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2008 Abstracts Stage 2

How has the Indian Caste System Changed from its Origin to the Modern Day?

In 2005 I spent four months teaching in India and fell in love with this beautiful and dynamic country. I spent the majority of my time living in a village in northern India and what shocked me the most was how such a spiritual country could hold such beliefs on class discrimination. I also noticed how the caste system was not so prevalent in the cities and by talking to people I met I found out that the caste system had a deep and complicated history. Therefore I have found this study on the caste system fascinating because I have managed to apply my research to my own experience of India. I have started this project by looking at possible origins of the caste system and then looking at how strict and rigid the caste system was in early India. The main change that I have focused on in is after WW11 and when Gandhi, who was a spiritual and political leader of India, bought India to independence. In the heart of the project I have shown how Gandhi liberated the strict caste system and how this has affected modern India. Finally I have compared Gandhi’s teachings to the philosophy of Nietzsche and his work “On the Genealogy of Morals,” which demonstrates how he believes that a caste system should be apparent in all societies.