Caste, Culture and Colonialism

Counter-Hegemonic Essays
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-29928-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Critical Humanities Across Cultures

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.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shah, Prakash

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politik & Religion, Religionsfreiheit
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; Part I; 1. A Comparative Science of Cultures; 2. Two, or Three, Research Traditions on Caste; Part II; 3. Antecedents: Colonialism, Education and Reform in India; 4. Hindu Law and the Colonial Legal System; 5. Caste in the Colonial Personal Law System; Part III; 6. Culture; 7. Multiculturalists on Caste; 8. Secularization and the Subordination of Indian Traditions; Part IV; 9. Jati; 10. Caste and Race etc.; 11. The Academics and Caste; Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Prakash Shah is a Reader in Culture and Law at Queen Mary University of London. His research focuses on caste, culture, religion, migration and law. He is author of Against Caste in British Law (2015) and co-editor of Western Foundations of the Caste System (2017).