Caste: Stories of Resilience and Resistance

Caste is not simply limited to South Asia, but also extends to its many diasporas in places such as the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean.  In recent years, American anti-caste organizations such as Equality Labs have spearheaded successful campaigns to make caste a recognized and legally protected category alongside race, religion, sexuality, age, ancestry, and ability. In 2019,  Brandeis University, was the first North American institution of higher education to add caste to its non-discrimination policy, and since then many other universities have followed suit. Caste has been an important site of contestation for tech companies such as Google and Cisco, as well as local governments, including Seattle and the state of California. Caste is a growing topic of conversation across many North American universities, including Emory University.