Скачать или смотреть The Problem of Caste in the North American University

Efforts to officially make caste a protected category are well under way across the United States. It is past time that we address this issue in educational institutions in Alberta and across Canada. As we approach Dalit History Month (April), we were fortunate to be joined by four Dalit Bahujan leaders who have been instrumental in the struggle to make caste legible and a protected category in North American educational and other institutions.

We learned how caste-based discrimination and violence manifest in the North American academy in their experience, so that you might better notice it in your own environment. Consider the everyday and institutional challenges faced by Dalit-Bahujan students, staff and faculty in universities and other spaces, and how the panelists constantly fight all odds to organize for social and institutional change.

Event Background: Collaboration on caste-based discrimination

“Caste is a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law or religion. It originated in South Asia, and caste-based discrimination and harassment can persist in some environments among groups of South Asian descent.”

Recognizing the continuing harms of caste-based discrimination, including maintaining a form of social and intergenerational structural inequality, and the need to promote caste equity, the Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) at the University of Calgary and the Office of the Vice Provost (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) at the University of Alberta (Dr. Carrie Smith) and their teams collaborated to raise awareness in both universities and the broader society, and to develop a non-discrimination policy on caste-based discrimination.

There are three interrelated objectives of this collaboration:

1) First, the aim is to raise awareness and develop educational opportunities for the campus communities and broader publics to learn about caste-based discrimination.

2) Second, and related, our aim is to host a series of educational webinars on caste, gender, and intersectionality in Winter and Spring term.

3) Third, and in consultation with the respective campus communities, and each institution’s legal services, our medium-term goal is to develop a non-discrimination policy to make caste a protected ground at the UCalgary and UAlberta.