Seminariile de cercetare sociologică – 23 mai 2022, ora 18, sala 217, clădirea Mărăști

Guest speaker:  dr. Vinod Sarpate, PhD in Social Anthropology at Central European University and visiting fellow at the Doctoral School in Sociology at the Babeș-Bolyai University

Migration, Caste, and Reproduction of Social Hierarchies in Indian Diaspora

Abstract. Caste is a system of social oppression in South Asia, particularly in India. Caste is deeply embedded in India’s social, political, as well as religious institutions and became a governing factor of the everyday life of South Asians. But happens to caste when South Asians migrate to other parts of the globe? Does caste survive with migration or it wither away in a new social context? Based on my ethnographic research among South Asian migrants in the UK, I will unravel these questions and demonstrate how caste inequalities are reproduced in the diaspora and how caste has become an organising principle of the migrant Indians. The presentation will also shade light on the contestation of caste hierarchy and social exclusion by lower-caste migrants in the diaspora.

Authors’ bio:

Vinod Sartape has recently awarded doctorate in Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Central European University, Budapest. His research areas intersect the issues of caste, migration, and anthropology of everyday religion. Dr Vinod has been a teaching fellow at the Faculty of Sociology at Babes-Bolyai University and has taught courses on Migration, Diaspora, and Transnationalism. Dr Vinod is currently working on his monograph on “Re-institutionalising Caste among Indian Migrants in the United Kingdom”.