Dr. Palashi Vaghela
Thursday, March 6th
11:35 AM - 12:50 PM, GR 109
Guest Lecture Title:
Interrupting Merit, Subverting Legibility: Navigating Caste In ‘Casteless’ Worlds of Computing
Abstract:
Recent work in HCI (Human Computer Interaction) has shed light on structural issues of inequality in computing. Building on this work, this study analyzes the relatively understudied phenomenon of caste in computing. Contrary to common rhetorics of ‘castelessness,’ we show how computing worlds in India and Indian diasporic communities continue to be shaped and inflected by caste relations. We study how, when and where Dalits (formerly ‘untouchables’) encounter caste in computing. We show how they artfully navigate these caste inscriptions by interpreting, interrupting and ambiguating caste and by finding caste communities.
Drawing on the life stories of 16 Dalit engineers and anti-caste, queer-feminist and critical race theories, we argue that a dynamic and performative approach to caste, and other forms of inequality in HCI and computing, emphasizes the artfulness and agency of those at the margins as they challenge structural inequality in everyday life. Lastly, we suggest practical ways of addressing caste to build more open and inclusive cultures of global computing.
Bio:
Dr. Palashi Vaghela is a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCSanDiego. She is an incoming Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair of Technological Inclusion at Simon Fraser University. Palashi studies relations of power and inequality that are invisible or unaccounted for in computing practice and culture, with a focus on the political economy of caste and gender in the global computing industry. Her research has won awards in top peer-reviewed venues in Associated Computing Machinery (ACM) like CHI and CSCW. Her work has been funded by the Government of Canada, Microsoft Research, Social Science Research Council, Mellon Foundation, etc. Her website - https://palashi.xyz/