Race, Caste, and Class

In her book 'Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents' Isabel Wilkerson looks to the Indian caste system to provide the vocabulary to expose the invisible substructure underlying race in America. Wilkerson draws comparisons between Racism in America and Caste in India in the way certain logics and practices - such as purity-pollution and endogamy - are used to establish one's status, access to resources, and humanity. In this episode we have Gopal Guru in conversation with R. Srivatsan and P.

In her book 'Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents' Isabel Wilkerson looks to the Indian caste system to provide the vocabulary to expose the invisible substructure underlying race in America. Wilkerson draws comparisons between Racism in America and Caste in India in the way certain logics and practices - such as purity-pollution and endogamy - are used to establish one's status, access to resources, and humanity. In this episode we have Gopal Guru in conversation with R. Srivatsan and P. Thirumal discussing Isabel Wilkerson's book and the overlaps and exclusions between Race, Caste, and Class.

Our guests have expressed their views on Isabel Wilkerson's book in greater detail in their articles published in the EPW, titled "Engaging with Isabel Wilkerson’s Idea of Race" by R. Srivatsan and "On Philosophical Causality and the Problem of Evil" by P. Thirumal.