Interrogating Caste

Interrogating Caste

Author: Dipankar Gupta

Publisher: Penguin Books India

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780140297065

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The caste system has conventionally been perceived by scholars as a hierarchy based on the binary opposition of purity and pollution. Challenging this position, leading sociologist Dipankar Gupta argues that any notion of a fixed hierarchy is arbitrary and valid only from the perspective of the individual castes. The idea of difference, and not hierarchy, determines the tendency of each caste to keep alive its discrete nature and this is also seen to be true of the various castes which occupy the same rank in the hierarchy. It is, in fact, the mechanics of power, both economic and political, that set the ground rules for caste behaviour, which also explains how traditionally opposed caste groups find it possible to align in the contemporary political scenario. With the help of empirical evidence from states like Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the author illustrates how any presumed correlations between caste loyalties and voting patterns are in reality quite invalid. Provocative and finely argued, Interrogating Caste is a remarkable work that provides fresh insight into caste as a social, political and economic reality.


Book Synopsis Interrogating Caste by : Dipankar Gupta

Download or read book Interrogating Caste written by Dipankar Gupta and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2000 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The caste system has conventionally been perceived by scholars as a hierarchy based on the binary opposition of purity and pollution. Challenging this position, leading sociologist Dipankar Gupta argues that any notion of a fixed hierarchy is arbitrary and valid only from the perspective of the individual castes. The idea of difference, and not hierarchy, determines the tendency of each caste to keep alive its discrete nature and this is also seen to be true of the various castes which occupy the same rank in the hierarchy. It is, in fact, the mechanics of power, both economic and political, that set the ground rules for caste behaviour, which also explains how traditionally opposed caste groups find it possible to align in the contemporary political scenario. With the help of empirical evidence from states like Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, the author illustrates how any presumed correlations between caste loyalties and voting patterns are in reality quite invalid. Provocative and finely argued, Interrogating Caste is a remarkable work that provides fresh insight into caste as a social, political and economic reality.

Western Foundations of the Caste System

Western Foundations of the Caste System

Author: Martin Fárek

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-07-07

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 3319387618

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book argues that the dominant descriptions of the ‘caste system’ are rooted in the Western Christian experience of India. Thus, caste studies tell us more about the West than about India. It further demonstrates the imperative to move beyond this scholarship in order to generate descriptions of Indian social reality. The dominant descriptions of the ‘caste system’ that we have today are results of originally Christian themes and questions. The authors of this collection show how this hypothesis can be applied beyond South Asia to the diasporic cultures that have made a home in Western countries, and how the inheritance of caste studies as structured by European scholarship impacts on our understanding of contemporary India and the Indians of the diaspora. This collection will be of interest to scholars and students of caste studies, India studies, religion in South Asia, postcolonial studies, history, anthropology and sociology.


Book Synopsis Western Foundations of the Caste System by : Martin Fárek

Download or read book Western Foundations of the Caste System written by Martin Fárek and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-07-07 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that the dominant descriptions of the ‘caste system’ are rooted in the Western Christian experience of India. Thus, caste studies tell us more about the West than about India. It further demonstrates the imperative to move beyond this scholarship in order to generate descriptions of Indian social reality. The dominant descriptions of the ‘caste system’ that we have today are results of originally Christian themes and questions. The authors of this collection show how this hypothesis can be applied beyond South Asia to the diasporic cultures that have made a home in Western countries, and how the inheritance of caste studies as structured by European scholarship impacts on our understanding of contemporary India and the Indians of the diaspora. This collection will be of interest to scholars and students of caste studies, India studies, religion in South Asia, postcolonial studies, history, anthropology and sociology.

The Culturalization of Caste in India

The Culturalization of Caste in India

Author: Balmurli Natrajan

Publisher:

Published: 2013-05-31

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 9780415857864

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In India, caste groups ensure their durability in an era of multiculturalism by officially representing caste as cultural difference or ethnicity rather than as unequal descent-based relations. Challenging dominant social theories of caste, this book addresses questions of how caste survives the system that gave rise to it and adapts to new demands of capitalism and democracy. Based on original fieldwork, the book shows how the terrain of culture captured by a new grammar of caste revitalizes castes as cultural communities so that the culture of a caste is produced, organized and naturalized in the process of transforming jati (fetishized blood and kinship) into samaj (fetishized culture). Castes are shown to not be homogenous cultural wholes but sites of hegemony where class, gender and hierarchy over-determine the meanings and materiality of caste. Arguing that there exists a new casteism in India akin to a new racism in the USA, built less on biology and descent and more on purported cultural differences and their rights to exist, the book presents an extended critique and a search for an alternative view of caste and anti-casteist politics. It is of interest to students and scholars of South Asian culture and society.


Book Synopsis The Culturalization of Caste in India by : Balmurli Natrajan

Download or read book The Culturalization of Caste in India written by Balmurli Natrajan and published by . This book was released on 2013-05-31 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In India, caste groups ensure their durability in an era of multiculturalism by officially representing caste as cultural difference or ethnicity rather than as unequal descent-based relations. Challenging dominant social theories of caste, this book addresses questions of how caste survives the system that gave rise to it and adapts to new demands of capitalism and democracy. Based on original fieldwork, the book shows how the terrain of culture captured by a new grammar of caste revitalizes castes as cultural communities so that the culture of a caste is produced, organized and naturalized in the process of transforming jati (fetishized blood and kinship) into samaj (fetishized culture). Castes are shown to not be homogenous cultural wholes but sites of hegemony where class, gender and hierarchy over-determine the meanings and materiality of caste. Arguing that there exists a new casteism in India akin to a new racism in the USA, built less on biology and descent and more on purported cultural differences and their rights to exist, the book presents an extended critique and a search for an alternative view of caste and anti-casteist politics. It is of interest to students and scholars of South Asian culture and society.

Caste in Contemporary India

Caste in Contemporary India

Author: Surinder S. Jodhka

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-11-08

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1351330942

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Caste is a contested terrain in India’s society and polity. This book explores contemporary realities of caste in rural and urban India. It examines questions of untouchability, citizenship, social mobility, democratic politics, corporate hiring and Dalit activism. Using rich empirical evidence from the field across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other parts of north India, this volume presents the reasons for the persistence of caste in India from a new perspective. The book offers an original theoretical framework for comparative understandings of the entrenched social differences, discrimination, inequalities, stratification, and the modes and patterns of their reproduction. This second edition, with a new Introduction, delves into why caste continues to matter and how caste-based divisions often tend to overlap with the emergent disparities of the new economy. A delicate balance of lived experience and hard facts, this persuasive work will serve as essential reading for students and teachers of sociology and social anthropology, social exclusion and discrimination studies, political science, development studies and public policy.


Book Synopsis Caste in Contemporary India by : Surinder S. Jodhka

Download or read book Caste in Contemporary India written by Surinder S. Jodhka and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-11-08 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Caste is a contested terrain in India’s society and polity. This book explores contemporary realities of caste in rural and urban India. It examines questions of untouchability, citizenship, social mobility, democratic politics, corporate hiring and Dalit activism. Using rich empirical evidence from the field across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other parts of north India, this volume presents the reasons for the persistence of caste in India from a new perspective. The book offers an original theoretical framework for comparative understandings of the entrenched social differences, discrimination, inequalities, stratification, and the modes and patterns of their reproduction. This second edition, with a new Introduction, delves into why caste continues to matter and how caste-based divisions often tend to overlap with the emergent disparities of the new economy. A delicate balance of lived experience and hard facts, this persuasive work will serve as essential reading for students and teachers of sociology and social anthropology, social exclusion and discrimination studies, political science, development studies and public policy.

Interrogating Caste and Gender Hierarchies

Interrogating Caste and Gender Hierarchies

Author: Priyaṅkā Vaidya

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9789382532583

DOWNLOAD EBOOK


Book Synopsis Interrogating Caste and Gender Hierarchies by : Priyaṅkā Vaidya

Download or read book Interrogating Caste and Gender Hierarchies written by Priyaṅkā Vaidya and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Interrogating the Historical Discourse on Caste and Race in India

Interrogating the Historical Discourse on Caste and Race in India

Author: Gita Dharampal

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK


Book Synopsis Interrogating the Historical Discourse on Caste and Race in India by : Gita Dharampal

Download or read book Interrogating the Historical Discourse on Caste and Race in India written by Gita Dharampal and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Specter of Caste

The Specter of Caste

Author: Kabir Raj Khanna

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK


Book Synopsis The Specter of Caste by : Kabir Raj Khanna

Download or read book The Specter of Caste written by Kabir Raj Khanna and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Interrogating Caste and Gender

Interrogating Caste and Gender

Author: Maya Vinai

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9789382186366

DOWNLOAD EBOOK


Book Synopsis Interrogating Caste and Gender by : Maya Vinai

Download or read book Interrogating Caste and Gender written by Maya Vinai and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

New Racial Missions of Policing

New Racial Missions of Policing

Author: Paul Amar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1317989031

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book identifies new formations of race, racism and ethnicity at the intersection of neoliberalism, security, urban governance and the law through a comparative, international analysis of police organizations and practices. It pushes analytical and theoretical boundaries by examining racialization and ethnicization in locations where the topic is politically taboo, such as in China, India and France, and where racial and ethnic hierarchies have supposedly been banished to the past, as in Bosnia and South Africa. This book also examines police and security services not as mere artefacts of state authority or the prerogatives of capitalist development, but as relatively autonomous and uniquely productive intersections of new kinds of state, social and cultural formations that are remaking race, embodiment, fear and control on their own terms. This book was published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.


Book Synopsis New Racial Missions of Policing by : Paul Amar

Download or read book New Racial Missions of Policing written by Paul Amar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book identifies new formations of race, racism and ethnicity at the intersection of neoliberalism, security, urban governance and the law through a comparative, international analysis of police organizations and practices. It pushes analytical and theoretical boundaries by examining racialization and ethnicization in locations where the topic is politically taboo, such as in China, India and France, and where racial and ethnic hierarchies have supposedly been banished to the past, as in Bosnia and South Africa. This book also examines police and security services not as mere artefacts of state authority or the prerogatives of capitalist development, but as relatively autonomous and uniquely productive intersections of new kinds of state, social and cultural formations that are remaking race, embodiment, fear and control on their own terms. This book was published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

The Caste of Merit

The Caste of Merit

Author: Ajantha Subramanian

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0674987888

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Just as Americans least disadvantaged by racism are most likely to call their country post‐racial, Indians who have benefited from upper-caste affiliation rush to declare their country a post‐caste meritocracy. Ajantha Subramanian challenges this belief, showing how the ideal of meritocracy serves the reproduction of inequality in Indian education.


Book Synopsis The Caste of Merit by : Ajantha Subramanian

Download or read book The Caste of Merit written by Ajantha Subramanian and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Just as Americans least disadvantaged by racism are most likely to call their country post‐racial, Indians who have benefited from upper-caste affiliation rush to declare their country a post‐caste meritocracy. Ajantha Subramanian challenges this belief, showing how the ideal of meritocracy serves the reproduction of inequality in Indian education.