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The Portuguese brought the word casta, the origin of the English caste, to India in the sixteenth century. Although it has primarily been associated with South Asia, caste and analogous forms of discrimination exist in other parts of the world. For example, some quilombolas connect their struggles in Brazil with discussions around caste. Similarly, it is possible to analyze the subjugation of the Batwa—Indigenous Peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) also known as the Pygmy—through certain markers of caste. But caste is largely missing from conservation discourse, which centers Indigeneity in discussions of historical land dispossession, current control over natural resources, and future participation in decision making.
Most historical, religious, anthropological, sociological, and political research on caste has focused on India and South Asia. Colonial and postcolonial scholarship has pointed to native words for caste, such as jati and varna, and evidence from ancient texts to argue that the hierarchical basis of caste was rooted in precolonial tradition and ideology—a conclusion that ignores the economic factors and structural relations of power that underpin the phenomenon. Focusing on these latter elements broadens the applicability of caste as an interpretive framework beyond the traditions, religions, and ideologies of South Asia, and begins a global conversation.
Caste as a global phenomenon
The tireless efforts of Indigenous Peoples and their allies worldwide have secured the centrality of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and voices in major international agendas, pledges, debates, and court cases involving the protection of nature. Overlapping climate, biodiversity, and health crises have brought Indigenous Peoples, human rights advocates, and conservationists together to build a common vision. However, such efforts have not adequately addressed Indigenous Peoples affected by caste structures and the many caste-oppressed people who remain outside of discussions about nature. There are several reasons for this.
A lack of representation in international platforms and conservation organizations of people who identify as belonging to caste-affected groups means that these individuals do not necessarily have opportunities to participate in conservation and biodiversity discourse. Exclusion and under-representation occur even in South Asia, the region where caste receives the most attention. In her essay “Why Dalits dislike environmentalists,” sociologist Gail Omvedt describes this stark alienation between the anti-caste and environmental movements. Mukul Sharma has also demonstrated how traditional environmentalism and conventional environmental scholarship have frequently left out Dalit voices. Moreover, in geographic regions where caste debates are nascent or emerging, there may be less awareness of the benefits of using a caste framework in global discussions. At the same time, the conservationists involved in those global conversations may consider caste to be a problem limited to South Asia.
Activists from nations as varied as Burkina Faso, Chad, Japan, Senegal, and the United States are advancing global discussions through the lens of caste, coming together several times and circulating a call to eradicate discrimination. However, these discussions have not yet connected to nature or conservation discourse. Suraj Yengde has described such work as the continuation of an unfinished anti-caste agenda inaugurated by Dalit groups at the UN World Conference Against Racism in 2001. He goes on to theorize the broader idea of “Global Caste”: a layered mechanism of absolute social hierarchy and control that dehumanizes certain forms of labor. Yengde’s paper shows how caste, understood as a practice tied to enduring stigma, humiliation, pollution from outcastes, strict endogamy, minority status, spiritual assent or bloodline through inheritance, among other sociocultural regulations, can easily reproduce around the world.
A case study in Global Caste: the Democratic Republic of Congo
Anthropologists studying the Congo Basin have made cursory references to the Batwa of the DRC as a “sort of low caste,” the lowest caste, or a “third tribe.” Yet these superficial references do not further the understanding of what may be a caste-based relationship between former or current hunter-gatherer groups and their Bantu neighbors. The key elements to look at here are subordination and subservience.
In a bid to protect their way of life and address both historical dispossession and the ongoing discrimination they continue to face with respect to their ancestral lands, Batwa, Efe, and Mbuti people in the DRC have mobilized around the concept of “Indigeneity.” They have used this framework to assert and claim rights in both domestic and international contexts.
The global caste framework can serve as a starting point to deepen understanding of this structural discrimination. The following markers of caste, which have emerged from my own discussions with Batwa communities, provide a direction for future study:
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The nature of the relationships between Batwa and non-Batwa communities
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The “othering” of the Batwa, which results in a subordinated position within a discrimination hierarchy based on descent and occupation
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Historical land dispossession and the exclusion of the Batwa from decisions about boundaries, use, and governance
Further attention to the global caste framework would enable conservationists and civil society and government actors to examine more deeply the root causes of discrimination that has led to adverse, multigenerational impacts for the Batwa. Congolese society’s view of the Batwa as inferior and occupying a subordinated position stands in the way of constructive and durable solutions. Moreover, a study through the lens of global caste could also bring caste into conservation discourse in other areas of the world where new perspectives on Indigenous experiences of structural discrimination are needed.
The views expressed in this article are those of the individual author and do not represent those of the Wildlife Conservation Society.