Caste, Race, and Labor

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Caste and race are two of the most persistent, oppressive, and powerful forms of global hierarchy. They have long, sordid, complex histories that have commingled by way of colonialism and diasporic travels. At times, scholars have linked the two -- even collapsed the two -- and at others they have insisted on their inherent distinctiveness. What, exactly, are "race" and "caste" and how are they related, if at all? By way of this question, students will grapple with institutionalized power, inequality, difference, and hierarchy that, in turn, structure everyday life in many contexts all over the world.