Caste

Description

Caste, and caste-based discrimination, are not just Indian issues. They are experienced throughout the world, from Britain to Bahrain, Canada to South Africa. This is a global phenomenon, demanding global solutions.

Leading scholar Suraj Milind Yengde shines a light on the Dalit experience internationally, from indentured labourers in the nineteenth-century Caribbean to present-day migrant workers in the Middle East. Combining history, ethnography and archival research, he offers a compelling, comparative approach to caste and race from ancient times to today. What have been the impacts of colonialism, religion and nationalism on caste-based hierarchies worldwide? What can we learn from caste-related movements in India and internationally? Why hasn’t the South Asian diaspora embraced the anti-caste struggles of the homeland? And what are the limits of Dalit–Black solidarity?

Exploring the global footprint of the anti-caste struggle—from its links with Black Lives Matter to the work of international Ambedkarite organisations—this is a powerful analysis of world politics from the perspective of one of the most oppressed communities on Earth. Asking probing questions about the nature of inequality, Yengde issues an energetic call for a cosmopolitan Dalit universalism, as a vital part of today’s fight for social justice and equality.

Reviews

‘Boldly written, sharply argued and sweeping in scope, this is a unique and important global analysis of caste. Yengde succeeds brilliantly at offering a fresh and incisive analysis. Interdisciplinary scholarship at its most impressive!’ — Nico Slate, Professor of History, Carnegie Mellon University, and author of The Art of Freedom: Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and the Making of Modern India

‘Suraj Yengde traces the past and present of a confusing/confused but enduring category, and of the experiences of difference and oppression it has produced. Honest and thought-provoking, and with fantastic original research, this is a significant contribution.’ — Shobana Shankar, Professor of History, Stony Brook University, and author of An Uneasy Embrace: Africa, India and the Spectre of Race

‘An unflinching long regard, a movement across geographies, diasporas and temporalities, that sutures caste to a global history of dispossession, violence and displacement. Yet, this is not a simple story of global connections, past and present; rather it is a rousing invitation to model a Dalit world, suffused with dignity, courage and lasting knowledge. At once a labour of critical inquiry and a juxtaposition of observations and polemics across histories of race and caste, Yengde proffers a stirring vision of Dalit universalism for life and liberation.’ — Anjali Arondekar, Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of For the Record: On Sexuality and the Colonial Archive in India

Author(s)

Suraj Milind Yengde is a scholar and activist. Named one of the ‘25 Most Influential Young Indians’ by GQ magazine and the ‘Most Influential Young Dalit’ by Zee, he is the bestselling author of Caste Matters. Based at Harvard University, he is completing a second doctorate at the University of Oxford.