Caste in Academia: Meritocracy From India to Abroad

 

Caste in Academia: Meritocracy From India to Abroad

by Amrita Dasgupta 

Casteist humiliation of Prof. Maroona Murmu (Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University) continues. Recently, she has been asked in court to prove how far she has studied that she calls herself a professor. Looking back, it has been a five-years-long battle for her. It started with her commenting on the issue of conducting exams during the COVID-19 emergency—a topic widely debated upon across the country. Prof. Murmu had expressed her anguish about students' lives being put at risk by the government’s decision. In response, a student, Paromita Ghosh of Bethune College in West Bengal had attacked Prof. Murmu’s ethnic identity as an Adivasi, remarking that unqualified, incompetent people take advantage of the reservation system while the deserving ones lag behind. Professor Murmu filed an FIR against the student under section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the SC/ST (prevention of Atrocities) Act. The case is still open, putting Prof. Murmu through unspeakable trials on a quotidian basis. Her emotional, mental, and physical health deteriorates while she keeps up the fight for establishing social justice.[i]  

In relation to the case, much has already been spoken about the unfounded ideas of Bengal being a casteless state. What now remains is to evaluate how relations of caste and meritocracy are kept alive across the globe in present time, proving Ambedkar’s statement to be true: “If Hindus migrate to other countries in the world, caste will become a world problem.”[ii] No doubt, it starts from India and spreads its roots globally. There are three basic components that waters and nurtures caste discrimination in global academia: English language, the reasons for overseas reference, the interaction of caste and diaspora in classrooms abroad.

Many hierarchies exist within the Indian education system. One among them is access to English-medium education, which is often only available to privileged castes and classes. Public educational institutes whose mode of instruction is the regional language are usually the place for the marginalized castes. To sum, caste-marginalized students are not always well-versed in English. They communicate in regional languages or dialects. The Savarnas or upper castes prominently rule the academic scenario in India and abroad. Despite an apparent rejection of casteism, many professors in India prefer students from English-medium backgrounds and feel uncomfortable if students prefer taking classes in regional languages. Fluency in English thus becomes the primary step to discriminate based on class and caste in the Indian education system. Valuing a student for their proficiency in English rather than their curiosity or criticality of thought is another sign of casteism and class privilege. 

Additional labor is required to mentor a student from a vernacular education background. To avoid the extra work savarna mentors discourage caste-marginalized students from applying to universities overseas. Basically, highlighting how problems of language becomes a marker in deciding their academic fate despite having the required critical acumen. Consequently, in India, English-speaking, caste-privileged students are the ones who are majorly successful in securing admissions with full scholarships abroad. These are the students for whom Professors readily write recommendations, putting them in touch with their colleagues and networks abroad. This creates a never-ending cycle of supply that sustains the global network of savarna scholars. Thereby, deliberately pushing the caste-marginalized scholars out of this sphere—as if, it is something they are unworthy of, and it is a world that is unattainable to them. In this context Sumit Samos of Oxford University expressed similar views:

 “The moment I entered the classroom, I realised I was different than most Indians and Pakistanis there. Once you start to speak, then people figure it out as to which caste you belong to, because I would talk about icons and movements and political leaders from marginalised communities. It’s a very grey area because if they don’t want to hang out with you, they can just say it’s personal differences, it’s not about caste.”[iii]  

Topics taught in classrooms abroad try to consciously contextualize caste into them, especially if it is a course related to South Asia. Students who take up such courses are usually diasporic or international students from South Asia. Such that they have an idea about South Asia in general. Though they might have an idea about South Asia, they might not know about caste or might walk into the classroom with their conditioned caste biases passed onto them by their families. Many of these students who get triggered by the question of caste in the classrooms abroad, are upper-caste elites from India. These students have not been confronted with any kind of critical perspectives on caste before and hence feel a kind of discomfort that may appear provocative. The idea of such curriculums abroad that bring caste to the fore is aimed at transforming the discomfort around caste into a learning experience that leads to a better understanding of the world and its inequalities. 

Following examples from universities in the United States, in November 2023 Oxford university took an anti-caste stand and recognised  caste as a protected category.[iv] Caste discrimination and harassment has not been explicitly covered by British discrimination legislation. However, the Equality Act 2010 includes the provision that, by order of a Minister, caste may be treated as an aspect of race.[v] Nonetheless, the policies of space making for caste marginalised students and academics abroad fail, as the hopes of merit-based acceptance of a caste-marginalised student at universities abroad is nipped in the bud by several savarna academics in India by belittling their proficiency in English, by denying them supportive and enthusiastic recommendations. What Prof. Maroona Murmu faces is a testimony to the caste discriminatory vicious cycle prevalent in academia.    

 

References

[i] The Wire. (2020). “Jadavpur university Professor Files FIR Against Student for Casteist Slurs.”

[ii] B.R. Ambedkar. (1916). “Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development.”

[iii] The PIE. (2023). “Caste Discrimination is ‘grey area” at UK Universities.”

[iv] The Mooknayak. (2023). ‘OXSAA is thrilled to announce a success in its anti-caste efforts since 2021.”

[v] Roundtable India for an Informed Ambedkar Age. (2013). British Asian Rally to Outlaw Caste Based Discrimination in the UK. Amrita Dasgupta is a PhD scholar at Centre of Gender Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Courtesy: frontierweb

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