“Our children are prohibited from joining birthday parties at the same time as other children. They are made to wait outside the place where the ritual is being undertaken. They know which caste we belong to and that’s how they think we are.
“We are untouchables. If we attend their rituals, they and the ritual will get defiled/polluted.”
This instance of untouchability was shared by a mother in Sydney, a member of the Indian diaspora in Australia who belongs to the Chamar caste. Untouchability is the practice whereby any form of social, physical and cultural contact with the lowest castes (Dalits) is considered as defiling and unclean.
This lived experience was captured as part of the national community consultation of caste discrimination project, aimed at documenting caste oppression in the south Asian diaspora. The project is being led by caste-oppressed groups Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha and Ambedkar International Mission for the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia and Australian Human Rights Commission.
As a research lead of the project, I found caste discrimination is not just a case of interpersonal and intercultural issues within the south Asian diaspora; it is pervasive and systemic. It is a form of intersectional racial discrimination.
Caste is a system of social stratification that divides people into four main castes and a fifth untouchable caste – Dalits – in a ranked hierarchy based on the notions of purity and pollution in south Asian cultures, particularly among Hindus.
Through in-person interviews with 146 Dalits across major Australian cities, I encountered horrific stories where children and adults alike experienced discrimination based on their caste identity in schools, universities and workplaces. This included instances of physical assault, threats of sexual assault and usage of casteist slurs on the other.
Social exclusion has also manifested in active socioeconomic boycotts of businesses and individuals where any identity markers associated with Dalithood would lead to exclusion and alienation. There are covert and overt forms of identifying someone’s caste in Australia – inquiries about religious practices, food habits and last names are the predominant practices.
The experience of caste-oppressed groups does not start, however, from their identification by “other” as Dalits. Nor does it begin in adulthood. At the beginning of their journey from south Asia to Australia, Dalits are faced with a choice to either pass as upper-castes or devise ways to tackle casteism when forced to reveal their caste identity.
Many resort to changing their last names, a common marker of caste, to upper-caste last names. Some even give up cultural and religious identities that would disclose their caste position.
Sharing lived experiences of discrimination and bias was difficult for many; some participants denied being discriminated against, only to express their truth midway through the interviews. Many even wanted to meet privately, away from the public gaze. For instance, in a group interview, one senior citizen stopped other participants from sharing their experiences of discrimination. Later, the same participant informed us she and her husband had to establish a separate place of worship due to differential treatment.
Participants also informed me of adverse impacts on their mental health and how caste discrimination had caused distress and depression. “It erodes the inherent belief you have in your own capacities that tends to affect you more in the long term rather than an immediate loss of opportunities,” said one participant.
I, too, hail from the caste-oppressed community – from a Dalit slum colony in India. Encountering the stories of my people negatively impacted my mental health, as it was a rude shock to discover alarming levels of casteism in Australia.
How does one, then, address casteism? The report suggests a multi-pronged approach by first recognising its existence, then prohibiting caste discrimination under existing anti-discrimination laws and working towards developing an anti-caste culture in all aspects of life in Australia.
Any efforts to fight casteism must be evidence-driven. This report provides foundational data, rigorously analysed and vetted to call for a federal ban on caste-based discrimination, understood through multicultural and intersectional lenses.
Asang Wankhede is an author and a DPhil in Law candidate at the University of Oxford. He is the project lead of the National Community Consultation of Caste Discrimination, Australia
