Imagine 40,000 acres of forest surrounding newly built Craftsman and Victorian homes–each with sweeping Southern-style wraparound porches sprinkled with lemonade-sipping residents, old and young. Behind each house lie “alleyways” of forest trails–there, athleisure-clad grandmas go on runs while clusters of unaccompanied kids forage for secret treehouses strewn throughout the landscape. Nestled behind a communal organic farm, pigs and chickens roam free beneath pine trees. At the local inn, the concierge offers free bunnies at check-in.
There are few cars on the premises; most residents prefer to walk to the local yoga class or hike the neighborhood’s 15 miles of trails. Young couples amuse themselves at a field-size labyrinth composed of rocks, just beyond the wildflower meadow. The loudest sound is of the breeze brushing up against the oak trees that hover over the lawns. This landscape feels to me like a […]
Saturday, January 27th, 2018
Subramanian Shankar, Professor of English - University of Hawaii - Raw Story
Stephan: Here is the assessment of the extraordinary wealth inequity that now defines American society from the perspective of Caste, done by an Indian professor working in the U.S.. It is a sad and sorry picture.
Credit: Shutterstock
In the United States, inequality tends to be framed as an issue of either class, race or both. Consider, for example, criticism that Republicans’ new tax plan is a weapon of “class warfare,” or accusations that the recent U.S. government shutdown was racist.
As an India-born novelist and scholar who teaches in the United States, I have come to see America’s stratified society through a different lens: caste.
Many Americans would be appalled to think that anything like caste could exist in a country allegedly founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. After all, India’s atrocious caste system determines social status by birth, compels marriage within a community and restricts job opportunity.
But is the U.S. really so different?
What is caste?
I first realized that caste could shed a new light on American inequality in 2016, when I was scholar-in-residence at the Center for Critical Race Studies at the University of Houston-Downtown.
There, I found that my public presentations on caste resonated deeply with students, who were largely working-class, black and Latino. I believe that’s because […]
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