Caste, Culture and Colonialism
Counter-Hegemonic Essays
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:2nd Nov '26
£171.99
This title is due to be published on 2nd November, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£43.99(9781041299271)
This volume re-examines the formation and persistence of 'caste' as a category of analysis. It argues that the caste system, as conventionally understood, emerged not as an indigenous social structure but through British colonial classification, law, and education in India. The study traces the continuation of these colonial constructions into the post-independence period and their uptake in contemporary discourse. Through analyses of colonial education and legal institutions, modern theories of multiculturalism, caste studies, and scholar-activist advocacy for anti-caste discrimination legislation, the volume demonstrates how colonial-Orientalism remains operative. It further examines how these frameworks are mobilized in current legal and policy debates on caste in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Australia. By advancing an alternative framework for understanding Indian sociality, the book carries significant implications for dominant conceptions of caste and for the epistemic foundations of contemporary law-making in Anglo-Western jurisdictions. It will be of interest to scholars and advanced students in postcolonial studies, India and South Asian studies, legal anthropology, comparative religion, colonial history, and the sociology of knowledge production, as well as to researchers working on caste, exclusion, and discrimination law.
“As the Indian diaspora expands, conceptions about the meaning – and very existence – of caste affect social attitudes and legal regulations in Europe, America and beyond. This volume of detailed materials on the history and theory of caste should prove useful for scholars, regulators and fellow citizens.”
- Vikram David Amar, Daniel J. Dykstra Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
"This book is a trenchant and deeply researched study of the law and politics that bear on the term ‘caste’ as used globally, in India and elsewhere. It delves into the history, deployment and administrative lives of the category in Asia and the West. The book deserves to be read closely by all those who seek to understand the topic."
- Sumit Guha, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin
“This critique of classical conceptions in caste scholarship and modern westocentric human rights activism highlights simplistic, excessive focus on rigidity, innate disadvantage and discrimination. Advising nuanced plurality-conscious study of socio-cultural manifestations regarding varna and specifically jati, it warns against framing and naming caste specifically in law.”
- Werner Menski, Emeritus Professor of Law, SOAS, University of London
“Rarely do readers get an opportunity to engage the attempted overthrow of a master key paradigm, like the caste system. The ‘caste system’ represents such a western theorist's fantasy. The ‘caste system’ simply does not exist and should be purged from scholarly discourse.”
- Ivan Strenski, Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside
ISBN: 9781041299288
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
280 pages