Atul's Quest

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Atuls Quest


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Atuls Quest

Nader Habibi


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*Disclaimer: All the characters that appear in this

story are fictional. None of them represent any real in-dividual that I have ever met. The story is a work of

fiction, and in no way is it intended to provide an

account of the lives or attitudes of any specific indi-

viduals or groups. Nader Habibi

Copyright January 2003, Nader Habibi

First Edition

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or

transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both

the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

Published by Aventine Press, LLC

45 East Flower Street, Ste. 236

Chula Vista, CA 91910-7631, USA

www.aventinepress.com

ISBN: 1-59330-007-7

Printed in the United States of America

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


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Acknowledgements

Im grateful to many individuals who have assisted me

with the background research for this book or have re-

viewed the manuscript and provided valuable

comments and suggestions. I like to thank Sumiko

Otsubo, Gaiutra Bahadur, R.A. Vasavi, Timur Kuran,

Kevin Paglias, Peter Kilby, Jeffrey Nugent and Warren

Samuels for their comments in various stages of this

books preparation. They are not responsible for any

errors and shortcomings of this manuscript. They do

not endorse any of the unorthodox ideas that are dis-

cussed in this book either.


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PrefaceLets face it.

Whites are more beautiful.

The quote that appears above was written by one of

my students at Yale. His name is Atul: Atul Divan. He

not only wrote, Lets face it. Whites are more

beautiful. He truly believed in it, and spent the last six

months of his undergraduate life at Yale reading and

theorizing about the moral recommendations thatfollow such a belief.


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Chapter One

Independent Study Proposal

It was a Friday afternoon in April of 1998. I had just

returned from a two-hour lecture that ended at 4:30

p.m. and was too tired to do anything. I was sitting in

my office on the third floor of the economics de-

partment at Yale. (Im not used to going home early

even on Friday nights.) So, even though I was prac-

tically brain-dead and could not even find the energy tocasually surf the Internet, I decided to relax for a few

minutes and try to spend at least two hours on my re-

search before heading home.

The department of economics and its associated re-

search centers (like most other offices at Yale) are

spread around in four old buildings around Hillhouse

Avenue in New Haven. Unfortunately, being a junior

faculty member, I had been condemned to a small and

rather uncomfortable room on the third flood of the

main building that also hosted the departments offices.

My office was no larger than 9X8 feet and had a small

narrow window that did not have much of a view, even

if you stood directly in front of it. Another building

about 20 feet away blocked the view. However, if you


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stood to the right of the window and looked to the left,

you could see some trees and the intersection of

Hillhouse and Trumbull streets. That afternoon, I was

doing exactly that, except that I was sitting in my chair.

I was aimlessly looking at people who came into my

line of vision for only a few seconds.

Five minutes into this exciting way of recovering

from two hours of lecturing, I heard a quiet knock at

the door.

Yes. Its open. Again, there was a knock. This

time, I raised my voice: Come in, please. The door

slowly opened. It was one of my former students who

had taken a course with me the previous semester.

Hello, Dr H. I hope you remember me from your

Public Choice class last term, he said in a polite

voice.

Yes I remember you, I Im sorry. Im very bad

with names. But, please, come in. He was one of

those attentive and smart students who stand out within

the first few sessions. He sometimes asked very tough

questions. Nonetheless, when you teach 50 to 70 newstudents every semester, it is hard to remember their

names after the term is over.

Oh, Im Atul Divan. Do you have a minute?

Yes. Yes, Atul. How are you? Have a seat.

Atul was trying to catch his breath while sitting

down and putting his large black backpack on the floor.

He was a short fellow - only 5.4 - and very skinny. He

must have been a second-generation immigrant,

because, while he looked like a typical person from the

Indian subcontinent, he did not have an Indian accent.

His face was bony, and one could not help but noticehis large cheekbones. The good thing about having

your office on the third floor of an old building is that

you and anyone who comes to visit you get a good

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workout. Noticing that he was still breathing heavily, I

commented : At least its good for your heart. Isnt

it? Then I waited for him to tell me the purpose of his

visit. My guess was that he was here to ask for a rec-

ommendation letter, since ex-students rarely contact

their former teachers for any other purpose.

Dr. H, I was wondering if I could take an inde-

pendent study course with you next fall?

My answer was going to be negative, because I was

very busy back then trying to complete my latest re-

search paper. And besides, I did not have a good

experience with supervising individual studies (IS)

before. Last time I supervised an IS course, the student

did not want to do the required readings. She didnt do

a good job on her term papers either. At the end, she

filed a complaint against me and claimed that I ex-

pected too much. However, I thought it would be

impolite to reject Atuls request immediately. Besides,

he might take another course with me in the future and

give me a bad teacher evaluation. So I asked if he had

a specific topic in mind.Yes, I do. It is a rather unusual topic that I have

been thinking about for a long time. I would like to

show that non-whites should improve their racial

beauty through marriage with whites. I believe this is

the only way that non-whites could overcome their

socio-economic rejection and achieve full integration

into American society.

I was taken by surprise by this idea, especially since

it came from an Indian-born student whose own skin

color was dark. Atuls complexion was even darker

than that of most Indians.Could you run that by me one more time, I said,

as I leaned forward in my chair.. Did you say you

want to show that non-whites should improve their

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racial beauty?!! I asked with a polite smile. I wanted

to tell him that this vague idea was not an economic

topic, but first I wanted to know what the topic was

exactly.

I understand this is a controversial issue, but Im

very curious about it. What I mean is that, when it

comes to beauty, whites enjoy a comparative advantage

relative to other races. While everyone talks about

overcoming discrimination and achieving racial

equality, I have never heard any talk of racial im-

provement. The fact is that, even though there are no

proven differences in the physical and intellectual ca-

pacity of different races, the level of physical

attractiveness is higher among some races than others. I

want to show that it is good for those who are less at-

tractive as a race to improve their physical beauty by

biological intervention. Atuls face was very serious

throughout this explanation until the last few words

about biological intervention. He said these last words

with a meaningful smile. I had wanted to laugh much

earlier, but did not think it was appropriate. So, as soonas I saw the smile on his face, I started laughing, and

Atuls smile turned into laughter in conformity. I told

you its an unusual topic, said Atul, while trying to

show that he was not disturbed by my laughter.

It is a very unusual and, I should say, a very sen-

sitive issue, I responded while nodding my head in

approval and continued with a more serious tone: I

think you must talk to one of the professors in the so-

ciology or psychology departments about this topic.

They would know a lot more about these issues.

Unfortunately I dont have enough knowledge in thisarea to be able to guide your study. It is not un-

common for professors to reject a request like Atuls by

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referring it to other departments and trying to sound en-

couraging.

I agree with you that this issue is not directly

related to economics. I contacted one of my professors

in the sociology department last week, but he was not

interested. He said it was offensive to minorities and

there was no scientific proof for my argument. Im glad

your reaction is not as harsh as his. He only gave me

three minutes of his time and advised me to drop the

idea altogether. I also contacted a professor of ethnic

studies who is from Latin America. His reaction was

even worse. He said such ideas would give racists

added ammunition to abuse non-whites and ridicule

them. I came to you because, of all the professors that I

have taken courses with here at Yale, you are the most

open-minded one. Also, you were always interested in

the sociological and political aspects of economic be-

havior, and I figured you probably must have had

formal training in one of these areas, said Atul.

I was not about to change my mind because of

Atuls flattering remarks about the range of myknowledge. I did not need this distraction at this point

in my life. I have to agree with the concerns of these

two professors. This is a very controversial issue, and

some people might even find it offensive. I dont think

I can convince the department to approve a non-

economic and sensitive topic like this one for

independent study. As you might be aware, when an in-

dependent study course is approved, the department

assigns another faculty member, in addition to the su-

pervisor, as a reviewer. Students must write at least

three term papers for an independent study course, andthese must all be approved by the reviewer as well.

Even if I accept your argument, I doubt that another

professor would agree to put his approval signature on

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a paper whose basic assumption is that some races are

physically, I mean from the standpoint of beauty, in-

ferior. Im sure you are well aware of the crimes that

have been committed in the name of racial superiority

throughout human history. So Im afraid I cant help

you with this idea. However, if you have other topics in

mind that are related to my field of concentration, we

can talk about them.

Atul understood that I wanted to end the conver-

sation. It was clear that he was disappointed. He

picked up his bag and stood up to leave. Then suddenly

he looked at me and said, What if I rephrased my idea

so that it involved economic concepts. After all, I have

taken so many economics courses that, subconsciously,

I look at the world through an economic lens. Would

you be interested to consider it then? This topic means

a lot to me, and I dont think anyone else would be

willing to help me. His persistence was under-

standable. Students who choose to do an individual

study project are often very religious about the topic, or

they would not insist on it. However, I was not about tosay yes. If I agree to supervise an independent study

project, it has to be on a topic related to my own re-

search. That way, I could use the student for literature

search and statistical assistance. Cynical as it might

sound, this is a tradition in academia. Again I politely

declined: I cant see how this issue could be related to

economics, but I suggest you do a little bit of literature

review and organize your thoughts in a more scientific

format. For starters, you are simply making a few nor-

mative statements about the beauty differential among

races and then making a moral judgment that non-whites should engage in interracial marriage to

improve their racial beauty. I hope you remember the

difference between normative and positive concepts.

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Science is primarily about observation and positive

statements. Rather than making value judgments, you

should try to prove your points. First of all, how do you

know that whites are more beautiful? Do non-whites

think that whites are more beautiful, or is it just the eth-

nocentric perception of whites themselves? How do

you measure beauty to begin with? Besides, even if you

show that whites are more attractive, you have to

demonstrate why any group of people will give up its

traditional method of reproduction, meaning marriage,

to reproduce eugenically just for sake of changing its

physical appearance. Atul raised his hand as a

request for interruption. I paused. Excuse me. What

does 'eugenically' mean? Atul asked.

See. Thats just what I mean. If you are interested

in this topic, you should do a lot of reading about race

and the history of race relations. Eugenics is the

process of selective breeding and other activities that

are intended to improve a race or ethnic group based on

a predefined criteria, I replied.

I thought you did not know anything about theseissues,'' said Atul with a smile.

I know very little. Eugenics is common knowledge.

It was a popular topic before World War II. I have read

a few articles about it in popular magazines. If you are

seriously interested in this topic, I suggest you look

into it. Atul wanted to drag the conversation, but I was

too tired and I did not want to commit myself further.

Still standing and slightly bending to the left under the

weight of his backpack, he asked if he could stop by

again and talk about this issue further, after doing a

little more reading.I guess if you stop by during my office hours, its

fine. But I cant imagine how I can be of further help.

I could have helped him - if nothing else, at least by

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giving him general guidelines on how to formulate his

thoughts. I was not as ignorant about the topic as I

wanted him to think either. But I had to avoid all dis-

tractions and concentrate on my own research. Getting

one more paper accepted for publication was crucial for

my tenure approval. I promised myself to be nicer to

students after I was promoted to associate profes-

sorship.

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Chapter Two

Change of mind

During the next few weeks, I was almost buried

under the pressure of teaching and statistical analysis

for my own research. It was the last month of the

spring term, and I had to spend more time with students

as well. So, I had almost forgotten about Atul and his

ideas. Back then, I was working on how government

spending was affected by the change of political regime

in developing countries. One afternoon, I went to thesocial science library, which was very close to my

office, to make a copy of an article on government

spending that was published in the December 1994

edition of American Economic Review. As I was

looking through the table of contents to locate the

article that I was after, an article by Daniel

Hammermesh and a co-author attracted my attention. It

was entitled Beauty and the Labor Market. I had

read a summary of this article before. It was about how

a persons beauty affects his income and career. Theconclusion of the article was that, after accounting for

all other factors, beauty plays an important role in a

persons career success and level of income. The idea


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is hardly new, and most people agree with this con-

clusion based on their personal experiences. However,

the fact that Hammermesh, who is a prominent labor

economist, had proved this fact in a formal and sci-

entific study attracted a lot of attention to this article,

and it was even discussed in popular magazines.

I usually promise myself not to get distracted when

Im browsing a journal for a specific article, but I never

succeed. The title and the abstract of this article re-

minded me of Atuls idea. I decided to read the

introduction and the conclusion of the article. The more

I read, the more I enjoyed it, and suddenly realized I

had spent almost an hour reading the whole article. The

analysis in this article was based on three large in-

terview surveys: two conducted in the US and one in

Canada. What was interesting about these surveys was

that the interviewers who conducted the face-to-face

interviews were also asked to give each interviewee a

beauty score on the scale of 1 to 5. These categories

were: 1) Strikingly beautiful or handsome, 2) Above

average for age, 3) Average for age, 4) Below averagefor age and 5) Homely. Overall, the survey included

more than 7200 women and 5300 men. They had used

this large data set to show that beauty mattered in the

labor market. More attractive men and women got

better jobs and earned higher incomes. They also

hinted at the idea that it is rational for people to invest

on improving their looks.

One thing you learn as an academic is that you must

always look for new research ideas. You try to capture

ideas from conversations with colleagues, watching a

television program or reading an article. After a while,this search for ideas becomes second nature. As you

read an article, you constantly search for ideas that

either help enhance your current research or could

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serve as the initial idea for a new research project. So,

as I read the Beauty and the Labor Market, a game of

word association got underway in my mind: physical

beauty, market, development, economic growth,

personal beauty, group beauty. If personal beauty could

lead to more income, is it possible that the average

beauty of an ethnic group or nation could affect their

economic development? What if a nation could become

more beautiful? Would an increase in average beauty

help it grow faster? What if a minority group becomes

more beautiful? Would it be able to improve its socio-

economic status? The game of word association

continued: beauty and market, beauty and growth,

beauty and development, Beauty and Development,

Beauty and Development, yes!!! Beauty and

Development. What a wonderful phrase. If an article

entitled Beauty and the Labor Market could capture

so much attention, imagine how the academic com-

munity would react to the idea of Beauty and

Development? The first thing to do when a new idea

comes to your mind is to write it down, and thatsexactly what I did.

A new research topic: Beauty and Development.

This idea occurred to me half way into reading the

article. From then on, I was reading with a clear ob-

jective: to try to pick up any ideas and references that

could be relevant to my newly crafted research topic.

While Hammermesh was only concerned about how

personal beauty affects a persons economic success

(income), I began to think of other connections

between beauty and development. Beauty could lead

to development, but development could also lead tomore beauty as people enjoy a better diet. Beauty might

have an indirect effect on development by having a

positive effect on a countys trade partners

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Then I suddenly remembered I could not afford to

get distracted from my ongoing research. Another thing

that I had learned the hard way was that spreading my

resources too thin on too many research projects was

futile and unproductive. This idea was very appealing,

yet I did not have time for it back then. What to do?

What to do? Slowly but gradually, I heard a word in the

back of my mind: Atul, Atul, Atul. I had found the

answer. I would use Atul to do the initial literature

search for this project, while I was completing my

current research on government budget. What a clever

idea. What Atul wanted to work on was related to my

idea of Beauty and Development, and, even if it wasnt,

I could gradually lead him in the direction that I wanted

to. I had suddenly found a reason to accept Atuls

request for an independent study project.

As soon as I returned to my office, I looked at a list

of students in the class that Atul had taken with me and

found his email. I sent him a brief email.Atul,

If you are still pursuing the topic that we discussed earlier for

an independent study course, you might find the following article

interesting:

Then I added the reference to Beauty and the Labor

Market. I did not want to give the impression that I

had agreed to supervise his Independent Study.

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Chapter Three

The Cover-up

The next day - Tuesday May 12 - was the last day of

exams, and I did not expect any students to come to my

office. I had given more thought to my new research

idea in the morning, and I was convinced that it was

worth pursuing. The campus was relatively quiet. It

was a cloudy day with mild temperatures. Around 3:30

in the afternoon, the phone rang. It was Atul. He

wanted to know if he could see me in my office. I

asked him to stop by around five. While I was working

on my project between Atuls call and our five oclock

meeting, I did a quick cost/benefit analysis of agreeing

to supervise his independent study project. The benefit,

obviously, was that he could help me collect all the

background literature that I needed for the B&D

(Beauty and Development) project. The cost was the

time I had to spend supervising his own project. One

has to minimize costs and maximize benefits to make a

profit.Atul arrived on time, breathing heavily. He was

holding a copy of the Beauty and the Labor Market

article and looked very excited.


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Thank you for recommending this article. It is very

informative and Im glad that it reaffirms some of my

beliefs, said Atul.

What do you mean, it reaffirmed your views? It

doesnt make any recommendations for race-mixing,

does it? I asked with a smile.

I dont mean in that sense, he responded. What I

mean is that they show how important beauty is for an

individuals economic success. Since all ethnic and

racial groups have to compete in the same national

labor market, any ethnic group that is perceived by

others as less attractive will suffer from wage discrimi-

nation and will be denied certain job opportunities that

involve personal interaction with customers. Once I can

establish that a race is less attractive, then I can use

these findings to justify my recommendations. Another

interesting point in this article is that there are certain

standards of beauty that are common all around the

world. As people see more and more images of other

ethnic and racial groups through the media, their at-

titude toward beauty converges even further.Interesting observations. Have you read any other

books or articles on this issue since we met last time?

No, Dr H. I have been very busy with my exams

and term papers. Im going to start reading about it

over the summer. Ill be staying with my parents in

New Jersey, near Princeton, and I have access to the

Princeton library. Im only working part-time for a

local software company and can spend 15 to 20 hours a

week on the literature search. But, first, I need to find a

professor who will agree to be my supervisor for this

project. I did talk to a couple of professors in the de-partment of sociology, as you had suggested. But

neither showed any interest. So when I got your email,

I thought I should come to see you and find out if you

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have had a change of mind. Reading this article by

Hammermesh and Biddle has aroused my curiosity

even further. I would be grateful if you agreed to be my

supervisor.

I did not expect Atul to repeat his request for my in-

volvement so directly and quickly, but I was glad that

he was still passionate about it - the more passionate

the better.

I have not changed my mind. I just remembered

you when I came across this article by accident. As I

mentioned before, Im not familiar with the topic, and I

still dont think the department would approve an inde-

pendent study course on Race and Beauty. I wanted to

see how enthusiastic Atul really was. I also wanted to

make sure he got the impression that, if I agreed to su-

pervise him, I was only doing it as a favor to him.

Before Atul could say anything, there was a knock

at the door. It was a female student named Meena, who

was from India and was taking my public expenditure

class that term. From the way Atul and Meena greeted

each other, it was obvious that they knew one another.As Meena entered my office and stood about three feet

away from Atul, he seemed a little nervous. It appeared

to me that he deliberately put the article, which he was

still holding in his hand, face down on the table to

prevent Meena from reading the title.

Sorry to disturb you, Dr. H. I was wondering if you

have graded my term paper yet?

No, not yet. Why dont you check back by

Wednesday if you are going to be here?

Unfortunately, Im leaving tomorrow, but I can call

you if you dont mind. I gave her my phone numberand resumed my conversation with Atul after she left.

Okay, where were we? I asked.

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You were saying the department might not approve

my topic, said Atul, who seemed relieved that Meena

was gone, and continued: Perhaps we could choose a

more reasonable topic for my study that is more related

to economics. We can report this topic to the de-

partment and get approval for it. Once the department

approves an IS, I dont think they are going to check to

see what is really being covered in detail, as long as

you report that Im making good progress.

Its not that simple. Arent you forgetting the

outside referee that is appointed by the department?"

Oh. You are right!! I remember you told me earlier

that I would have to write three term papers which will

be evaluated by a department appointed referee, said

Atul.

I nodded my head in approval, and we were both

silent for a few seconds.

Then Atul said: Looks like whatever topic we

choose and report to the department, I have to submit

three satisfactory papers on that topic. Will you have

any influence on the choice of the department referee?If you do, then perhaps you can choose a friend of

yours who could be more cooperative.

Based on this comment, I realized that Atul was

more practical than I expected. This was good because

I was also very practical. However, his suggestion was

infeasible. Unfortunately for you and I, the chair

himself appoints the referee and, if anything, he will try

to make sure that the supervisor and the referee are not

close friends. Besides it is extremely unlikely that any

faculty member would risk his career by participating

in such a cover-up. I did not tell Atul that, in additionto these concerns, I also did not have any friends in the

department. People are so competitive and so busy that

you are lucky if you can make even simple acquain-

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tances with anyone. So I suggested a more practical

solution: I think the only way you can do this is to

come up with a research topic that is acceptable to the

department and is not too demanding. Then you can

work on your racial improvement topic and this topic at

the same time. As long as you submit three term papers

on this topic, you can study racial beautification to any

extent that you want. However, it means extra work.

I was waiting for Atuls reaction.

Does this mean that you are willing to supervise

my independent study project if I can gain the de-

partments approval for a straightforward economics

topic?

I cant promise anything now, but, after you have

done some reading on this beautification stuff, we can

talk about it. I will consider your request again a few

weeks before the fall term, I responded.

Thats wonderful. It means a lot of extra work for

me, but Im willing to do it as long as you agree to be

my supervisor.

Unfortunately, I cant think of any other alternative.However, if we can come up with a topic that is closely

related to your concept of racial beautification and at

the same time has a more acceptable appearance, then

the two topics will have a large amount of overlap, and

your additional work might only be 25 to 35%, I said.

He agreed that it was a practical solution. But do

you have any specific topic in mind? he asked.

Not right now. This strategy just occurred to me.

Why dont you and I both think about it for a few days

and see if we can come up with a good one. Just keep

in mind the two criteria. First, we want the topic tohave as much overlap with racial beautification as

possible. Second, we want to make sure it is acceptable

to the department.

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Atul stood up to leave and it was clear that he was

very happy: Thank you so much. I will think about it

and email you a few ideas. We can keep in touch by

email over the summer.

No Atul. I dont think it will be a good idea to

discuss this issue by email. Its best to talk about it over

the phone, I said. Atul smiled and nodded with ex-

citement: You are right. Email is not as secure as it

seems. We better be careful.

After Atul gave me his New Jersey phone number

and left, I began thinking about the cover-up topic for

his IS. I wanted the cover-up topic to be related to

my own research idea of Beauty and Development as

well. This way Atul had to do my literature search in

order to earn a credit for his independent study. I felt

very clever about the whole thing and the cover-up.

What was it that I needed Atul to do for me? First, I

wanted him to search the literature to find out if

anything has been written about the connection

between beauty and development. Second, I might

need him to do a survey of opinions or collect some ob-servations similar to what Hammermesh and Biddle

had done. One alternative was to choose a title directly

related to my own research objective: The Interaction

of Physical Beauty and Economic Development. This

would give me more power to use Atul as a research

assistant. But the danger was that, first of all, if this

topic was indeed a good idea, someone else on the

faculty might grab it. I have never had any illusions

about the intelligence and capability of my colleagues

at Yale. They are always looking for new ideas. Who

knows? Maybe Hammermesh and Biddle picked upthe initial idea for their work in a casual conversation

with a faculty member or a student. Besides, if the

topic is exotic, the chairman usually appoints a referee

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who has worked in that area or at least has shown cu-

riosity about it in the past. Such a faculty member

would have some knowledge of the literature and could

give Atul a hard time by questioning his methodology

and demanding high quality work.

Over the next two weeks, Atul and I spoke on the

phone several times. I had decided against a topic that

might give a hint about my own agenda. So I waited for

Atul to come up with something. As we talked about

various ideas, I realized that I still did not have a clear

idea of what it was that Atul wanted to accomplish.

Talking to Atul gave me the impression that he himself

did not have a clear idea either. The best way to clear

your mind about a research idea is to write it down.

When you write, you are forced to organize your

thoughts. Atul agreed to start reviewing the literature

and write a three- to four-page explanation of why

whitening is important and how he plans to study it.

Since he did not have to register for the fall term until

mid-August, we agreed to select the cover-up topic

after Atul had prepared a proposal and a clear outlineof the reading material that he wanted to cover.

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Chapter Four

An Appeal to Non-Europeans

In mid-June, only a few days after our last phone

conversation, I received an envelope from Atul. In it,

he had enclosed a brief note and a five-page article,

which he said was his independent study proposal.

Hi Dr. H,

Since you didnt want me to send anything by

email, I decided to send my study proposal by

mail. Ill contact you after you have had a

chance to read it. I have already been to the

Princeton library twice, and I have found a lot of

useful stuff.

Yours,

Atul Divan


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An Appeal to Non-Euros

My fellow non-European people of the world,

What Im about to propose in this essay might

seem offensive to many of you, but I urge you to

read this appeal to the end before passing any

judgment.

Rather than wasting your time by a detailed

and perhaps confusing introduction, I will get to

the point without any further delay. Ever since

the end of colonialism and imperialism, we non-

euros (the Non-white people of Asian, African,

Pacific and native American origin) have proved

that we can compete with Euros (the white people

of European origin) in scientific and techno-

logical fields. The old racist theories of

European superiority have all been rejected in

athletic, artistic and scientific competitions. It is

now clear that the poverty of nations is due to the

lack of collective intelligence, which is a function

of organizational culture. At an individual level,we are not less intelligent or less capable than

Europeans. Yet, there is one dimension in which

we suffer from a genetic inferiority, and that is

physical beauty. Lets face it. Whites are more

beautiful. It is true that beauty is in the eyes of

the beholder. However, the standards of beauty

are universal. More often than not, what is

viewed as beautiful in one human community is

also praised as beautiful by others. Not only

whites perceive themselves as more beautiful

than others, but we, the non-Europeans, also seethem as more attractive.

Beauty matters, and it matters a lot. The lack

of physical beauty often causes emotional

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trauma. The lack of beauty in people who con-

stitute ones community is equally painful. In

such a community, members of other commu-

nities are perceived as more beautiful. How

frustrating it is for a young man to realize that

the women of his own ethnic/racial group, with

whom he can socialize and from whom he even-

tually chooses a marriage partner, are not as

beautiful as the women of other groups, who are

beyond his reach. How lucky is the person who is

beautiful and has a beautiful partner! How un-

fortunate is he/she who is less attractive than the

person who is the object of his/her desire! How

unfortunate is a community of people who find

themselves as a group less attractive than

another people! Beauty is inherited from ones

biological parents. For those who are born in

demographically stable communities, it is a gift

from the communal genetic pool. Just as the

relative beauty within a community matters, the

absolute beauty level of a society also matters.Sure, an aboriginal woman in Australia can

claim to be more beautiful than some others, but

any fair- minded observer admits that aborigines

of Australia are far less attractive than

Europeans. It is both rational and just to call on

relatively less attractive human communities to

improve their physical appearance based on the

ideals of their own community.

It is a fact that, in most corners of the modern

world, where Western movies bring the beautiful

Hollywood stars into the homes of billions ofpeople on a dai ly basis, people of European

origin are viewed, by members of most commu-

nities, as the most attractive people. Enter the

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private room of any teenager in the Third World.

Chances are that the walls are filled with pictures

of blond women and blue-eyed men. The popular

magazines in Third World countries are filled

with pictures of beautiful European models. Why

would the profit-hungry magazine owners print

these pictures if they werent sure that these

images were popular? An even stronger piece of

evidence is the fact that endogenous TV and

movie stars in the Third World usually have

lighter skin than those in the population in

general. So lets face it, and lets admit it. Whites

are more beautiful. And lets do something to

close the gap.

Hear my appeal

For sake of improving your emotional, social,

cultural and economic conditions, I appeal to

you to invest in the physical beauty of your off-

spring and reduce the beauty differential that willbe a cause of suffering for future generations as

it has been for us and previous generations.

Beauty is one of the most valuable bequests that

you can leave for your children. This investment

is more crucial for those who have closer

contacts with Europeans and hence suffer more

emotional stress as a result of their beauty differ-

ential. The groups that suffer most are

non-European minorities who live in Western

Europe, Australia and North America. Because

of their relative lack of beauty, these people arerejected and marginalized by the majority

European population. If it were not for their own

perception of unattractiveness and physical infe-

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riority, they would not have suffered so much

emotional trauma in the face of Euro-rejection.

Furthermore, they have to compete with

Europeans in the labor market, where, believe it

or not, beauty is an important criterion for hiring

and promotion. As we approach the new mil-

lennium, it is time to break our silence and take

corrective action. Why should our future gener-

ations suffer the genetic curse of ugliness? Why

should they be condemned to feel depressed and

envious of Europeans? We hear each others

envious expressions about the beauty of the white

race in private and frank conversations all the

time, but assume that there is nothing that we can

do about it. If we have enough courage, we can

do something about it. Admitting that we have a

problem is 50% of the solution. We can take

action as individuals, and we can work toward

collective action. The solution is to produce half

endogenous/half white offspring.

Nothing to be ashamed of

You might think of my proposal as shameful

and humiliating. Several factors might lead to

such a reaction. First, engaging in racial beauti-

fication is an admission of racial inferiority.

Second, in male dominated societies, the impreg-

nation of local women from imported sperm is

extremely humiliating and totally unacceptable.

In such societies a child whose father is a citizen

and whose mother an alien is far better accepted

than a child whose mother is a citizen but the

father is an alien. A third concern is that the

mixed children will be drawn toward the Western

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culture and the society will loose its independent

cultural identity.

In response to the first concern, I must say

that, when the intention is good and what is

being proposed does not harm any one, the only

thing we should be ashamed of is shame itself.

Individuals and nations admit to their weak-

nesses all the time and try to find solutions. In

fact, a major cause of the military and industrial

strength of Western democracies is their capacity

for self-criticism, which allows them to identify

their weaknesses and take corrective measures.

Down in the Third World, politicians and intel-

lectuals openly admit to their industrial and

technological inferiority and ask the interna-

tional community for help. No one feels ashamed

of being underdeveloped. Rather than denying it,

most underdeveloped nations have accepted their

backwardness in recent years and have imported

technological know-how and machinery to indus-

trialize. Historically, those nations that haverefused to accept new technologies and ideas

from abroad, for the sake of national pride, have

not improved their economic condition as much

as others. In agriculture and animal husbandry,

farmers con tinu ously impor t ge netically

modified seeds and animals to improve the

quality of their livestock and increase crop yield.

Coming closer to our main subject, every year,

millions of non-Euros, mostly women, spend

billions of dollars on plastic surgery to change

the shape of their nose and eyes and other facialstructures in the hope of looking more

European/beautiful. Do you think they should feel

ashamed?

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If you are not convinced that investment in

long-term racial beauty is nothing to be ashamed

of, then you should at least concede that it will be

a one-shot humiliation affecting only one or two

generations. Without beautification, every gen-

eration of an unattractive race must go through

the humiliating and painful realization of its

beauty deficiency. You should think of the gen-

eration/persons that invest in racial

beautification as sacrificing their pride and

facing the potential humiliations that might

follow for the sake of the future generations. The

humiliation and suffering of the beautifying gen-

eration will help future generations achieve

higher levels of relative beauty and suffer less in

the future.

Turning to the second criticism, it is a well-

known fact that most non-European societies and

cultures are patriarchal and, because of their

masculine bias, are extremely sensitive about

parental bloodline. The prevalence of masculinebias is unfortunate. Such a bias leads to the re-

jection of the least costly method of whitening -

namely the importation of white sperm. Biracial

children whose white gene comes from a paternal

line (imported white sperm) will face more re-

jection and harassment than others. This attitude,

however, will be subject to change through edu-

cation and public debate. The alternative of

importing white female eggs or employing white

surrogate mothers will be far less humiliating in

masculine societies. This latter method is morepractical for affluent male non-Euros who un-

dertake the whitening process at an individual

level.

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Finally, Im not convinced that mixed children

will necessarily abandon their culture because of

their half-native blood. Cultural identity is ac-

quired from the environment and, since the social

environment of these children will not be any dif-

ferent than that of purely endogenous children,

they will not have any higher tendency towards

Western culture. It is unlikely that these children

will experience mistreatment and alienation. On

the contrary, mixed persons of

endogenous/European marriage are usually very

popular in developing countries. (In India, many

of them are recruited into the movie industry or

politics and achieve stardom.) Because of their

popularity and warm acceptance, they remain

loyal to the domestic culture and contribute to its

preservation and betterment.

Racial Beautification has many benefits

The benefits of racial beautification outweighits costs, even when the cost of humiliation is

high. The direct benefit of beautification is

obvious because of the intrinsic value of human

beauty. At the individual level, beauty leads to

higher rates of social acceptance and popularity.

As a result, the individual will enjoy more self-

esteem and will be more successful in his career.

Various recent studies have shown that more

beautiful people face better opportunities in the

labor market. However, racial beautification

could have many indirect benefits as well. In the

long run, culture is the most important deter-

minant of development. An unattractive people

will suffer from low self-esteem as a group. Just

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as an individual who lacks self-esteem cannot

realize his full potential, a society that is low on

self-esteem will find it more difficult to grow. As

mentioned earlier, widespread low self-esteem

leads to prevalent feelings of anger and re-

sentment towards other members of the group.

These negative feelings will arise not only

because of the intrinsic feelings of inferiority but

also because of the insecurity that each member

of the society feels when coming into contact with

more attractive races. Therefore, even marginal

improvement in the average level of beauty will

help reduce the feelings of anger and self-hatred

in a society.

The relative position of a racial/ethnic group

in the international community matters. As a

nation or race becomes more beautiful, its

relative position improves, and the rest of the

world will show more goodwill towards it. More

tourists will visit the country, and their attitude

towards the endogenous people will be morecordial. The community and its members will

receive more support from others, and, hence,

each member of the community can achieve its

goals at a lower cost.

If you are dreaming of migration to the West,

the lighter the skin color of your children, the

higher their chances of entry and success. I

assure you: there are millions of couples in

China, India, Pakistan and elsewhere who share

this dream. For some, this dream begins in early

adulthood as they learn more about the securityand pleasures of living in the West. Others inherit

it from their parents, who have no higher wish for

their children than to see them migrate to the

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West. For anyone whose heart is burning with the

migration quest, whitening is a valuable in-

vestment. It is as important as scientific

knowledge and intelligence. It takes hard work

and talent for a foreign student to get a graduate

degree in the U.S. But once a young, foreign-

born graduate starts searching for a job, his/her

degree of whiteness plays an important role in his

success. Needless to say, the quality of life of an

immigrant and his acceptance in white social

circles will also depend on his skin color.

Racial Beautification is Practical

The difficulty of achieving racial beautifi-

cation varies from group to group, but it is

practical under all circumstances. Racial beauti-

fication could be achieved through collective

action or individual initiative. At the individual

level, it is most practical and least costly for non-

Europeans living in the West. All it takes is a manor woman with a strong desire. Main options for

men are: a) Marrying a white woman (or at least

a member of a lighter-skinned minority). The

drawback to this option is the limited number of

white women who might be willing to marry non-

whites. b) Employing a white woman as a

surrogate mother. C) With the recent ad-

vancements in reproductive science and

technology, it is even possible for a couple to buy

an egg from a white female, fertilize it with

husbands sperm and plant it in wifes womb.This way both husband and wife have a claim to

being the natural parents of the offspring.

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The options for women are even less costly: a)

Marrying a white man. (Again it might be dif-

ficult for less attractive non-European women to

find a willing and interested partner), b)

Becoming pregnant from a white man (same dif-

ficulty with regard to finding a suitable partner),

c) Artificial insemination after obtaining suitable

sperm from a sperm bank or other sources.

In a non-European society, individual ini-

tiative towards whitening is very difficult. Rich

people could go abroad to obtain white sperm or

white eggs. But for others, it might be a big

prob le m. Besides, it migh t resu lt in a very

negative social reaction. In these countries, col-

lective action is more practical. The government

or some non-governmental organization should

take the lead if there is significant support for

such a policy. There is a high possibility that,

with future advancements in genetic engineering,

a couple could alter the physical attributes of

their offspring. They could choose the skin color,eye color and the facial features of each child.

Once such techniques become available and af-

fordable to non-Europeans, beautification will be

more popular, because it will no longer involve

sperm or egg importation from an alien gene

pool.

Final Comments

I sincerely hope that my appeal has left a

lasting impression on you. As a non-Euro, I amone of you, and I share your historical expe-

rience. In response to the European

expansionism that began five centuries ago, our

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various communities have put up a strong re-

sistance. The age of colonialism is over, and

non-Europeans living in Western countries have

successfully fought against many types of racism

and prejudice. Many non-European countries

such as Korea, Malaysia and China have

overcome their economic backwardness and are

rapidly catching up to the West. Even more im-

portantly, the Japanese have achieved parity with

the West on technological and scientific per-

formance.

We have many reasons to be proud and to

look to the future with hope and optimism. Yet,

now that we no longer view the white people of

European origin as oppressors, now that we have

demonstrated that we are not inferior to them in

any performance criteria, the time has come to

bring to the surface our deep sense of admiration

for the beauty of the Western European race. The

time has come to admit that beauty plays a major

role in our happiness. Just as we invest in thehealth and education of our society, we must also

invest in improving the physical beauty of our

pe op le and redu ce th e ex is ti ng be au ty gap

between the Europeans and ourselves. As we

enter the 21st century and face the images of

Europeans through travel and the Internet and

other advanced technologies in the waiting, the

time has come to put aside our shame and our

silence and exchange views on how best we can

reduce this beauty differential. The methods that

I have proposed to you for racial whitening andbeautification might not be the best methods

available. If we initiate dialogue and investigate

this issue openly, perhaps more practical and

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more efficient methods will be discovered. So lets

face it. Whites are more beautiful. However, if we

take corrective action now, there is hope for our

future generations.

* * *

After reading Atuls proposal (which I will refer to

as the Appeal from here on), my first reaction was a

sense of relief that he did not send it by email or fax. It

would have been a huge embarrassment (not to

mention trouble) if anyone had seen this article and as-

sociated it with me in any way. I could not imagine any

minority or anyone from the Third World seeing this

article and not being offended by it. At least Atul had

enough sense to admit at the beginning that most

people would find his suggestion offensive and

shameful. Why did Atul send me this piece? I had

asked him for an independent study proposal. Did he

misunderstand my request and think that I wanted him

to put his ideas about whitening and racial beautifi-cation in a propaganda-style essay?

One thing that was clear from his writing was that

Atul was a lot more religious about his racial beautifi-

cation dream than I had initially expected. The content

also raised a question in my mind about the character

and personality of Atul. What kind of life experiences

would drive a 21 year-old student of Indian origin to

such a state of mind? He obviously did not feel any

racial or ethnic pride. To the contrary, if the Appeal re-

flects his personal values, Atul must be full of

self-hatred. On one hand, I felt more curious about thisstudy and about Atul himself. But, at the same time, I

felt worried about the consequences of anyone finding

out what Atul was investigating. What if people

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thought that I approved of Atuls idea? How will the

department react or, perhaps, be compelled to react, if a

minority group got a hold of the Appeal and took it se-

riously? At the very least, I would lose my job.

I was torn between these two concerns, and I could

not decide what to do. I heard a voice from my subcon-

scious: when in doubt, read it again. So I started

reading the Appeal one more time. Half way through

the second page, my eyes suddenly froze on the word

development, and I suddenly remembered my own

secret agenda: Beauty and Development. In a flash, my

inner conflict was resolved. Of course I wanted Atul to

continue his independent study project. For a few

seconds, my eyes were fixed on that magical word.

Then I read the sentence that surrounded devel-

opment and began to realize that some of Atuls ideas

and concepts were relevant for my research. Since I

had not read the appeal with this quest in mind, I went

to the beginning and reviewed it again with a clear

search agenda.

While Atuls prescription for whitening was not ofmuch use, he had made some remarks about the emo-

tional and behavioral consequences of a relative beauty

differential that I found interesting. If the lack of

beauty causes a negative self-image at the group level,

then it could have an adverse effect on social norms

and culture, which itself plays an important role in de-

velopment. It was a crude idea, but it was well worth

investigating. I found a second interesting idea in the

Appeal. A more attractive ethnic group, according to

Atul, enjoyed more popularity and international

goodwill. If there was any way to construct a com-parative beauty index for various ethnic groups, then

perhaps this hypothesis could be roughly tested. One

could try to see if there is a connection between the

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level of international assistance that a nation receives

and the average beauty score of that countrys res-

idents. Of course one has to control for other factors

that affect international assistance. I could also

consider how the relative beauty of a people could

affect the growth of tourism and the entertainment in-

dustry. If beauty were a determinant of travel

destinations, then tourism would flourish in societies

with more beautiful people. Finally, it occurred to me

that perhaps international traders and investors prefer

to invest in communities that are more beautiful. By

combining these thoughts, I was able to develop a

primitive flowchart of how physical beauty could affect

a countrys development.

Two days later, I got a call from Atul. He was won-

dering if I had received his proposal.

Yes. And I have also read it.

I hope you are satisfied with it. I tried to explain

what I had in mind as clearly as possible, said Atul

with an excited voice.

Atul, I think there must have been some misunder-standing. Im sure you have written research papers in

some of your classes by now. A proposal for an inde-

pendent study program is a clear plan for studying a

specific topic. What you have written is similar to a

19th century political pamphlet. It is anything but a

proposal for an independent study, I replied with a

critical tone. I was waiting for a response from Atul,

but the line was silent. Hello? Are you still there?

Yes, he said with a low voice. There was silence

again. Perhaps my comment was too harsh. I knew I

had to carry the conversation. Look Atul, the purpose

of an independent study project is to help a student

learn more about a topic that he is interested in. It starts

by asking the right questions about the subject and then

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reading the right books and articles to learn the

answers. Your proposal sounds like you already have

all the answers. I have given some thought to your so-

called whitening proposal. I dont agree with your

recommendation, but if you are so serious about this

idea, then we should arrange your independent study in

a way that will let you increase your knowledge about

the practicality and consequences of such an idea.

Based on what you have written in this proposal, I have

come up with several questions that I think you should

concentrate on. However, I can only work with you if

you avoid slogans and appeals and concentrate on

searching for the answers to these questions without

any prejudice. Is that acceptable to you?

Yes. I accept your conditions 100 percent. I have

already done some literature search and found several

articles. As soon as you give me the questions, I will

concentrate my work entirely on them. For a moment, I

thought you were going to cancel the whole thing.

Please let me have the questions, and Ill start working

on them right away.I had already thought out several questions, but I

decided to send them by mail rather than mentioning

them over the phone. This way, Atul did not have any

excuse to ignore any of them.

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Chapter Five

Long Summer

The next day, I sent Atul the following letter. For

obvious reasons, I did not sign my name at the end.

Atul,

Here are five empirical questions that you

must concentrate on. Try to find any kind of

relevant information on each one of them. These

questions are derived from your own so-called

proposal. Remember, your recommendations

must be backed up by evidence and analysis.

Otherwise, they would be worthless.

First of all, you must prove (scientifically) that

whites are indeed more beautiful. See if anyone

has done a cross-racial survey of physical

beauty, perhaps similar to the beauty scale that

was used by Hammermesh and Biddle. It would

be ideal for your purposes if you found a surveythat shows non-whites perceive whites as more

beautiful than themselves. If you find such ev-

idence, it will validate your argument. Otherwise,


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most people will reject your suggestion and claim

that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Look for evidence that the lack of beauty has

adverse psychological effects at the individual

and group level. If non-whites feel unhappy about

their looks and if this is a shared feeling, then

you must see its expressions in their literature,

art and social values. Look for indications of

white admiration in non-European cultures.

If non-Euros indeed perceive whites as more

beautiful, then it should inspire them to prefer

lighter-skinned marriage partners. Lighter-

skinned females must be more in demand. Look

for skin complexion sensitivity in non-European

cultures.

(This is the most important question of your

study.) Is there any precedence for your idea of

whitening? If your perception of the beauty ad-

vantage of whites is indeed a common feeling

among non-Euros, then it must have been ad-

dressed before. At the very least someintellectuals in developing countries must have

made similar recommendations. It is even

possible that some countries might have adopted

whitening policies to improve their racial beauty.

Look for evidence in history of eugenics in the

non-European world. You might find more ev-

idence of the desire for whitening at personal

level. Search for any kind of evidence in the lit-

erature that shows that the quest for

intergenerational whitening affects an indi-

viduals choice of spouse in non-Europeansocieties. If, as you claim, most non-Euros suffer

from a beauty differential, then some must have

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taken steps to acquire whiter offspring. See if you

can find any evidence of this tendency.

If you want people to take your whitening

proposal seriously, you should demonstrate that

whitening/beautification has significant benefits

for socioeconomic progress. You already men-

tioned some benefits such as increased

self-esteem resulting in better performance,

higher international popularity and improved

conditions for international trade. Try to sharpen

your analysis of these factors and look for other

connections between physical beauty and devel-

opment. You might not find a lot of direct

literature on this issue, but if you are imaginative

you will find ways to link your views to the

economic development literature.

Good Luck.

* * *

The fifth recommendation crossed my mind at the

last moment. I added this one for my own sake,

because this was the core question of Beauty and

Development. I was hoping that Atul would take this

point seriously and conduct a fruitful search. Three

days later, I got a short email from Atul. He had re-

ceived my letter. I did not hear from him in July, and I

was so busy with my own research that I did not give

much thought to Atuls ideas or to my own B&D

(beauty and development) project.

August started on a sad note. In early August, I got arejection letter from an academic journal that spe-

cializes in the economics of government (Public

Economics). I had submitted an article to the editor of

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this journal three months earlier. This was the third

time that this paper was rejected. I had received so

many rejection letters since I had started teaching at

Yale that my emotional response to a new rejection had

diminished to a short one-hour depression. This time

however, the impact was almost as severe as my first

rejection, five years earlier. This time I felt both

worried and depressed.

Except for highly talented and exceptional uni-

versity professors, most academic articles that get

published in a refereed journal are rejected at least once

or twice before finally being accepted somewhere.

However, in academics you either publish or perish.

For a university professor, tenure approval, promotion

and salary increases depend to a large degree on the

quantity of articles that he/she can publish in refereed

journals. Furthermore, the quality of journals is not the

same. Those that enjoy a higher status are far more

competitive and harder to publish in.

The last paper that I was able to publish was rejected

four times. I usually submit a rejected paper to a lower-ranked (less demanding) journal. This time, however, a

new submission would not have born fruit on time for

my tenure review. Based on my past experience, I

knew that even if my paper were to be accepted, it

would have received a conditional acceptance. This

means the referees and the editor of the journal would

have asked for lots of modifications and changes before

the paper was published. It usually takes several

months of hard work to revise a paper according to an

editors recommendations, and I was up for tenure

review in less than five months in December of 1998.For the first time, I felt seriously worried about my

chances for tenure at Yale. The depression began to sink

in. Five years at Yale and all I had published were four

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articles in second- and third-rate journals. I would have

felt a lot more secure if this last article had been accepted.

What went wrong? Why was I not able to publish more?

My first article got accepted before I graduated from

Harvard. When I arrived at Yale, some of the most distin-

guished members of the faculty considered me the most

promising new recruit of 1994. So what went wrong?

Perhaps I would have been able to publish more if I had

focused on one subject, or, as a visiting professor from

Canada put it, if I had had a signature.

Successful researchers stay loyal to their field of

concentration. I kept jumping from one subject to the

next. As soon as I got one paper accepted in one area, I

switched to a new subject. Consequently, I had to start

learning the background literature from scratch. No

wonder that each paper that I submitted, after the first

one, got rejected several times before it was finally ac-

cepted. The question that I had no answer for was why

I lost all interest in a subject after publishing just one

paper about it. My behavior was like a professional

athlete who spent two years playing football, then thenext two years basketball and then tennis and so on. No

matter how talented a person is, if he keeps switching

from one field to another, he can never excel.

By then, I had been asking myself this question for

nearly two years, and I still had no answer. My only

general explanation was that, perhaps, like every other

behavioral problem, it must have been caused by my

childhood experiences.

Well!! Enough about me. This book is about Atul

and his dream. He contacted me twice after I sent him

the questions, only to let me know that he was workingon them with 100% enthusiasm. On both occasions, I

was not in the mood to go into details. Instead, I just

gave him some mild encouragement.

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In mid-August, Meena (the girl who stopped by to

see her term paper when I was talking to Atul last May)

came to my office one afternoon. She was wearing a

beautiful Indian dress.

Hi, Dr. H. If Im not disturbing you, Id like to see

my term paper, said Meena as she walked into my

office. The last time she asked for her paper I suggested

she stop by some other time. I was supposed to find her

term paper and have it ready for her but I had not

looked for it. So I offered her a seat and started

searching my class files for her term paper. As I was

searching, I complimented her on her beautiful outfit.

Thanks. It is a traditional Indian dress. As you

might have heard, August 15th is Indias independence

day. This week, the Indian community at Yale has or-

ganized several celebrations to celebrate this occasion.

I actually came to campus today to attend one of these

celebrations. That is why Im wearing this ethnic

dress, said Meena. I finally found her paper and

handed it to her. She took a minute to look at her grade

for each question and handed it back to me. As she waslooking at her paper, I recalled her unfriendly inter-

action with Atul when she came to my office in May.

Do you know Atul Divan by any chance? I asked,

as she was getting ready to leave.

Of course, she replied with a sarcastic smile.

Why? Do you need to get in touch with him?

No. No. I was just curious if he is also coming to

Yale for celebrations that you are here for.

I dont think so. Atul is not the type to care much

about Indian festivities or Indian culture. Besides, he

lives in New Jersey, said Meena. Her opinionated re-sponse gave me an excuse to engage her in a

conversation about Atul. Ever since reading Atuls out-

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landish Appeal to non-Euros, I wanted to learn more

about his personality.

Thats strange! He took a class with me two years

ago and seemed very interested in Indias development

issues, I said.

Being curious about India doesnt mean that he

likes to identify with the Indian community. By the

way, did you say he was in one of your classes two

years ago? I saw him in your office last May, and I

thought he was your student last semester, said

Meena.

He wasnt my student last semester. When you saw

him in my office, he was here to talk to me about an in-

dependent study course for next semester.

I hope he is not trying to work on some of his crazy

ideas about the whitening of darker races, commented

Meena. I suddenly felt anxious.

No. He wants to take an independent course with

me about economic development, and thats all he has

talked to me about. What do you mean by whitening?

I asked. I felt my heartbeat quicken, but I tried toremain calm. Well!! You probably wont believe this,

but Atul believes that Indians should stop marrying

each other and marry whites to give their children a

lighter skin color. Last year, Atul and I both attended a

birthday party for one of our mutual friends. As usual,

Atul led the discussion to the question of beauty and

how we (Indians) are suffering because of our dark skin

complexion and lack of beauty. Some other Indian

students who were familiar with his views were teasing

him, and some were sarcastically agreeing with him. It

was good fun until he suddenly said that it is better forIndian girls to buy the sperm of white donors from

sperm banks and resort to artificial insemination than to

marry Indian boys and produce unattractive children.

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Everyone, especially the girls, felt insulted, and a

couple of guys got mad at him and shouted several

nasty remarks. Atul realized that he was no longer

welcome and left the party quietly.

That is so strange. I had no idea he had such a

twisted mind. He always appeared normal and, I should

say, also very smart. Im glad the topic of his inde-

pendent study that Im going to supervise has nothing

to do with these outrageous attitudes, I replied.

Dont be so sure, Dr. H, said Meena with a smile

and continued: He will probably talk to you about

whitening at some point and might even try to change

the orientation of his independent study in that di-

rection. I had a sociology course last year, and the

teacher told me that Atul had contacted him to see if he

was willing to help Atul do an independent study

project on whitening. So you never know what he is up

to. On the other hand, since his idea of whitening has

nothing to do with economics, he might spare you the

burden of listening to his nonsense.

Im sure that teacher turned him down, I com-mented.

Of course he did. I dont think anyone with a

minimum of intelligence and a normal character would

ever agree to be identified with such a sick idea. It is true

that some Indians are color conscious and show a pref-

erence for light complexion, but you rarely find anyone

who takes these ideas to such an extreme as Atul has

done, said Meena . For a moment, I felt both ashamed

and anxious. I simply nodded my head in approval.

Well! Thank you for the warning. In case he ever tries

to shift the focus of his independent study toward socalled whitening, Ill be ready for him. However, as you

mentioned, whitening has nothing to do with economic

development, I said, trying to hide my anxiety.

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Chapter Six

Registration

After my conversation with Meena, I became

worried. It would have been a big embarrassment if

Atul were to mention my name to anyone in asso-

ciation with his racial ideas. However, I was too

depressed about my publication failures and too busy

preparing for my fall semester classes to take this issue

seriously. The registration week for Fall 1998 finally

arrived. Everyone was on the move. I had six or seven

customers (students) on Monday. Some wanted my per-

mission to add one of the courses that I was offering,

while others wanted to drop one.

Atul came to my office on Tuesday. As usual he

was all excited and full of energy. Either intentionally

or accidentally, he arrived at 4:45 pm, when I did not

expect any other students in my office. He was

anxious to talk about the project and his summer-long

literature search. I, on the other hand, wanted to talk

about registration and the need for secrecy. Ever sincemy conversation with Meena, I had been asking myself

if I should cancel the whole thing to avoid the embar-

rassment of exposure. I had finally decided to go ahead


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with it because of its potential benefit to myself and

because it would have been unfair to Atul if I had

changed my mind at this stage. After all, he had spent

several weeks on a literature search already. So I

decided to go ahead with it and make sure the cover-up

topic that we were going to submit to the department

appeared sound and acceptable. That way, if something

went wrong, I could always claim that I was only

leading Atuls independent study program on the

formal (cover-up) topic.

As soon as Atul started talking about whitening, I

stopped him: Before we discuss your literature search,

I want to talk about your course registration and the

topic that we want to submit to the department. I

could see in his face that my remark and my serious

expression caught him by surprise. Perhaps he expected

me to show more enthusiasm.

Yes. Of course we better talk about registration

first, he responded with a serious look of his own and

continued: As I recall, we talked about it in May, and

you suggested a topic about the socioeconomic statusof immigrants in the U.S. I have prepared an IS

proposal on this topic. Atul opened his backpack and

pulled out several large envelopes. He opened one of

them and handed me a three-page draft.

I also got the IS registration form from the de-

partment office this afternoon. He handed me the

registration form, already neatly filled out.

Oh. Thats wonderful. Looks like you have been

busy today. I was both surprised and pleased that Atul

had already prepared the material for his registration. I

took a few moments to look at the independent studyrequest form. As I began to sign it, I looked at him and

said: But remember, this means extra work. You must

write three reports on this topic. Do you think you will

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have enough time to work on this and the whitening

stuff and your other classes?

Dont worry Dr. H. A good friend of mine who is

studying political science at the University of Michigan

did a independent study on this topic last year. He sent

me all the background literature and his own essays.

The proposal that I gave you is actually his proposal. I

just made some minor modifications. Atul finished

this sentence with a confident smile. I realized that he

was more clever than I had assumed. I responded with

a mild smile as I nodded my head and looked at him.

We both understood what we were about to do.

I can see that you are exercising some ethical flexi-

bility here, I said.

But its not like Im cheating and trying to get un-

deserved credit. I will continue to work hard on the

whitening project and I think the credit that I earn will

be justified. As we both agreed this is just a cover up.

The only unethical thing that I can see is that we are re-

porting a false title for my IS.

Oh, I agree and Ill see to it that you work veryhard and learn a good deal from this IS course. I just

hope that nothing goes wrong. If this whole thing is

exposed, we will both be in trouble.

I dont see what could go wrong. I did not mention

anything to my friend at U of M. He thinks I wanted

his papers because of my personal interest. In any case,

I also looked at his two essays. They look very good.

One of them is a detailed literature summary and the

other one is mostly a demographic study of the flow of

immigrants as well as their earnings and occupational

status compared to mainstream Americans. I cansubmit the literature summary without any change or

perhaps by adding a few references to the latest publi-

cations that it does not cover. The second paper is also

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Sorry for the interruption. Elizabeth is my TA. Do

you know her by any chance? I asked.

Yes. We were in Professor Martins

Macroeconomics class. She is very attractive, isnt she?

I wish Indian girls were as beautiful.

Well! As they say, beauty is in the eyes of the

beholder. I happen to think that some Indian actresses

are very attractive, but you probably disagree. I just

hope that you dont make such comments in the

company of Indian girls. Experience has taught me

not to become too personal with students and never to

comment about a female student in front of another

student. (Elizabeth was indeed a very attractive girl

with blond hair and blue eyes - Atuls favorite type.)

Atul was not prepared for my cold and critical re-

sponse.

Sorry. I did not mean to ask I agree with your

view about the Indian actresses. But, if you look

carefully, you realize that all of these beautiful ac-

tresses have lighter skin complexion than an average

Indian, said Atul. There was silence for a fewmoments and then he continued: Of course I never

make such comparisons in the company of Indian

girls.

Atul, I know we have talked about this before. But

I sincerely hope that you have not talked about your

ideas regarding racial improvement and whitening to

anyone. Am I right?

I could see that Atul was becoming a bit nervous

and was trying to compose a response. Perhaps he was

wondering why I was so concerned about secrecy.

Of course not. I have always kept these thoughtsprivate. Why would I want to share these ideas with

others when I know how they might respond?

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Since I already knew that he was lying, based on my

conversation with Meena, the only value of this con-

versation was to give me a better understanding of

Atuls behavior when he was lying. Most people show

a nervous reaction when trying to conceal the truth, but

he looked very calm and convincing. I figured this

knowledge would come in handy in my future inter-

actions with him. Atul continued:

You know I was at an all-Indian party several

months ago. It was a large crowd of undergraduate

students and there was an Indian guy named Rajeev,

who was an out-of-town guest. Hed had a few beers

and made a comment about white girls being more at-

tractive than Indian girls. You wont believe how angry

some guests became. One guy who noticed how upset

his girlfriend was after hearing this comment got into a

heated argument with Rajeev. Other guests supported

him, and Rajeev was so embarrassed that he left the

party immediately. So, I know how unpopular these

ideas are, at least on the surface. You dont have to

worry about it. I never talk about these topics toanyone.

Had Meena not mentioned Atuls embarrassing be-

havior at that party, I probably would have believed

him. We talked a few more minutes, and I gave him

back the registration form and told him to go ahead

with registering for the course.

The department approved the cover-up topic for

Atuls IS without any question. The department ex-

aminer was to be selected in November. Fall term

classes began. Yale came to life again.

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for my literature search, and one of them was to search

for evidence that others have also paid attention to

whitening. You also mentioned that this was the most

important topic that I should search the literature for.

Well! I searched for it and I found a lot of evidence,

said Atul with confidence.

Atul was referring to the letter that I sent him in

June in response to his Appeal to Non-European

People. I did ask him to search for historical evidence

of support for whitening. But I didnt really expect him

to find anything. Im glad your search has been

fruitful. I hope you have written down the full ref-

erences to the sources that you have read.

Yes, I have. This is only a small portion of my

notes and photocopies, said Atul as he pointed to the

large stack of papers that he had brought along.

Indeed, I have a separate folder for each of the five

questions and some of these folders are very thick.

So looks like you have done a lot of work. Why

dont we discuss each question separately?

Fine, which one would you like me to discussfirst? Since he had already aroused my curiosity about

evidence of historical support for whitening, I sug-

gested we start with that one.

As you had recommended, I began my search by

concentrating on eugenics. I looked especially for indi-

cations of eugenic interest in developing countries.

Apparently, during the first half of the 20th century,

when eugenics reached its peak of popularity in

Western Europe and North America, it also

Atul's Quest

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Transcript of Atul's Quest