Sustaining the myth of merit

In a case filed in June 2020, the State of California alleged that two managers at Cisco Systems harassed a fellow Indian American employee for being a Dalit, or of a perceived lower-caste status. The case may help to recognise caste as new grounds for discrimination in the United States – a much needed intervention since Dalit Americans routinely face discrimination, including in the form of verbal and physical assault. While such developments demonstrate progress in recognising, if not addressing, caste-based discrimination, there is much work left to do. This includes unpacking how structures of caste privilege are sustained in Southasian institutions – including in establishments for higher education thought to be nurturing the region's most gifted students.

In this interview we speak to Ajantha Subramanian, a Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies at Harvard University and the Chair of Harvard University's Department of Anthropology. Her recent book The Caste of Merit: Engineering Education in India chronicles the rise of engineering education in India and tracks the relationship between meritocracy and democracy. Subramanian talks to Himal Southasian about how caste privilege is sustained through engineering education, how it migrates to the diaspora, how technical knowledge became integral to state power and nationalism in India, and how mass coaching and reservations challenge caste hierarchies.