Group of Pace University students sitting on a wall in Manhattan and hanging out.
Days of Origin 2.0

Programs

How You Can Participate

Negating Hierarchies - Configuring Solidarities: Caste, Class and Race in the United States

Join Dr. Gaurav Pathania—Ambedkarite scholar, anti-caste poet, community organizer, and Assistant Professor of Sociology and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University—as he leads a workshop that examines how caste discrimination intersects with U.S. racial and class hierarchies, drawing on historical and contemporary struggles, from Dalit and Black solidarities to campus activism, to imagine collective frameworks for justice, inclusion, and transformative pedagogy.

Date: April 2026
Time: TBA
Location: NYC

Full Program Description

In recent years, the United States has seen a growing reckoning with caste discrimination within the South Asian diaspora, one of its largest and fastest-growing immigrant communities. Although caste discrimination was formally outlawed in India decades ago, caste hierarchies persist in the U.S., intersecting with entrenched systems of racism and class inequality to shape access to education, employment, social networks, and belonging. Research indicates that Dalits in the U.S. experience caste-based exclusion in institutions, workplaces, and social life, often compounded by the fear of being “outed,” with serious consequences for safety and opportunity. In response, several universities have adopted anti-caste protections, while civil rights advocacy and local legislation, most notably Seattle’s anti-caste law, are reframing caste as a civil rights issue. Yet privileged-caste narratives continue to obscure these harms, and uneven policy implementation leaves many marginalized students without meaningful recourse.

This workshop situates caste within a broader matrix of oppression by tracing its intersections with race and class in the U.S. context. Drawing on comparative histories and legacies of cross-community solidarity, from dialogues between W.E.B. Du Bois and B.R. Ambedkar to the political affinities between the Black Panther and Dalit Panther movements, it foregrounds shared struggles against hierarchical domination. Centering empirical data, lived experiences, and student-led activism, including Dalit Lives Matter and Dalit feminist movements, the workshop explores how reimagining the pedagogy of caste can break silences, foster solidarities across movements against racism and classism, and create space for marginalized voices in higher education and the wider community

Origin in the Classroom

Origin in the Classroom is an academic initiative that brings the themes of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents and Ava DuVernay’s film Origin directly into course learning environments across Pace University. The program supports faculty in exploring questions of identity, belonging, hierarchy, and social justice through discipline‑specific lenses. By integrating these materials into existing curricula, Origin in the Classroom creates structured opportunities for students to examine systems of power, reflect on lived experiences, and engage in meaningful dialogue connected to course objectives.

Faculty participate in Origin in the Classroom in ways that best align with their teaching goals, including:

  • Incorporating Origin and caste-related themes into a lesson plan (e.g., Law; History; International Affairs; Civic Engagement; Mental Health; Advocacy and Activism; Social and Racial Justice; Ancestry; Peace and Justice; Power and Privilege; Casteism and Social Hierarchy).
  • Assigning selected readings or viewings, such as a segment of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents and/or a clip from Origin.
  • Connecting students with Days of Origin 2.0 programming, including events, workshops, and dialogues taking place throughout Spring 2026.

Faculty registration for Spring 2026 is now closed. This semester marks the final installment of Days of Origin at Pace University, concluding a two‑year initiative grounded in community learning, dialogue, and reflection inspired by Caste and Origin.

We extend our gratitude to the faculty, students, staff, and community partners who have participated over the past two years and helped bring this work to life. For questions or continued engagement with these themes, please contact the Division of Opportunity and Institutional Excellence (DOIE).