Wilkerson’s “Caste” Equivalency
The origins of her comparisons
Wilkerson’s book ‘Caste: The origins of our discontent’ tries to link the origin of racism in the USA with the issue of ‘caste’ in India. This is where the book takes it’s first conceptual misstep. The complicated social structure of precolonial Indian society (the Varna and Jati system) was not only different from the institution of slavery that existed in the USA at the time, where people were mercilessly torn apart from their culture and land, it was also different from ‘caste’ as we understand it today.
‘Caste’ itself is an essentially white European colonial term for this ancient system that they barely understood.
One of the many disservices done to Indian history during this period was a rewriting of its origin, the infamous Aryan invasion/migration theory, an unholy and totally unsubstantiated attempt to connect India’s native culture and social structure to the light skinned ‘Aryan race’ of the Caucasian mountains which also introduced and cemented ‘caste’ as a byproduct of this racist theory. Albeit done to different people on different continents, it’s ironic that the author juxtaposes one painful episode over the other without a deeper examination of its authenticity. Thus enabling those common perpetrators to divert blame, doing both communities a disservice.
