ROCKPORT — Professor Sonja Thomas will deliver a presentation about the caste system in India on Wednesday, February 7, at 6 p.m., at the Rockport Public Library. This event is free and open to all.

Have you heard of caste but never really understood what it is? Is caste religious? Is it about occupations? What is the difference between race, colorism, and caste? This crash course will be a primer on caste where you can learn about terms, caste discrimination in South Asia and in the US, and activism to end caste apartheid. A discussion will entail how caste is systemic and dispel commonly held myths about caste. This “course” is (roughly) 40 minutes long giving ample time for Q&A and discussion.

Sonja Thomas is an associate professor of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at Colby College. Her research examines the intersections of caste, race, gender, class, and religion in postcolonial India and race, Catholic settler colonialism, and the South Asian diaspora. She is the author of Privileged Minorities: Syrian Christianity, Gender, and Minority Rights in Postcolonial India (UWA Press, 2018). She has also written articles on tap dance in the US and globally. She is currently writing a manuscript entitled Indians and Cowboys: Race, Caste, and Indian Missionary Priests in Rural America on Catholic missionary priests from India serving in rural Montana and North Dakota.

This presentation is hosted by the Rockport Public Library and offered as a free community event in anticipation of the 37th Annual Camden Conference – INDIA: Rising Ambitions, Challenges at Home, February 16-18, 2024, live at the Camden Opera House and live-streamed to the Strand Theatre in Rockland, Luther Bonney Hall at USM in Portland, and to homes and classrooms worldwide.

For more information, please visit camdenconference.org.