Photo of the day: census and caste in India

A census official marking a house in India.

More here on India's "a caste-based census along with the socio-economic profiling."

Makes me worry that much more that the caste system will never be eliminated :(

Obama, India, race, and caste

India has a long history with the caste system.  Sometimes I think that the system will somehow, and unfortunately, survive even all the globalization, which otherwise is one hell of an equalizing force.  Lakshmi Chaudhry has more on this:

Many Indians believe Obama's victory makes all things possible for people of color everywhere--including the many American grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins who, thanks to globalization, are part of the Indian extended family. "My granddaughter can now be president of the United States," boasted a university professor who was shopping at the local mall in Bangalore, echoing the sentiments of my mother, an aunt and her neighbor.

And yet for all the rhetoric about America's racist history, Indians have preferred to avoid any mention of our ever-present racism. There's been nary a word on the cognitive dissonance between all this Obama-love in a culture that refers to people of African origin as habshis, an epithet as offensive as the N-word. Like all well-indoctrinated postcolonial subjects, most Indians regard Africans with contempt for being poor, "backward" and, above all, black--a cardinal sin in a nation obsessed with skin color. ("Fairness" creams remain the top-selling cosmetic on the Indian market.) Sure, Obama was one of "us" when he was running for president. But he wouldn't be if he were one of the many African students in, say, Delhi struggling to rent an apartment or hail a cab.

The unbearable whiteness/blackness of being

Growing up in Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India, I had a total immersion in the socio-political dynamics that were based on groups that had always had the upper hand versus those that were always pushed down. It was only a matter of time before those who were pushed down exercised their democractic power and, when they did, the old rules were swiftly broken. It is no wonder then that Tamil Nadu today is phenomenally way more progressive than many other states in the union.

Of course, the big difference between the situation here and that in Tamil Nadu is one of numbers: in Tamil Nadu, the oppressed were/are a majority of the population.

Looking at the presidential elections from that perspective, I have a strong feeling that the "blackness" and "whiteness" will play a significant role in this election. Which is why I liked this essay in the New York Review of Books. I think I like the concluding argument too:

What seems more needed, in my view, are two parallel campaigns: a quiet one to assure a maximum black turnout, and a more public one to make the most of the white backing the Obama-Biden ticket already has. His rallies, appearances, and advertisements would benefit from featuring white faces, and they should be accompanied by endorsements from white military veterans, union leaders, police chiefs, and firemen. His black supporters will know what is going on, and not take this as a rebuff.