ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a complex comparative paradigm and unfolds the ontology of caste, which, in the process of comparing caste with race and color-based discrimination, revolves around the peripheries of colonial discourse. Such a comparative analysis, on the one hand, brings the caste discourse to the forefront, yet it ignores the contemporary realities of the Indian subcontinent where caste and untouchability practices are still very much part of institutional practices. To demonstrate this, the chapter discusses the current state of Indian (higher) education and its practices and pedagogy, which instead of dismantling it, promote and perpetuate caste realities. Caste realities that govern the life-worlds of an increasing number of lower-caste students are often overlooked. The chapter uses the framework of internal colonization to explain how the everyday language, curricula, and (caste) culture of higher education reproduce colonial, anti-colonial, and decolonization discourses, ultimately failing to question hegemonic caste practices.
