Shedding Light on the Shadows of Caste
Written by: Dil K Bola
“What’s your last name?”
This is seemingly an innocent enough question for most, but is yet, one that is entirely something different for South Asians, where it holds the weight of thousands of years of often, oppressive history.
This Spring, the Poetic Justice Foundation is displaying a thought provoking exhibit at the Burnaby Village Museum. The museum explores the concept of caste, a hierarchal and hereditary social classing system developed in Ancient India which still holds its clutches on modern South Asian [and diasporic] society. The exhibit explores the “evil of caste that lurks in the shadows of our community.” In its scope, it touches on how caste migrated with immigrants from the region to North America. The exhibit also dives deep into caste’s pervasiveness in Panjabi popular culture, and how equality—a core tenet of Sikhi—is rarely truly practiced today with the adoption of caste in contemporary contexts.
This exhibit illustrates the bizarre, dichotomous reality and juxtaposition of religious equality through the lens of Sikhi and the prevalence of caste oppression. When asking for a South Asian’s last name, you’re asking for more than just that. You’re asking for their family history, their status, their place in society. And that is exactly why “the Sikh Gurus sought to abolish the Indian caste system that assigned value and rights to individuals based on the families they were born into.” [wearesikhs.org]
Caste continues to affect our community in new shapes and forms, and the exhibit implores you to think about how it has adapted after following us to the West.
The origins of Sikhi lie in caste abolishment
With hopes of ending discrimination and promoting equal rights, the Gurus encouraged their followers to take the names Singh and Kaur. This change not only eliminated the classism that powers caste discrimination, but also allowed women to be recognized “as individuals with value and identities existing independently of their relationships with men.” [wearesikhs.org]
At the end of the day, this is a core value of the Sikh religion and community at large – so why are last names and conversations on caste so pervasive today? The excuse I hear the most is, “oh, immigration led to us bringing our last name back … we needed it to better identify ourselves … etc.” Some say only those who have taken amrit follow this tradition whereas others claim its to avoid forgetting their history.
The modern concept of caste
The modern concept of a last name coming from a patrilineal line is fairly Western against the background of South Asian history. Last names are at the end of the day, our clans. If we know our pind — our village — would we really forget who we are are and where we are from?
As the exhibit displays, even when part of the diaspora, we cannot escape our identity. Throughout the various stories shared within it, many spoke on the fact that despite growing up in the West, conversation on caste prevailed. The aforementioned question “what is your last name?” echoes through the halls of schools for local and international students alike. Inter-caste couples struggle to receive support from their families to the point of breaking up or being disowned.
“I have a cousin who marries outside of their caste … her family disowned her … “ (OVERCASTE)
Dating apps and biodatas continue to request specific caste matches, lower castes such as Chamar or Chura are used as synonyms for unkempt or dark skinned appearances (a feat that is incredibly problematic on its own with the pervasiveness of colourism in South Asian culture) and rappers touting their higher caste status as Jatts continue to hit the top of the charts.
At the end of the day, the caste system in its form today continues to oppress all of us. Whichever rung of the ladder you may be, you’re still being stepped on while someone else climbs to the top.
“In 1906, my great-grandfather Maya Ram Mahmi became the first recorded Dalit immigrant to Canada, seeking a brighter future and escape from the social and economic oppressions he faced in India. Yet, he and his descendants, including myself, have faced ongoing caste discrimination, an issue that persists over a century later. Through the OVERCASTE exhibit, we aim to highlight the often-ignored problem of caste bias in Canada. This initiative seeks to amplify the Dalit Canadian narrative, which has been historically sidelined and ignored”
And you may look at the top of this article and think, “well, she’s got her last name on there.” You’re right, I do, but that wasn’t my choice. Not to say it was my parents’ choice either, their parents made that decision for them. And as many did before them they followed what their ancestors had done without thinking about the implications of a something as simple as naming your child. But it takes one person to change that cycle, and I for one, will not be passing this onto my children.
“I was dating this guy, and he asked me my caste and when I said I’m a Chamaar, he’s like “that’s going to be an issue.” (OVERCASTE)
Final reflections
At the end of the day I’m asking you to think. This exhibit is asking you to think. How did we become so complacent? How can we change this? How can we make our community more equitable by changing behaviour in our day to day life? How can we look at the exhibit and examine the ways it asks us to reflect on how we separate ourselves from each other through harmful modalities like social heirarchies? How do we get to decide we are better than others?
The OVERCASTE Exhibit is currently travelling internationally and returns to Burnaby Village Museum on May 4th, 2024.
Learn more at overcaste.com.
Images provided by the Poetic Justice Foundation, taken by Behind the Lens Photography
