Race, Caste, Labor

Race, Caste, Labor is a conceptual and political primer for the study of global racial and caste capitalism. Arjun Shankar shows that both race and caste analysis are required to understand how labor stratification, hierarchy, and accumulation have operated historically and into the twenty-first century. The book refuses the impulse to split race from caste (or caste from race), and instead posits a third way forward that showcases how racism and casteism have worked in tandem to fix global labor hierarchies and facilitate accumulation. In turn, the questions, theories, and global movements discussed in this book will help readers imagine and articulate possible paths to resist racial and caste capitalist systems.

Arjun Shankar is Associate Professor of Culture and Politics at Georgetown University. His previous books include Brown Saviors and Their Others: Race, Caste, Labor, and the Global Politics of Help in India and Curiosity Studies: A New Ecology of Knowledge (coedited with Perry Zurn).