Western Foundations of the Caste System

Fárek, Martin; Jalki, Dunkin; Pathan, Sufiya; Shah, Prakash

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.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2017-07-20

Format: Hardcover

ISBN-13: 9783319387604

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-38761-1

Dimensions: 210cm x148cm

Pages: 274