iranians #contradicts (0.95) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 33
• The Aryan-Iran etymology is a recent invented racial fiction #complicates (0.85) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 558
• The first generation inherited Aryan whiteness from Iranian state socialization #expands (0.80) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 379
• Iranian Americans arrived with legal whiteness and Aryan nationalist ideologies #expands (0.80) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 548