The Wire: Prejudice against Dalits

In an article in The Wire adressing discrimination allegations against Cisco, Shailaja Paik, a University of Cincinnati associate professor in the Department of History, likens the modern-day expression of the centuries-old Indian caste system to the mutation of a virus. At a time when the world is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, she says feels the caste system is an even more dangerous malaise — “a shape-shifting virus than travels across continents and mutates over time.”

Paik, who has extensively researched the oppression of Dalits, talks of the transnationalisation of caste, as Indians carry the baggage of caste across oceans, with dominant oppressor castes trying to recreate structures of power and privilege.

>Read a profile of Dr. Paik and her journey from the slums of India to academia 

>Read "The Wire" article in its entireity here