Caste

Isabel Wilkerson

Caste

27min

27min

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Using an engaging narrative supported by historical research and real anecdotes, Isabel Wilkerson paints a portrait of the caste system that has shaped today's American society. The author draws a parallel between the caste system in America, India and Nazi Germany to demonstrate how the caste mechanism also has common roots in different cultures. Caste reveals the tension created when one group is pitched against another, generation after generation, and caste becomes an innate part of society. This central theme reveals how society continues to justify white supremacy, both morally and legally, even today. Finally, Isabel Wilkerson suggests a possible way out of this cold categorisation of human beings through empathy, listening and learning, in order to better understand other people.

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Analysis and key concepts

01.

Racial tension in the United States is best explained through the lens of caste rather than race

02.

There are three main examples of caste systems in history: the Southern United States, India, and Germany

03.

To slave owners and traders, slaves were not people but property

04.

The hierarchy of the castes based on skin colour was the nation’s guiding principle

05.

The Indian caste system and the Nazi caste have a lot in common with the American system

06.

The caste system is rooted in a system of beliefs that uphold and justify hierarchical division

07.

When any society puts a caste system in place, the dominant caste has to work hard to maintain that system and guarantee that nobody questions their right to rule

08.

The influence of the caste system on both individuals and on modern society, where racism has become explicit, turning white people’s discomfort into anger towards minority groups

09.

The only way to dismantle the caste system of any society is for everyone to open their hearts and minds enough to see how we have all been manipulated into supporting this division

10.

Quotes

11.

Take-home message

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Many useful tips to:

  • Understand how the caste system influences people’s lives.
  • Find out how to move away from the caste system to create a more equal society.
  • Discover the historical roots of racism that are still very present in modern society.

Isabel Wilkerson is an American journalist for the New York Times. In 1994, she became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. Later she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama in 2015. Wilkerson has taught journalism lo and narrative non-fiction at Harvard, Princeton, Emory, Northwestern and at Boston University. Her first book, The Warmth of Other Suns, which told the tale of the Great Migration of Afro Americans from the rural south to the urban north during the twentieth century, quickly became a bestseller. Demand for her presence as a public speaker has also increased since she released Caste in 2020.

Publishing house:

Random House

Year:

2020

Pages:

496

ISBN:

978-0593230251