tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/untouchables-17836/articlesUntouchables – The Conversation2024-02-08T16:28:07Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2223402024-02-08T16:28:07Z2024-02-08T16:28:07ZOrigin: this outstanding portrayal of India’s caste system is hugely important to Dalit people like me<p>Origin, the latest film from acclaimed director <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ava-duvernay">Ava DuVernay</a> (Selma, When They See Us), depicts marginalisation as a thread that connects race, class, caste and gender. It is inspired by Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 book, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/321303/caste-by-wilkerson-isabel/9780141995465">Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents</a>.</p>
<p>In the film, Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) sets out on a global journey to explore the concept of “caste” as she writes her book and grapples with personal loss. She visits three countries as part of her research.</p>
<p>First, she explores the elements that give rise to discrimination in her home country, America. Next she goes to Germany, where she connects the racial segregation of people during the Nazi era to America. Finally, she travels to India, where she connects the plight of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dalit">Dalit people</a> in a caste-based, divided society to that of black people in America and Jewish people in Germany. What she creates is a book that fundamentally exposes the insidious and global nature of caste systems. </p>
<p>Caste is a system of classifying society in a hierarchical order in which some people are kept inferior and others superior. In India, Dalit people have been placed at the lowest rung on this social ladder, in America, black people and in Germany, Jewish people.</p>
<p>It’s the way DuVernay weaves these stories together that makes the film so outstanding. In doing so, she highlights how inhuman, unethical and unjust discriminatory practices happen irrespective of geographical location, local cultures and social norms.</p>
<h2>Dalit stories in Hollywood</h2>
<p>I come from a Dalit background and I research Dalit representation in film. So I know first hand Origin’s importance to people like me. </p>
<p>In the film, Wilkerson visits the Dr Ambedkar National Memorial in Delhi to learn about the lawyer and social activist’s life and work. This is the first time that <a href="https://main.sci.gov.in/AMB/">Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s</a> fight for the rights of India’s Dalits and other deprived classes has been portrayed in a Hollywood film. Origin traces the journey of Ambedkar (played by Gaurav J. Pathania) from his childhood to writing the Indian constitution. </p>
<p>Ambedkar, revered as <em>Babasaheb</em> (Respected Father), was born in India in 1891. At that time, people were treated differently depending on their heritage. Imagine a big ladder, with some people at the top getting all the entitlements, and others stuck at the bottom, never getting a chance to climb up. Ambedkar was a Dalit born at the very bottom of this ladder, in a group called the “<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/indias-untouchables-face-violence-discrimination">untouchables</a>”. </p>
<p>Despite facing many obstacles in school – such as having to study sitting on a mat outside the classroom and eat his food separately – Ambedkar was determined to pursue education. He was intelligent and studied hard, eventually going to college in the <a href="https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/content/mumbai-bhimrao-ramji-ambedkar">US</a> and <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/south-asia-centre/Collaborations/ambedkar-research-scholars#:%7E:text=Dr%20B%20R%20Ambedkar%20is%20one,Son%2C%20Ltd%2C%201923">England</a>. </p>
<p>He became an expert on laws and rights, and when India gained independence, he was chosen to write the <a href="https://main.sci.gov.in/AMB/Speech.php">constitution</a>. Ambedkar made sure that it included rules for treating everyone fairly and equally, no matter where they stood in the social hierarchy.</p>
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<h2>Origin and caste</h2>
<p>Using extreme close-ups, DuVernay shows Wilkerson’s inner turmoil as she learns more about India’s caste system. At times, the film has an almost documentary style, which gives it a feel of authenticity as Wilkerson interviews people, discussing and debating the issue of caste while highlighting the complexity of the subject. </p>
<p>Origin doesn’t shy away from topics like untouchability. For thousands of years, Daalit people have been excluded from all forms of amenities and educational opportunities, and denied the right to read and write.</p>
<p>In one scene, the film depicts the practice of manual scavenging, the work many Dalit people undertake to make a living. In the past five years, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/339-died-cleaning-sewers-septic-tanks-last-5-years-centre-8859409/">339 people</a> have lost their lives doing this kind of work, cleaning sewers and septic tanks. </p>
<p>The scavenging is shown with brutal honesty and empathy, avoiding unnecessary sensationalism or dramatisation. It compels viewers to confront the shocking reality that this inhumane practice persists in our supposedly modern world. The character of Wilkerson acts as a powerful catalyst, opening the eyes of audiences around the world to this hidden and often unbelievable cruelty. </p>
<p>Another incident shows a father in the US who, in a bid to escape the trauma and humiliation of the caste system, named his firstborn daughter “Miss”. He sees this as a loophole in the social system, hoping that by giving her this title, he can indirectly grant her the respect denied to their ancestors. </p>
<p>This echoes other stories from the real world. In India, names indicate a person’s position in the social hierarchy. Generally, Dalit names are derogatory. In a <a href="https://fiftytwo.in/story/knife-in-the-back/">tragic incident</a> in 2022, a father in Rajasthan named his daughter “Baisa” (which means “Miss” and is used to convey respect, power and authority to the daughter of the upper-caste Rajput community), a choice that upper-caste people strongly disapproved of. As a result, he was beaten to death.</p>
<p>Despite the darkness of its subject matter, Origin doesn’t only expose the problem of marginalisation, it also offers a glimpse of hope and possibility. By showcasing acts of resistance, resilience and solidarity, the film encourages viewers to become active participants in dismantling systems of oppression and building a more equitable, caste-free future – one based on equality, fraternity and liberty.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neeraj Bunkar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>I come from a Dalit background and I research Dalit representation in film. So I know first hand Origin’s importance to Dalit people.Neeraj Bunkar, PhD Candidate, English, Linguistics and Philosophy, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1395502020-06-02T12:14:28Z2020-06-02T12:14:28ZIndia’s coronavirus pandemic shines a light on the curse of caste<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338891/original/file-20200601-95065-bh5mpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C7%2C4824%2C3030&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrant workers leaving New Delhi to go back to their villages amid the coronavirus lockdown</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-India/641feef1e52e400ea28bebee4004fa49/55/0">AP Photo/Manish Swarup</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long before the outbreak of COVID-19, a more pernicious form of <a href="https://feminisminindia.com/2020/04/30/covid-19-casteist-pandemic/">social distancing was widespread</a> across India: the Hindu caste system. In one form or another, this system – which has existed in the region for over a millennium – has long ensured social segregation <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/caste-society-and-politics-in-india-from-the-eighteenth-century-to-the-modern-age/097D56E007498073B691A17EC3441FEB">based on one’s place</a> in the hierarchy.</p>
<p>Outside of the four main groups that make up the caste system – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras – stand the Dalits, the so-called “untouchables” that number <a href="https://idsn.org/india-official-dalit-population-exceeds-200-million/">some 200 million</a>. Members of that group, shunned for centuries as the lowest in society, are now at the forefront of the coronavirus pandemic – seemingly more at risk of infection due to their social status, and increasingly discriminated against for the perceived threat of contagion they pose.</p>
<h2>Downtrodden and discriminated against</h2>
<p>India’s caste system can be <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/globalcaste/caste0801-03.htm">traced back over 2,000 years</a>, but under British colonial rule, the system was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928654?seq=1">reinforced and the categories became more rigid</a>.</p>
<p>After India gained its independence from Britain, in 1947, its <a href="https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/constitution-india/constitution-india-full-text">new constitution</a> formally banned the practice of untouchability based on caste. But 70 years on, the system still permeates everyday life. It is especially evident in the realm of marriage. Hardly a day passes in India without a news report highlighting <a href="https://womensenews.org/2011/10/inter-caste-marriage-tears-indian-family-apart/">troubles associated with an inter-caste marriage</a>.</p>
<p>Given the tenacity and pervasiveness of the caste system, it is hardly surprising that some of the worst sufferers of the COVID-19 pandemic are India’s “untouchables,” the Dalits. As a group they remain among the most downtrodden in India, with a disproportionate number of Dalits <a href="https://www.kalpazpublications.com/index.php?p=sr&Uc=9788178350332&l=0">confined to mostly menial and low-paying jobs</a> like construction work, or as janitors or tanners. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">scholar of contemporary Indian politics</a> who has written extensively about ethnic and sectarian conflict in the country, I have taken a keen interest in how the pandemic has hit India along caste lines.</p>
<p>Dalits have proved to be <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/india/india-coronavirus-social-distancing-intl-hnk/index.html">especially vulnerable to the disease</a> for a range of reasons, chief among them poverty. The vast majority of Dalits are poor despite a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46806089">vast affirmative action</a> program that India put in place <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/26336">shortly after independence</a>. </p>
<p>Consequently, even under the best of circumstances they have <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2018/06/indias-dalit-women-lack-access-to-healthcare-and-die-young/">limited access to health care</a> and any <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/city/the-marginalised-deprived-adequate-benefits-1384165">other form of social protection</a>. During the pandemic their plight has only worsened.</p>
<p>Dalits are in large part casual laborers, often working in disparate parts of India far away from their homes. As a result, many found themselves <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/dalitality-the-caste-factor-in-social-distancing-coronavirus-6347623">stranded away from their families</a> when Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 23 – giving <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52081396">only four hours’ warning</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Migrant workers arriving from Mumbai waiting to board a local passenger train to Danapur station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-arrived-from-mumbai-walk-to-board-a-local-news-photo/1216637234?adppopup=true">Photo by Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The Indian press has carried <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/dalitality-the-caste-factor-in-social-distancing-coronavirus-6347623/">heartbreaking accounts</a> of their struggles to return home. One photo, of a <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-just-wanted-to-see-his-dying-son-story-behind-photograph-of-crying-man-that-shook-india/352899">migrant worker crying by the roadside</a> in Delhi as he tries to visit his dying son during the lockdown, has become a lasting image of the crisis.</p>
<p>Being a migrant worker in India, regardless of caste background, is a tough existence. Working <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/the-pandemic-exposes-indias-two-worlds/609838/">conditions are harsh</a>, the work often hazardous and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/6/indias-untouchables-face-violence-discrimination/">pay mostly a pittance</a>. Most migrants live in slum-like conditions, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/02/12/hidden-apartheid/caste-discrimination-against-indias-untouchables">at the mercy of callous landlords</a>. Even so, many send a large proportion of their earnings home to their families.</p>
<p>As a result, migrant workers rarely, if ever, have any meaningful savings that could enable them to tide over unexpected financial woes like the total economic shutdown of the coronavirus pandemic. This has meant scarce resources to pay for <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/31/822642382/coronavirus-lockdown-sends-migrant-workers-on-a-long-and-risky-trip-home">transportation home</a>. Even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/coronavirus-destitute-migrant-workers-india-forced-pay-train-fares-home">money to recharge phones is hard to come by</a>, cutting off communication between migrant workers and loved ones during the crisis.</p>
<h2>Shunned by community</h2>
<p>Dalit migrant workers face an additional burden during the pandemic: social ostracism by higher caste members, even those in the same occupation as themselves. </p>
<p>The shunning of Dalits has not abated during this crisis. If anything, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/15/asia/india-coronavirus-lower-castes-hnk-intl/index.html">it has worsened</a>, with some high-ranking members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party openly blaming the Dalits for spreading the coronavirus. </p>
<p>On May 25, the chief minister of populous Uttar Pradesh state, Yogi Adityanath, who is also a Hindu priest, suggested that migrant workers returning to his state were carriers of COVID-19, adding that the bulk of them were Dalits.</p>
<p>Opposition leaders were swift to condemn Adityanath’s remarks, but Modi and his national government have maintained a <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/yogi-adityanaths-remark-on-covid-19-infected-migrants-anti-dalit-congress-2235393">deafening silence</a> on the subject.</p>
<p>As a result of such rhetoric, Dalit migrants trekking home – often on foot – can expect <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-migrant-workers-and-their-long-march-to-uncertainty/article31251952.ece">little by way of comfort or assistance</a> from others because of their caste status and fears that they may be infected with the coronavirus.</p>
<p>I fear that in the immediate future, Dalits can expect little relief. To date they have received only <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1927520/narendra-modi-and-the-tragedy-of-indias-poor">minimal assistance from the government</a>.</p>
<p>Five years ago, when Modi first swept into power, many Dalits believed his promises to uplift the country’s poor and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36921348">duly voted for him</a>. However, after the divisive leadership of his first term in office and their experience in the lockdown, many Dalits are now <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-india-elections-caste-dalits-20190517-story.html">disillusioned with him and his Bharatiya Janata Party</a>.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic has underscored that India’s caste system is still very much in existence. In the eyes of many Indians, Dalits remain “untouchable” in a way that extends beyond current hygiene practices.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Department of State and the Smith Richardson Foundation.
</span></em></p>Dalits have long been ostracized as the ‘untouchables’ in Indian society. Discrimination and the impact of the coronavirus have only reinforced their status.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/891182018-01-26T11:20:52Z2018-01-26T11:20:52ZDoes America have a caste system?<p>In the United States, <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2017/06/16/report-finds-significant-racial-ethnic-disparities/">inequality</a> tends to be framed as an issue of either class, race or both. Consider, for example, criticism that <a href="https://theconversation.com/two-little-known-ways-gop-tax-bill-would-make-chasm-between-rich-and-poor-even-wider-88515">Republicans’ new tax plan</a> is a weapon of “<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/04/26/tax-cuts-are-gop-weapon-choice-class-warfare/d3jjYHuaOLsdpRRM0Tt8GL/story.html">class warfare</a>,” or accusations that the recent <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-bardella-government-shutdown_us_5a62d025e4b0e563006fd287">U.S. government shutdown was racist</a>. </p>
<p>As an India-born <a href="http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9757-9780824867218.aspx">novelist</a> and <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/36728">scholar</a> who teaches in the United States, I have come to see America’s stratified society through a different lens: <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520952348">caste</a>.</p>
<p>Many Americans would be appalled to think that anything like caste could exist in a country allegedly founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. After all, India’s atrocious caste system determines social status by birth, compels marriage within a community and restricts job opportunity.</p>
<p>But is the U.S. really so different?</p>
<h2>What is caste?</h2>
<p>I first realized that caste could shed a new light on American inequality in 2016, when I was scholar-in-residence at the <a href="https://www.uhd.edu/academics/humanities/news-community/center-critical-race-studies/Pages/ccrs-index.aspx">Center for Critical Race Studies at the University of Houston-Downtown</a>. </p>
<p>There, I found that my public presentations on caste resonated deeply with students, who were largely working-class, black and Latino. I believe that’s because two key characteristics differentiate caste from race and class. </p>
<p>First, caste cannot be transcended. Unlike class, people of the “low” <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mahar">Mahar caste</a> cannot educate or earn their way out of being Mahar. No matter how elite their college or how lucrative their careers, those born into a low caste remain stigmatized for life. </p>
<p>Caste is also always hierarchical: As long as it exists, so does the division of people into “high” and “low.” That distinguishes it from race, in that people in a caste system cannot dream of equality. </p>
<p>It’s significant that the great mid-20th-century Indian reformer <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Writings-B-R-Ambedkar/dp/0195670558/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516759629&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=essential+works+ambedkar">B. R. Ambedkar</a> called not for learning to “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuvEijvTXuw">live together as brothers and sisters</a>,” as Martin Luther King Jr. did, but for the very “annihilation of caste.”</p>
<p>Caste, in other words, is societal difference made timeless, inevitable and cureless. Caste says to its subjects, “You all are different and unequal and fated to remain so.” </p>
<p>Neither race nor class nor race and class combined can so efficiently encapsulate the kind of of social hierarchy, prejudice and inequality that marginalized Americans experience. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203289/original/file-20180124-107974-96ste.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203289/original/file-20180124-107974-96ste.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203289/original/file-20180124-107974-96ste.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203289/original/file-20180124-107974-96ste.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203289/original/file-20180124-107974-96ste.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203289/original/file-20180124-107974-96ste.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203289/original/file-20180124-107974-96ste.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Babasaheb Ambedkar fought for the ‘annihilation of caste’ believing that social equality could never exist within a caste system.</span>
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<h2>Is America casteist?</h2>
<p>In Houston, that sense of profound exclusion emerged in most post-presentation discussions about caste. </p>
<p>As children, the students there noted, they had grown up in segregated urban neighborhoods – <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-federal-government-intentionally-racially-segregated-american-cities-180963494/">geographic exclusion that, I would add, was federal policy for most of the 20th century</a>. Many took on <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/10/why-debt-balloons-after-graduation-for-black-students/505058/">unpayable student loan debt</a> for college, then <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/poor-students-drop-even-financial-aid-covers-cost">struggled to stay in school</a> while juggling work and family pressures, often without a support system.</p>
<p>Several students also contrasted their cramped downtown campus – with its parking problems, limited dining options and lack of after-hours cultural life – with the university’s swankier main digs. Others would point out the jail across from the University of Houston-Downtown with bleak humor, invoking the <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2013/0331/School-suspensions-Does-racial-bias-feed-the-school-to-prison-pipeline">school-to-prison pipeline</a>.</p>
<p>Both the faculty and the students knew the power of social networks that are essential to professional success. Yet even with a college degree, evidence shows, Americans who grow up poor <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2016/02/19/a-college-degree-is-worth-less-if-you-are-raised-poor/">are almost guaranteed to earn less</a>.</p>
<p>For many who’ve heard me speak – not just in Houston but also across the country at book readings for my 2017 novel, “<a href="http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9757-9780824867218.aspx">Ghost in the Tamarind</a>” – the restrictions imposed by India’s caste system recall the massive resistance they’ve experienced in trying to get ahead.</p>
<p>They have relayed to me, with compelling emotional force, their conviction that America is casteist. </p>
<h2>Caste in the US and India</h2>
<p>This notion is not unprecedented. </p>
<p>In the mid-20th century, the American anthropologist Gerald Berreman returned home from fieldwork in India as the civil rights movement was getting underway. His 1960 essay, “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2773155?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Caste in India and the United States</a>,” concluded that towns in the Jim Crow South bore enough similarity to the North Indian villages he had studied to consider that they had a caste society. </p>
<p>Granted, 2018 is not 1960, and the contemporary United States is not the segregated South. And to be fair, caste in India isn’t what it used to be, either. Since 1950, when the Constitution of newly independent India made caste discrimination illegal, some of the system’s most monstrous ritual elements have weakened. </p>
<p>The stigma of <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-18394914">untouchability</a> – the idea that physical contact with someone of lower caste can be polluting – for example, is fading. Today, those deemed “low caste” can sometimes achieve significant power. Indian President Ram Nath Kovind is a Dalit, a group formerly known as “untouchable.” </p>
<p>Still, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/36728">caste in India remains a powerful form of social organization</a>. It segments Indian society into marital, familial, social, political and economic networks that are enormously consequential for success. And for a variety of practical and emotional reasons, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3379882/">these networks have proven surprisingly resistant to change</a>. </p>
<h2>Casteist ideologies in America</h2>
<p>At bottom, caste’s most defining feature is its ability to render inevitable a rigid and pervasive hierarchical system of inclusion and exclusion. </p>
<p>What working-class Americans and people of color have viscerally recognized, in my experience, is that casteist ideologies – theories that produce a social hierarchy and then freeze it for time immemorial – also permeate their world. </p>
<p>Take, for example, the controversial 1994 <a href="https://www.intelltheory.com/bellcurve.shtml">“The Bell Curve”</a> thesis, which held that African-Americans and poor people have a lower IQ, thus linking American inequality to genetic difference.</p>
<p>More recently, the white nationalist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2017/nov/06/gary-younge-interviews-richard-spencer-africans-have-benefited-from-white-supremacy">Richard Spencer</a> has <a href="https://altright.com/2017/07/04/the-metapolitics-of-america/">articulated</a> a vision of white identity marked, caste-like, by timelessness and hierarchy.</p>
<p>“‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created unequal,’” he wrote in a July 2017 essay for an alt-right website. “In the wake of the old world, this will be our proposition.”</p>
<p>Add to these ideological currents the evidence on <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-stubborn-race-and-class-gaps-in-college-quality/">the race gap in higher education</a>, <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/0001/01/01/pursuing-the-american-dream">stagnant upward mobility</a> and <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2017/06/16/report-finds-significant-racial-ethnic-disparities/">rising inequality</a>, and the truth is damning. Five decades after the civil rights movement, American society remains hierarchical, exclusionary and stubbornly resistant to change.</p>
<p>Caste gives Americans a way to articulate their sense of persistent marginalization. And by virtue of being apparently foreign – it comes from India, after all – it usefully complicates the dominant <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/06/in-search-of-the-american-dream/305921/">American Dream</a> narrative. </p>
<p>The U.S. has a class problem. It has a race problem. And it may just have a caste problem, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Subramanian Shankar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An Indian scholar makes the case that caste explains inequality in America better than race and class.Subramanian Shankar, Professor of English (Postoclonial Literature and Creative Writing), University of HawaiiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/536532016-01-28T11:12:56Z2016-01-28T11:12:56ZSuicide of Dalit student sparks rage over caste discrimination in Indian universities<p>The <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/dalit-student-suicide-full-text-of-suicide-letter-hyderabad/">suicide</a> of a Dalit PhD student at Hyderabad Central University in mid January has shone a nasty spotlight on the social and economic exclusion still produced by India’s caste system. </p>
<p>Rohith Vemula killed himself after being expelled from the university following <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/respond-to-vip-complaint-smriti-iranis-ministry-told-hyderabad-university-1267496">a complaint</a> made by one of the leaders of India’s ruling Bharatiya Jananta Party (BJP). Along with four other Dalit students, Vemula was protesting against the capital sentence given to a suspected terrorist, which angered the BJP. </p>
<p>The Ambedkar Student Association he belonged to got into an altercation with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad student wing of the BJP. Vemula and the other four students were suspended by university authorities in August 2015. </p>
<p>Vemula and his friends continued their protest, but their fellowships were discontinued and they were subjected to social ostracism. </p>
<p>His suicide <a href="http://www.dailyo.in/politics/rohith-vemula-dalit-hyderabad-university-smriti-irani-bandaru-dattatreya-appa-rao/story/1/8664.html">sparked protests</a> from student unions against the treatment of Dalit students at Indian universities. The galvanising force has been a statement in Vemula’s suicide note – “My birth is my fatal accident” – drawing attention to the status of many other rural Dalit students. </p>
<p>The university administration has changed its stance since Vemula’s death and has <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/university-of-hyderabad-revokes-suspension-of-4-dalit-students/story-0taTxESbykwtk9c1uOplZO.html">admitted</a> the four other students back into the university. </p>
<h2>A life of exclusion</h2>
<p>Dalits <a href="http://idsn.org/india-official-dalit-population-exceeds-200-million/">form a quarter</a> of India’s population, belonging to various religious communities and sub caste groups. They occupy the lowest social status in Indian society due to their birth as “untouchables” and are considered to be socially and religiously polluting. They are outside the rigid caste system that <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-so-few-dalit-entrepreneurs-the-problem-of-indias-casted-capitalism-52402">strictly orders</a> and governs Indian society.</p>
<p>Higher education and successful employment among Dalit populations remain a distant dream in India. High levels of school dropout, compounded by a lack of accessibility and the denial of opportunities, means that students from Dalit backgrounds have to depend on the benefits offered by the state, such as the <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/06/affirmative-action">reservation policy</a>, which provides ring-fenced opportunities to individuals from socially excluded communities.</p>
<p>Yet students who come through the reservation system are seen as less intelligent by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AntiReservationIndia/">upper caste students</a> who object to the meddling with the <a href="http://www.thequint.com/india/2016/01/18/dalit-students-and-the-hostile-indian-higher-education-sector">“meritocracy” of</a> higher educational institutions. The opponents of reservation policy are worried that by accommodating Dalit students, academic standards will be compromised. </p>
<p>Vemula’s death has once again exposed the deep-seated caste discrimination in higher education institutions – both among students and <a href="http://thewire.in/2015/09/08/higher-education-is-still-a-bar-too-high-for-muslims-dalits-10214/">teachers</a>. In similar higher education institutions in India, <a href="http://www.catchnews.com/national-news/blood-on-books-rohith-vemula-s-is-the-23rd-dalit-student-suicide-in-under-a-decade-bandaru-dattatreya-abvp-bjp-rahul-gandhi-thorat-committee-caste-1453210563.html">there have been 23 deaths</a> of students from Dalit backgrounds. Educational institutions that are supposed to be centres of excellence and social transformation instead <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/insight300411.htm">perpetuate</a> social segregation and caste-based discrimination. </p>
<p>Vemula’s death is not an isolated incident. The lives of Dalits <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-35349979">are defined</a> by economic poverty and social exclusion. Often students from a Dalit background who secure university places come through the national reservation system and end up living a stigmatised life. Writer Meena Kandasamy has <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/rohith-vemula-left-us-with-only-his-words-writes-meena-kandasamy/article8120922.ece">noted</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Education has now become a disciplining enterprise working against Dalit students: they are constantly under threat of rustication, expulsion, defamation, discontinuation. In a society where students have waged massive struggles to ensure their right to access higher educational institutions through the protective, enabling concept of the reservation policy, no one has dared to shed light on how many of these students are allowed to leave these institutions with degrees, how many become dropouts, become permanent victims of depression, how many end up dead. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Politicising Dalit suffering</h2>
<p>The fallout of Vemula’s death has lead to political parties <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/Rahul-Politicising-Rohit%E2%80%99s-Death-Says-Kamineni/2016/01/21/article3237347.ece">pointing fingers</a> to blame each other for their anti-Dalit activities. </p>
<p>Once Vemula’s death caught the national attention and students began mobilising, the politicians were quick to extend their support and politicise the entire episode. This is a very familiar pattern of response from the politicians to the daily occurrence of Dalit discrimination. </p>
<p>What this politicking exposes is the vulnerable state of Dalits who are aspiring to change their lives. The <a href="https://josi.journals.griffith.edu.au/index.php/inclusion/article/view/192">reservation policy has had little effect</a> on the empowerment of Dalits through the national educational system due to prevailing discriminatory caste practises. The higher educational institutions are still a preserve of upper caste communities. </p>
<p>It is very unfortunate that certain sections of Indian society tried to <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/india/rohit-vemulas-suicide-it-is-irrational-to-blame-an-mp-for-a-death-in-which-he-played-no-part-2590628.html">underplay the significance of Vemula’s suicide</a> on social media, revealing the dark side of caste prejudice.</p>
<p>The right-wing politicians now in charge of India have failed to deliver the <a href="http://cdn.narendramodi.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Manifesto2014highlights.pdf">promises of Dalit upliftment</a> made during their election campaign and continue to perpetuate a <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/RSS-Wants-No-Bar-for-Castes/2015/05/24/article2829668.ece">casteist worldview</a> and push for a homogenised Hindu society.</p>
<p>When aspirational students from Dalit communities do strive to break into the competitive educational system, they are squeezed out through violent caste discrimination. What we are seeing on display across India is a grotesque mutation of caste prejudice, that is pushing some of the most exploited to take their own lives. But the tenacity and resilience of Dalit communities cannot be underestimated. There couldn’t be a more opportune time to realise the <a href="https://dalitandtribe.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/dr-b-r-ambedkar%E2%80%99s-commandments-educate-agitate-organize/">message</a> of visionary Dalit leader Ambedkar, who called upon Dalits to <em>educate, agitate</em> and <em>organise</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anderson Jeremiah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Discrimination is rife – and at the very highest levels.Anderson Jeremiah, Lecturer in the department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/377102015-06-19T10:18:03Z2015-06-19T10:18:03ZRacial and caste oppression have many similarities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84609/original/image-20150610-6817-1kav3a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Systems of oppression have much in common.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10704037854/in/photolist-hiSZwN-pKU7xq-9Syz5f-6WQkvX-8rToTc-dtMFFE-7TXhS7-347557-juRZ2w-4VaYPb-4XGGLf-ifvfqv-evzE4p-8rE8pc-eiZwbu-9uKAQF-9PjRyc-4RZkK1-cmDTR3-2LgQTD-BR7W-8ENDrh-8AzDYr-6HHBGd-bzofcK-ap6JhZ-ofNdGA-fdMMYY-oryGSy-9xSTCc-o1CxxM-9uKAQR-9uNBSE-pzRTf6-9u6nW6-aPC766-ohh5gw-bGNiwK-rB2BGN-4AJGuE-bGNit2-4XAt5M-8rSDD4-9u9oLu-4Uqp7U-4xcMcF-5HHLcM-9uhk6g-9uhkex-9uhkrX">Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Comparisons can be risky, but not impossible.</p>
<p>Consider for a moment India’s Dalits, or “untouchables,” and African Americans. </p>
<p>Racial inequality in America has its parallel in caste inequality in India even though by definition, race and caste are not the same thing. The story of one struggle for social justice can illuminate the pitfalls and prospects of success of another.</p>
<p>As a researcher in applied ethics, human rights and global development studies, I am leading an ongoing research effort that will compare and contrast the nature of exclusion and marginalization faced by African Americans and Dalit Indians in their respective historical and contemporary contexts. </p>
<h2>The Dalit story</h2>
<p>Although the Indian constitution bans discrimination on the basis of caste, the social, religious and cultural practice of “untouchability” continues unabated. </p>
<p>Formerly known as “untouchables,” Dalits are excluded from social and public spaces, prevented from drawing water from public facilities and segregated in schools.</p>
<p>Since the caste system was formed over 2,000 years ago, a noticeable percentage of the <a href="http://idsn.org/india-official-dalit-population-exceeds-200-million/">200 million “Dalits”</a> have been thrust into the lowest occupations of society, such as scavengers and sanitation cleaners, with little upward mobility. </p>
<p>While there has been some progress since India’s independence from the British Empire, the pace of economic growth in mitigating social inequality has been <a href="http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Documents/SIG_WP13-1_InclGrowth.pdf">uneven</a>. </p>
<p>So, in an Indian nation that is rapidly modernizing and urbanizing, opportunities for the Dalits still remain limited. The degradation and the health risks of performing menial tasks are substantial. </p>
<p>Furthermore, with the <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/to-be-a-fundamentalist-hindu/">rise of Hindu fundamentalism </a>in national politics, the continuous expansion of liberty and equality of opportunity is by no means a foregone conclusion. </p>
<h2>Discrimination, exclusion, privilege</h2>
<p>One can draw parallels in different systems of oppression. </p>
<p>Despite 50 years having passed since the Civil Rights movement, the condition of the majority of poor, urban African Americans is <a href="https://www.aclu.org/infographic/school-prison-pipeline-infographic">dire</a>, and chances for survival are diminishing over time while the prison pipeline is increasing.</p>
<p>Let’s look at how both caste and racial discrimination perpetuate hierarchy, privilege, discrimination, marginalization and exclusion. </p>
<p>Data from the last few years show <a href="http://stateofworkingamerica.org/fact-sheets/poverty/">27% of African Americans at the poverty line</a>, which is much higher than <a href="http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/">other groups</a>. In India, the <a href="http://newint.org/books/reference/world-development/case-studies/inequality-dalits-in-india/">condition of Dalits</a> has been extremely dire for centuries.</p>
<p>Several African American economists in the US have looked at structural and institutional forms of racial exclusion in terms of wealth and poverty. They have also opened a dialogue with economists in South Asia, where exclusion and inequality <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=U5LL8JVqu8QC&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=Darity+racial+inequality+and+caste&source=bl&ots=9wueZ3x7yP&sig=aHI-c_ePKl6nBGOs1WZ2Wbx92Qo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBWoVChMI1pnt6syIxgIVhCisCh0DlADD#v=onepage&q=Darity%20racial%20inequality%20and%20caste&f=false">relate to caste</a>. </p>
<p>Although some progress was made in the 20th century that allowed greater inclusivity and equity – particularly in higher education – many issues remain despite constitutional bans on caste discrimination. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84612/original/image-20150610-6801-1b1tke8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84612/original/image-20150610-6801-1b1tke8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84612/original/image-20150610-6801-1b1tke8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84612/original/image-20150610-6801-1b1tke8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84612/original/image-20150610-6801-1b1tke8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84612/original/image-20150610-6801-1b1tke8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84612/original/image-20150610-6801-1b1tke8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dalits in India still struggle for their rights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82898203@N08/8650310763/in/photolist-ebp722-4XmxKf-ebuFuG-ebuJ3N-ebuJXG-ebp1ZZ-ebp3En-ebuFPU-ebuDrj-ebp1YD-ebp5fH-ebp33R-ebuKSj-ebp63r-ebuHaQ-ebp3kR-ebuGUE-ebuGbm-ebuKk9-ebuDwd-ebuDRd-ebuDtY-ebp6jK-ebp4Zr-ebp2DH-NU5F9-ebpBKB-qzo3gM-qRJbT5-6a77Xd-4BxFa3-kTFdcz-ebv9HY-ebpKvi-ebpAXV-ebvkfY-ebpCRc-ebv8EQ-ebpC3k-ebpAsz-ebveQ3-ebv9ru-ebvsuQ-ebpN2R-ebpDq6-ebpuHe-ebpMkM-ebvj3U-ebvhjw-ebvh2m">ActionAid India - Campaigns</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In America, cultural and political segregation of the public space continues to occur despite anti-segregation laws. </p>
<p>For example, there are concerns among some Supreme Court justices that redistricting of voting districts can lead to further <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/politics/supreme-court-rejects-alabama-redistricting/">racial inequality</a>. </p>
<p>In India, Dalits in rural villages are forbidden near Hindu temples or disallowed with their shoes on in higher-caste neighborhoods. Mob violence is committed against them with impunity, and a disproportionate number of rapes are committed against <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/rape-of-dalit-women-registers-500-increase-since-2001-rti-reveals/">Dalit women</a>. </p>
<p>In comparison, post-Civil War white mob violence against blacks has morphed into what one could describe as the state-condoned violence of homicides of African Americans by police today. As of June, out of 467 Americans nationwide who had been <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/where-police-have-killed-americans-in-2015/">killed</a> by cops since the beginning of 2015, 136 were African American. </p>
<h2>How race and caste work</h2>
<p>Looking at exclusion in America forces us to grapple with issues of violence against African Americans, racial inequality and racial injustice at a time that is often deemed “post-racial,” namely, five decades after the Civil Rights movement. </p>
<p>We see a similar pattern in India, wherein the Dalits are asked to believe that the Indian constitution bans discrimination, even though it does not abolish the caste system itself. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84613/original/image-20150610-6817-1qzwda1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84613/original/image-20150610-6817-1qzwda1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84613/original/image-20150610-6817-1qzwda1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84613/original/image-20150610-6817-1qzwda1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84613/original/image-20150610-6817-1qzwda1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84613/original/image-20150610-6817-1qzwda1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84613/original/image-20150610-6817-1qzwda1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Racial tensions continue in America.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenmelkisethian/16581479664/in/photolist-rgfqdq-snFD7z-rrw5LX-rgrTkZ-s6LcdL-rVEmX5-rVNoWv-sdfvwn-smHsf7-bJFHhV-sdfx2B-rTVoyc-rTVtmt-rTVtF6-so91VH-sd752s-rVEkZ3-rVEhN3-rTVu3Z-rgrWj4-rTVsoX-rVFm77-sdcD2K-sdfAYz-rgfpQS-rrjTch-s68Af9-rrweLk-s6JX1j-rrwjr2-rriQsG-s6Ad79-rrac2q-s6JL5v-soaxK6-rruYw4-s4R9zi-sogTox-soaTiW-skqY2W-s4oMUn-snyxnd-snyxDf-rqHH3u-s8dqDo-spXTZ6-snn2bg-sncyZd-s5MMCS-rqxYYX">Stephen Melkisethian</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>It is after the successes of the African American Civil Rights movement that we have witnessed the birth of the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/fact-sheet/what-school-prison-pipeline">school-to-prison pipeline</a>, state violence against a disproportionate number of African American men in police killings, and the turning back of affirmative action at public universities in some states’ constitutional amendments, such as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/22/justice/scotus-michigan-affirmative-action/">Michigan</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, with right wing conservative political power in India, caste discrimination is intensifying. </p>
<p>For example, Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims are not eligible for reservations, or what we in the US would call affirmative action benefits at universities, because technically “untouchability” exists only in <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-not-in-favour-to-give-sc-reservation-to-christian-and-muslim-dalits-government-2042306">Hinduism</a>, when in social reality it occurs <a href="http://www.ecumenicalnews.com/article/indias-christian-and-muslim-dalits-say-they-are-more-untouchable-than-hindus-22756">across religions</a> in India. </p>
<p>Historically, both race and caste have been used to divide society in many ways to the unfair advantage of certain groups over others. Again, there are similarities in the construction of how people have been forced into these categories. </p>
<p>Here in America, people are born into a “race,” and America uses race as a defining demographic category in its census. Biological race by nature, for now, is inescapable, even though some would say that “race” is an artificial category that is socially constructed.</p>
<p>Dalits, too, are born into a caste, which is unalterable, as they are told, and it is due to the sins of a previous life that they are paying the price in their current life. Hinduism believes in the transmigration of the soul, in which the soul enters a new body after death. The caste that one enters into depends upon the actions of a previous life. </p>
<h2>The two democracies should learn from each other</h2>
<p>So how can the US and India learn from each other in order to solve some of the most pressing problems for the world’s two largest democracies, both of which consider themselves secular and free? </p>
<p>If nations can cooperate on trade and development, there is no reason that they cannot participate in a global dialogue on minority rights through the lens of their religious, cultural and social heritages. </p>
<p>They must learn to come to grips with the fact that the mere assertion of a democratic society does not necessarily translate in to a free and equal one.</p>
<p>Modern democratic superpowers with sizable national wealth, such as the US and India, also have a dark side, involving what some would consider gross human rights violations. </p>
<p>My work will set out to explore how different democracies can promote tolerance, inclusion and pluralism while combating various forms of discrimination and exclusion based on race and caste. </p>
<p>The question will be how to evaluate the claim that both societies make, as the two largest, most “peaceful and successful” democracies in the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rajesh Sampath does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Racial inequality in America has its parallel in caste inequality in India. What can the world’s two largest democracies learn from each other?Rajesh Sampath, Assistant Professor of the Philosophy of Justice, Rights, and Social Change , Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.