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Profs and Pints DC presents: “Imported Caste Apartheid,” on the debate over caste-based discrimination brought from India to the U.S., with Christine Fair, professor in Georgetown University’s Securities Studies Program and author of several books on political and military affairs in South Asia.
India exports nearly $20 billion in precious stones, pharmaceuticals, electronic equipment, textiles, and other goods. It also has been sending to the U.S. and other nations something much less welcome: offshoots of the caste system that lingers in India despite officially being outlawed there.
Among recent developments in the United States, high-caste executives of Silicon Valley firms have been accused of discriminating against low-caste applicants and employees. California has been convulsed in a heated debate over the nation’s first proposed ban on caste-based discrimination. Students and faculty members have reported the existence of caste discrimination at American universities. Meanwhile, some Indian Americans complain that accusations of caste discrimination are false and arise from bias against all members of their ethnic group.
Join Professor Christine Fair, a scholar of South Asia, for a talk unpacking what the debate over caste-based discrimination is all about. She’ll define, and discuss the prevalence of, caste and caste-based discrimination, giving a sense of which populations still hold biases based on considerations of caste. She’ll tackle the difficult question of how to ensure that people don’t face caste-based discrimination while also protecting the religious freedom of those who believe in a caste hierarchy.
Turning her attention to California, she’ll discuss how that state’s debate over a ban on caste-based discrimination arose from state officials’ realization that they lacked legal grounds to challenge such bias under existing California law. She’ll tackle the question of whether the banning of caste discrimination is necessary in California or nationally. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image from Countercurrents.org
