“Happy Is He Who Does Good To Others; Miserable Is He Who Expects Good From Others.”

Dark Academia for Brown People

 Most people, when they think of dark academia is books (that’s the whole point) and ancient languages such as Latin or Ancient Greek. I’m here to tell you that you all are SLEEPING on brown culture. Love that is conveyed in the languages of Persian and Urdu (my native language) crosses borders. Sure, Shakespeare and Sappho wrote great pieces of literature but the stories and poems of Rumi, Manto, Hafez and Iqbal have a special place in my heart. 

Some of my favourites are:- (all are translated)

Sit at my grave with wine and a minstrel in a trance, so your smell will raise me from the dead.

HAFEZ

My lover’s sadness lit a fire in my heart that burned my chest, there was a fire in his house that burned the nest.

HAFEZ

O the day turned night, what a shame, a gazelle of kindness a lion became, my partner and lover grew tired of my words and prayers too.

RUMI

These are my personal favourites. I can always make a longer post if you all want.

Female poets deserve a whole other post.

As someone who goes to an English-Medium school, we are always taught to converse in English, see the language as a part of yourself but deny a place to Urdu. As I grow older, I have come to appreciate my identity and so should all my fellow brown people. Take pride in your mother tongue.

Hello!! I’ve been trying to find Pakistani/Pashtun owned dark academia accounts because there are really not much of them and most aren’t given much attention :( im honestly so glad I found yours, I adore it so much 🥺🥰 (I’m Pashtun myself hehe)

Hii! I am pleased you like it and I agree with you. I thought not many people will understand it but I started it anyway because i think the dark academia aesthetic can go really well with our culture. I am so glad you reached out. 🥰🤗

Dark Academia: STEM Edition

(because everyone talks about the literature lovers but not the science lovers)

Staring through a microscope far longer than you should just because you love being able to see what few others have seen

The idea of pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, of making an impact

Studying ocean currents and still feeling amazed when you see them churning the sea’s surface

Messy writing

Going through online libraries and only reading the abstracts of research papers

Thousand page anatomy textbooks

Latin words you don’t quite know the meaning of

That feeling when memorizating facts finally turns into understanding concepts

Knowledge of biological functions even though you’re not quite sure when you learned it

Kabul in 1968.

Normalize science academia

Okay, we get that dark and light academia are mostly associated with social and language studies. But what about the people who study physics and chemistry and math and who have adopted the light/dark academia aesthetic? Give me the physics scribbling notes on the 123nd notebook of the month and gazing at discs turning, springs springing and pendulums moving incessantly. Give me the aspiring chemists being careful and frantic at the same time while they measure all kinds of substances and turn the pages of books, with dirty glasses slightly broken to the side. Give me the mathematicians who are writing quickly like there is no tomorrow on the chalkboard and when there is no more space they continue on walls and notebooks. Give me all those scientists who, once at home throw their robes in the washing machine and sit down with coffee and a book and turn their radio to the classic station. Maybe the book is a classic or a piece of poetry, maybe it is related to their subjects, but they make notes on the spaces of the page. They may not be able to analyze it like an English major but they are devoted to their purposes and absolutely love their occupation.

I adore the traditional afghan dresses. Beautifully captured.

Illuminated pages from a manuscript of Hafez, Zand Period style, 1790.

Two Pashtun men greeting

Location: Kado, Nortwest Frontier. Pakistan

Photographer: Michael Freeman

Muslim Dark Academia

- always wearing a dark coloured hijab

- long tweed coats, untucked blouses, loose plaid/suit pants

- trying to memorize as much of the Qur’an as possible

- studying the Golden Age of Islam

- learning about Abbas Ibn Firnas, Al-Jabr, and all the others who made breakthroughs that are now attributed to Western scholars

- studying your favourite verses of the Qur’an

- dreaming of visiting the different mosques around the world

- owning more copies of the Qur’an and it’s translation than you can count

- staying up late to study and praying qiyam in your study breaks

- listening to different tafsirs and lectures and taking your own notes on them

- dreaming of someday being able to visit Makkah and Madinah

- the scent of itr leaving a trail behind you to announce your presence

- memorizing great Muslim poetry and trying to write your own

- listening to Qur’an while you study and getting so wrapped up in the recitation you forget that you’re supposed to be studying

- debating the pros and cons of different reciters

- trying to learn as many dialects of Qur’anic arabic as you can

- falling asleep to your favourite recitation of Surah Mulk

with a lack of focus on poc in dark academia, i figured i’d provide some content with what i know best

Let’s admit it, we were all dark academic hoes the moment we

- started fantasising abt going on museum dates with a crush

- wanted to live in cities with mysterious vibes

- watched the rain outside the car and started reminiscing

- would buy bundles of books and literally ignore people for a few days

- wanted to learn classic instruments for the aesthetic

- had favourite clothes that made you sweat like hell in the summer