The ranking of university geography departments based on hiring transactions is compared to the ranking of Indian village castes based on food transactions. Fifty-one geography departments were examined for the period 1960-1974 when 326 hiring transactions occurred. A study of caste ranking in a north Indian village by McKim Marriott and existing surveys of the academic standings of geography departments are used to demonstrate the relationship. Measures of department status, based on the production of Ph.D. graduates and journal articles written by department members, are reviewed and compared. An algorithm is described which ranks Ph.D. graduates according to their job placement in geography departments, and its results are compared with the other measures. Findings indicate that, as in the case of Indian castes where ranking is determined by food transactions, geography departments belong to a hierarchy based on personnel transactions. (ND)