Somali phenotype. Where in the world are somalis most likely to pass as locals?

In which of the following countries can a somali pass as local native without being spotted?

  • Sudan

    Votes: 27 34.2%
  • Eritrea

    Votes: 32 40.5%
  • Northern Ethiopia

    Votes: 12 15.2%
  • Tanzania

    Votes: 3 3.8%
  • Kenya

    Votes: 3 3.8%
  • Yemen

    Votes: 2 2.5%

  • Total voters
    79
As someone who grew up in the Arab world and was born on the Arabian Peninsula, I must disagree. We stick out among most ethnic groups outside of some Afro-Arabs. However we do pass as "Arabs" in the sense that most Arabs will assume you are Sudani or even Somali where they think we Somalis are Arabized like many Sudanis, given the league membership. Most Arabs here in the UAE approach me speaking Arabic without a second thought but wouldn't do that to an cadaan, desi or southeast asian.
Arabs think everyone is Arab, as in culturally
 

Som

VIP
There is no way Somalis can pass in group form in either the Caribbean or South Africa. They will get noticed. Only as individuals can Somalis pass there, not in a group.

People underestimate the ability of people to notice who is a local and who is foreign. I know a Filipino who lived in Japan and you'd think he could pass there, but he told me that local Japanese people often or near always assumed he was a foreigner.
Nah. Carribeans have many different looks. The typical somali could pass as an atypical carribean with white ancestry. Southafrica it depends, southafricans are bantu but tend to be lighter skinned probably because of khoisan admixture. I think some somalis would probably fit as very atypical southafricans or even coloured (african+southasian+khoisan).
Japan is so much monoethnical that even the slightest difference is noticable, however black people in the americas can range from very mixed Caucasian looking to full african looking
 
For those of you who haven't interacted with Ethiopia/ Eritrean communities, take a look of this video about Eritrean Americans. You can clearly see that the average Eritrean has narrow features and more cutishic looking than the average oromo or amhara. A quarter of Eritrean habeshas can easily pass for Somali and majority of them don't look much different than Somalis probably because they don't have omotic/Nilotic admixture.

big fax,me and my eri m8 were chilling at a Turkish restaurant when a somali employee came and automatically spoke somali to us.Im like adeer,im somali but this kid aint,wuu yaabay.The kid doesn't automatically look somali,but if he told u he was u wouldn't argue with him.
 

Sophisticate

~Gallantly Gadabuursi~
Staff Member
Nah. Carribeans have many different looks. The typical somali could pass as an atypical carribean with white ancestry. Southafrica it depends, southafricans are bantu but tend to be lighter skinned probably because of khoisan admixture. I think some somalis would probably fit as very atypical southafricans or even coloured (african+southasian+khoisan).
Japan is so much monoethnical that even the slightest difference is noticable, however black people in the americas can range from very mixed Caucasian looking to full african looking
Somalis are easily identified as foreigners and attacked in South Africa. As for the Caribbean. No. Most of them are not very admixed and those groups constitute a minority that stand out where they live. You're sort of reaching.
 

Som

VIP
Somalis are easily identified as foreigners and attacked in South Africa. As for the Caribbean. No. Most of them are not very admixed and those groups constitute a minority that stand out where they live. You're sort of reaching.
By carribean include cuba, Dominican republic etc. Carribean isn't just Jamaica or Bahamas
 

Som

VIP
Somalis are easily identified as foreigners and attacked in South Africa. As for the Caribbean. No. Most of them are not very admixed and those groups constitute a minority that stand out where they live. You're sort of reaching.
I'm not saying all somalis would pass as locals in the carribean, some could but not the majority though
 

Sophisticate

~Gallantly Gadabuursi~
Staff Member
By carribean include cuba, Dominican republic etc. Carribean isn't just Jamaica or Bahamas
I realize that but most Caribbean nations are not Spanish speaking nor as admixed as the aforementioned ones. Cuba and DR have a large continuum of looks. Personally, I don't think we look like them. I've also met many. However, there are occasional outliers. This exercise is about whether someone would be able to blend in without immediate detection. Its still a hard sell.
 

Som

VIP
For those of you who haven't interacted with Ethiopia/ Eritrean communities, take a look of this video about Eritrean Americans. You can clearly see that the average Eritrean has narrow features and more cutishic looking than the average oromo or amhara. A quarter of Eritrean habeshas can easily pass for Somali and majority of them don't look much different than Somalis probably because they don't have omotic/Nilotic admixture.

Honestly I'm not so sure, Eritreans tend to be lighter on average. They look more semitic than amharas.
Genetically somali are the most cushitic followed by oromos and amharas who have significant cushitc ancestry through mixing with oromos. While genetics doesn't always translate to phenotype I think that amharas are a bit more somali looking than eritrean habeshas
 
My Arab friends back in high school used to think I was Arab prior to getting to know me. They thought I was Sudanese or Yemeni. I’ve also been mistaken for Habesha.

I’d say that Somalis could pass as locals in Ethiopia. There are many different ethnic groups there, including Somalis. Other countries - Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Chad.
 

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