My Casteism and Privileges: Test for the Upper Caste/ Savarna in Academia and Beyond
Prologue Academia, whether in the US or India is a deeply exclusive space, available to a select few. These few are often picked and pruned on the basis of ‘merit’ which is a pre-legitimizing step toward any production of knowledge. Often liberal students, in particular perform wokeness in order to legitimize their scholarship or appear subversive on social media platforms. I am guilty of perpetuating this performance by seeking to publicize my attempts to address my casteism and access points within academia and beyond. This piece of writing is an attempt to engage with fellow upper caste people by redoing the models provided by Devon W. Carbado and Peggy McIntosh . Of course, Hindu upper castes are diverse groups but as historically privileged communities, each one of us benefits by keeping Dalit and Bahujan voices in the margins. Confession as Performance In 2019, I asked my Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) course instructors, NM and PB about the relevance o