Join the Society for the Study of Religion in discussing Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.
The Society for the Study of Religion (SSR) at Penn State is pleased to introduce its new book club! Our first book, selected by popular vote, will be Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (see below for the cover description). The meeting is currently scheduled for Wednesday, September 15th, 5:30-7:00pm.
We have a limited number of free copies that we would like to give to those interested in attending the Fall 2021 meeting. If you would like to reserve a free copy, please email Dr. Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz at jvb6460@psu.edu. If you request a free copy of the book, you are committing to attending the meeting in the fall. If you are unable to commit to the meeting at this early stage, you may find copies of the book online or in the Penn State library catalogue.
Faculty, students, and staff are welcome to participate.
In addition to the copies available through Dr. Birkenholtz, Lutheran Campus Ministry will make copies available for students who are interested in participating. Email Alicia Anderson at ara2@psu.edu to request a copy.
Here’s more on the book:
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
“In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.
Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.” (Wilkerson, 2020, cover matter)
NPR Book Review: