Living Caste in the Diaspora: Panel Explores Everyday Bias and Institutional Barriers in Australia

Caste discrimination may be obscured in diasporic settings, but its presence is sharply felt in everyday life. Panel 3 of the symposium Understanding Caste Discrimination in Diaspora: Building Dialogues and Allyship addresses how caste adapts, hides, and persists across professional, academic, and social institutions in Australia.

Titled Living Caste in the Diaspora: Everyday Experiences and Institutional Barriers, the session brings together speakers who speak from lived experience, critical inquiry, and professional contexts. Moderated by Dr Vikrant Kishore, the discussion examines the subtle but persistent manifestations of caste exclusion abroad—from workplaces and classrooms to policy and migration narratives.

Dr Rupali S. Bhamare, structural engineer and academic, interrogates the erasure of caste in STEM fields and reflects on navigating caste, gender, and race in Australian academia.

Parag Bhagat, Ambedkarite Buddhist and IT consultant, shares how caste awareness informs his activism and how caste hierarchies often reappear in corporate cultures and community spaces.

Sanchi Meshram, public policy student and health sector professional, offers insights into the quiet but persistent caste-based barriers within education, migration, and public service sectors.

Sushant Wanjari, a specialist in supply chain logistics, discusses the dual challenge of asserting equality while building inclusive community ties in a new country.

The session underscores that caste, even when unnamed, continues to shape access, dignity, and belonging. Recognition, structural awareness, and allyship are crucial to dismantling this invisible scaffolding.

Join this critical conversation on caste, migration, and resistance in diaspora contexts.