Showing papers on "Caste published in 1993"

The interpretation of caste

Abstract: This study proposes a radical alternative to prevailing theories of the caste system, which either build on indigenous rationalizations of the Brahman's supremacy or reduce hierarchy to material factors. Drawing on a wide range of historical and ethnographic sources as well as four years' fieldwork, Declan Quigley presents a comparative approach which locates caste-organized communities in the context of complex agrarian societies generally. At the heart of caste, he argues, there is a tension between the centralizing forces of kingship, with its associated ritual, and decentralizing forces of kinship. Dr Quigley believes that it is this tension, rather than Brahminical ideology, which generates the characteristic patterns of hierarchy and the preoccupation with purity and pollution.

The Transformation of Authority in Rural India

Abstract: main stream of post-independence scholarship on agrarian India. Very soon after independence an academic orthodoxy hardened as to the character of agrarian social structure and power. The argument of this paper is that this orthodoxy is no longer valid and that it obscures what is a profound transformation in the character of agrarian India. For a period of roughly a generation dating from the early I950s, scholars drawn from both India and abroad set about providing a new picture of social life in rural India. Like earlier accounts of the British period, these post-independence studies were preoccupied with the phenomenon of caste. But there were also important departures, on both methodological and substantive levels. The new methodology consisted simply in systematic field-work conducted by live-in professional anthropologists, as opposed to the less rigorously empirical style of British, other European and Indian scholarship in earlier periods. The fruit of this empiricism was what seemed to be a substantially fresh account of the structure of rural society. The image of village India to emerge from the new anthropology was one of systematic domination and subordination that had little to do with the great books of Hinduism. Agrarian society was now seen A number of bodies have supported the research on which this work is based. My major institutional debt is to La Trobe University for the requisite leave and some travel assistance. The people who have helped in village-level research are too many to mention. When I began this work I was helped greatly by P. C. Mathur of the

Interpreting Early India

Abstract: Professor Thapar argues the importance of understanding and positioning various well-established perspectives on the Indian past in order to arrive at an informed understanding of contemporary situations - such as disputes between Hindus and other Indian communities. It is vitally important for historians and informed lay readers to consider the wide range of opinions and views that are available on our past, particularly on religion and society in ancient India. This volume has essays on Durkheim and Weber's views on Indian caste and society; on D.D. Kosambi's contribution to Indian historiography; and on the recent attempts to project a composite Hinduism in early India by ignoring evidence on the existence of multiple communities and diverse identities. (This is a new paperback edition of the earlier hardback published in 1992.)

The caste system in india and its consequences

Abstract: Caste is the basic structural feature of Hindu society; all social scientists are agreed on this. Since Hinduism is generally recognised to be as much a social system as a religion, its social framework embodying caste rituals has governed the lives of the majority of Indians for hundreds of years. Having deep roots in tradition and enjoying sanction in all religious literature belonging to the pre‐British era, caste has been the dominant principle of social organisation since ancient times. In fact, barring the recent past, Hinduism has always been identified in the minds of most Indians with caste observances. Writes R.C. Zaehner: “…until a century or so ago the acceptance of the caste system was considered by the orthodox to be the sole effective criterion of whether one was or was not a Hindu. In matters of belief it mattered not at all whether one believed in one god or many, or not at all, nor did it much matter on how one interpreted ‘liberation’ or whether one rejected it outright so long as one fulfilled the duties prescribed for one's caste.”

Accessing higher education: the dilemma of schooling women, minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in contemporary India*

Abstract: This article focusses on the growth of higher education within the framework of preferential treatment and supportive measures for the benefit of different social groups, namely, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, minorities and women. It also reviews the educational policy discourse which assigns several functions to higher education. Some of these are: equity for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes; mainstreaming for the minorities, and equality for women. It demonstrates that the educational policy fails to integrate these functions which remain sectoral aims even at the conceptual level. Further, in the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Indian society, the parametres of gender, caste, class and region are crucial in determining access to higher education. Again, gender becomes the all inclusive negative parameter conferring cumulative and competing disadvantages on women. Lastly, the educational policies and programmes are unable to encompass the complex social reality within a single framework and are, therefore, unable to bridge the gap between policy and practice.

Gender inequality in education and employment in the scheduled castes and tribes of India

Abstract: The complex stratification systems in India give rise to a multiplicity of social categories which often obscure the relative status of women and men within the more disadvantaged segments of the population The focus of this study is on the situation of women in scheduled castes and tribes — groups which are referred to as ‘weaker sections of people’ and granted special safeguards and concessions under the Indian constitution Women in these under-privileged groups are doubly disadvantaged: their minority group status interacts with India's patriarchal culture to produce deplorable living conditions Drawing from both ethnographic and statistical sources, the paper presents a descriptive profile of scheduled caste and tribe women's status in Indian society Using Indian Census data, the study documents extreme degrees of gender inequality among the scheduled groups Findings indicate that relative to men, women in these groups have far more limited access to both educational and employment resources This research also suggests that socioeconomic development serves to reduce the disadvantage of scheduled group women relative to men Among the scheduled groups considered to be more developed according to standard indicators, findings indicate less gender inequality in education and employment

The myths of origin of the Indian Untouchables

Abstract: The world-view of today's untouchables has undoubtedly been influenced by the democratic changes in Indian society. What is less clear, however, is whether untouchables were closer to Hindu orthodoxy and referred to religious concepts to legitimize their inferior position in the past, as Weber has argued. Untouchable myths of origin, the antiquity of which is well established, can be taken as a good illustration of the way untouchables view - and viewed - themselves and their place in society. The myth of origin widely held by untouchables throughout India claims that untouchables were originally respectable people whose present condition is the result of a misunderstanding, rather than of some inherent defect. The myth thus contests the position of untouchables within the caste system, though not the system itself, whose ideological foundations it continues to uphold. This ambiguity is typical of the position of untouchables within Indian society more generally.

Caste, Democracy and the Politics of Community Formation in India:

Abstract: This chapter examines debates about the survival of caste in India today. It argues that caste is an institution which has both ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ aspects, both ‘primordial’ and instrumental dimensions as, indeed, it probably always had. Mitra rejects the view of modernisation theorists, and of secular Indian intellectuals, who consider that caste is just a hangover from a discredited past. Arguing in favour of an instrumentalist, rather than essentialist, view of caste, he suggests that castes may have a useful role in the formation of identity and, as such, may help in the formation of the nation and state. Castes are resources that actors use to promote their own interests. Caste consciousness destroys those very aspects of the caste system which the essentialist view presented as immutable. The continuation of an essentialist perception of caste serves only to drive a wedge between the state and society. It gives rise to the stigma which prevents the law, bureaucracy and media from doing those things that would help transform castes into social organisations available for the creation of a plural and multi-cultural nation. Mitra develops his argument by focusing on three empirical areas: competitive politics, positive discrimination and the market economy.

Caste, Class and Education: Politics of the Capitation Fee Phenomenon in Karnataka

Abstract: Caste, Class and Education A Historical Perspective Society, Polity and Education in Karnataka Evolution of the Capitation Fee Phenomenon in Karnataka Policy Towards Private Colleges The Management Process The Students The Faculty Conclusion

Changing India: Bourgeois Revolution on the Subcontinent

Abstract: The revised edition of Robert Stern's book brings India's story up to date. Since its original publication in 1993, much has altered and yet central to the author's argument remains his belief in the remarkable continuity and vitality of India's social systems and its resilience in the face of change. This is a colourful, readable and comprehensive introduction to modern India. In a journey through its family households and villages, the author explains its long-lived and little understood caste and class systems, its venerable faiths and extraordinary ethnic diversity, its history as 'the jewel in the crown' of British imperialism and its post-Independence career as a major agricultural and industrial nation. While paradoxes abound in an India which is constantly transforming, Stern demonstrates how and why it remains the largest and most enduring democracy in the developing world.

Is a theory of caste still possible

Abstract: A theory of caste must offer a way of ordering the facts in such a way that it does not diminish the significance of some or ignore others. It must also be comparative. Caste organization is found in some parts of South Asia but not all. Equally, structural parallels may be found in many other parts of the world and one should not therefore assume that the defining characteristics of caste are unique to Hindu communities or to the ideology of Brahmanism. What is needed is a theory which explains why all of the traits associated with caste are found together where and when they are, whether in South Asia or elsewhere. Various theories of caste are reviewed in this chapter before coming to the conclusion that one of these makes much more sense of the historical and ethnographic evidence than the others. Most theories depict castes as arranged in a ladder-like vertical order. Sociologists have tended to emphasise this ‘stratification’, regarding the ideological and ritual manifestations of caste, such as the pervasive concern with purity and impurity, as epiphenomenal. Anthropologists have generally avoided this error but have faced other intractable problems. Some see caste as a recent colonial ar

Caste, religion and other identities

Abstract: Religion is one of the many principles of social identification in India. It is becoming increasingly important — although, very often, what appears to be mobilisation on a religious basis can just as adequately, indeed more satisfactorily, be described in terms of caste, class or regional affiliations. Vested interests may encourage the reification of religions, and academics overseas, especially in Religious Studies departments, may, unwittingly, provide them support. This chapter examines the link between caste and religion, particularly in the case of the very lowest status groups. It suggests that both caste and religion mean very different things at different levels of the hierarchy. It then proceeds to look at the distinctive characteristics of religious identities in India. The discussion is related to wider debates about ethnic and racial identities and issues. Should class or interest group membership and allegiances be prioritised over other cultural identities, whether ascribed or acquired? It is argued that it is mistaken to reduce any one of these to another. Searle-Chatterjee draws on a range of historical and sociological/anthropological literature and also makes use of her own research in Varanasi (Banaras).

Girasias and the politics of difference in Rajasthan: ‘caste’, kinship and gender in a marginalised society

Abstract: Anthropologists have often contrasted ‘caste’ and ‘tribe’ as forms of social organisation based on opposite principles (eg ‘castes' are based on hierarchy, ‘tribal’ society is undifferentiated and egalitarian). The concept of ‘caste’ is both an imposed one, a product of colonial governmental and academic exercises, and one which has political realities. However, whilst such national and regional formulations of caste are important, they do not always reflect the social categories which are central to the organisation of people's lives at the local level. The Girasias (generally held to be a ‘tribe’ by others) live in Rajasthan in proximity to the Rajputs (generally held to be a ‘caste’; Girasias themselves claim to be a branch of the Rajput caste). On many points the way in which a group categorises itself does not correspond with the way in which it is categorised by members of other groups. In practice the Girasias share many social, economic and religious institutions with the other ‘caste’ communities in the region as also with the ‘tribal Bhils. This does not mean that these groups are indistinguishable, but ‘Rajput’ and ‘Bhil’ stereotypes were used within the Girasia group to express differences, identifications and evaluations. However the tribe/caste distinction and the corresponding division of labour between anthropologists and sociologists in India is thereby called into question. To the Girasias, patrilineal kinship and territory play a central role in their sense of ‘caste’ identity, unlike other communities (the Rajputs and Bhils are exceptions) for whom caste is a more dispersed, agnatic and affinal group. Descent is crucial. Although their kinship ideology emphasises a sense of separation rather than hierarchy, Girasia kin divisions present members with equal opportunities to be unequal. Lineal kinship provides the paradigm for talking about all relationships whether or not based on actual biological ties. Equally, gender provides an idiom for the construction of difference. Descent groups are differentiated according to the evaluation of groups from which they have been able to obtain wives. Both Girasias and outsiders use the attire and the behaviour of women and perceived gender roles to distinguish between themselves. Despite the local complexity of Girasia kinship and gender relations which cannot be expressed in the language of caste and tribe, outsiders (other castes, classes, government officials, academics) continue to regard the Girasias as tribal as a result of the politics of caste and gender at the local, regional and national levels.

Caste, Skill, and Training: The Evolution of Cohesion in European Armies from the Middle Ages to the Sixteenth Century

Abstract: The Middle Ages were characterized by growing institutional sophistication, and nowhere was this more apparent than the craft of war. The image made familiar by Ferdinand Lot and Sir Charles Oman, of medieval warfare as featuring limited discipline, simple tactics, and no strategy at all, has given way to a growing appreciation of the complexity of military operations between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries.1 More and more medieval leaders are emerging from the shadows of romance as solid, competent captains. Even Richard the Lion-Hearted is now presented as a strategist comparable to Bernard Law Montgomery-a juxtaposition not necessarily favoring the latter! 2 The parallel reflects the high cost of medieval armies relative to a given political system’s mobilizable resources. Like the twentieth-century British marshal, no medieval commander could afford to lose men heedlessly. Large-scale battles were exceptional because of their risk-a risk enhanced by the high development of the science of fortification. An enemy defeated in the field was likely to escape decisive consequences by withdrawing behind defenses whose reduction involved massive expenses of time and effort. Medieval warfare therefore tended towards a process of small-scale maneuvers, raids, and skirmishes based on regional networks of forti–fications. This attritional model in turn highlighted the familiar limita–tions of feudal levies: short service and organizational entropy. Warfare had become too complex, too sophisticated, and too low-key to be sustained effectively by temporarily assembled bands of agonistic heroes. High levels of patience, cunning, and discipline were required to achieve even limited ends-not least to prevent operations from degenerating into mutual self-destruction through mutual plundering.3

Partition and family strategies: gender-education linkages among Punjabi women in Delhi.

Abstract: This article is based on the life histories of 40 high-caste Punjabi Hindu women in Delhi India who migrated around the time of Partition. The article fills a gap in the literature on links between family decision making and gender education. The histories reflect the effects of Partition and changes in the practice of seclusion for women. There were many different experiences around the time of Partition in 1947. The extent to which migrating families of individuals suffered from rape murder arson or family disruption depended upon the travel distance the nature of the route and its police protection or refugee camps business networks and/or family supports for transferring assets or women and children. These life histories illustrate that external changes in society can result in changes in the dynamics and structure of families. Macropolicies influence the options available to families adjusting to societal changes. "Partition narrowed the physical spaces and enlarged the social spaces." Partition resulted in the decline in impact from caste and regional culture on marriage arrangements and created opportunities for womens and girls education and employment. The Punjab initially a frontier area became more assimilated and less caste-oriented. Daughters were married into families living a distance from home. All religious groups veiled and secluded their women. Other restrictions on women included a gendered division of labor and resource distribution within the family. After independence religious and social reforms were promoted. Womens issues were "an ideological battleground" and there was no agreement on the status and role of women. There was pressure due to economic crisis to remove restrictions on intermarriage marriage age seclusion the mobility of women and the gender division of labor. The changes in gender roles were survival strategies in response to the reformist movement and a crisis situation.

A Development Success Story? Low Caste Entrepreneurship and Inequality: An Indian Case Study

Abstract: Small-scale industry development, particularly when targeting disadvantaged groups, has often been promoted as a possible alternative to fundamental change in property relations, and for women as a way of improving their position without direct forms of feminist organization. This article discusses a relatively successful case of small-scale entrepreneurship development in the silk reeling industry in five villages in South India. In this area, despite the substantial amounts of capital and risk involved, an unusually high number of Scheduled Caste ex-labourers have managed to become reasonably successful entrepreneurs. Based on the findings of survey and anthropological research conducted over a period of six months between 1989 and 1991 it considers the factors contributing to these cases' success: characteristics of the reeling industry, the nature of government intervention and the socioeconomic and historical context of this particular area. However, as argued in the second half of the article, the upward mobility for some has been dependent on the availability of cheap labour and the manipulation of caste and family loyalties within the disadvantaged groups. Significantly, gender inequalities have remained, despite the potentially powerful position of a skilled female labour force in a situation of increasing labour shortage.

The Creation of Identity: Colonial Society in Bolivia and Tanzania

Abstract: Many colonial regimes appropriate traditional symbols of power to enhance authority. In many cases this appropriation results in the hardening of more transitory political divisions among subject people into ethnic, national, or tribal ones. Colonialism often, in essence, creates different identities for subject peoples. For example, the East India Company (E.I.C.) and royal colonial government in India manipulated caste and religion to carry out a policy of divide and rule. Moreover, the E.I.C. and later the Raj attempted to create a European-style landed elite that could promote development of agriculture, maintain social control in the countryside and, perhaps most important, collect taxes owed to the government. The Raj attempted to place the structures of power that evolved within the framework of the symbols of Moghul legitimacy, going so far as to create a hybrid traditional style of architecture used in many public buildings that mixed elements from both Hindu and Muslim buildings. In South Africa, colonial legislation, as seen in the process begun by the Glen Gray Act of 1894, resulted in the proletarianization of the African population by creating tribal reservations without enough resources to support all the people often arbitrarily defined as members of a particular tribe. And, as seen in studies of mine labor, coloniallegislation also defined a distinctive legal status for workers.

Preferential policies and the movement of the disadvantaged: The case of the Scheduled Castes in India

Abstract: This article examines the effect of state actions on the political behaviour of disadvantaged minorities. Most studies of political mobilization fail to inquire about the role of the state in the formation and maintenance of political groups. This article describes the process through which the polity constructs new forms of group awareness and political action among previously inarticulate, unorganized sections of society. More specifically, it is about the political mobilization of an oppressed minority in India, the Scheduled Castes ‐ a group composed of distinct caste groups with specific cultural and occupational characteristics but lumped under a single category by the state. Through a longitudinal study comparing two periods in a state's political history I show how progressive state intervention in the form of preferential policies increased the political organization and activism of this oppressed minority. The analysis is based on a survey of government documents; coding of newspaper re...

India Invented: A Nation-In-The Making

Abstract: Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Second Edition Introduction - Ethnicity: A Look into the Indian Kaleidoscope Prologue: India Invented, Disinvented & Re-invented Concepts & Categories Categories into Concepts 'Tribe' in India: From Ethnicity to Class Religion: Nationalism & Constitutional Order 'Harijans' into 'Dalits': From Caste to Class The Tower of Babel: Misunderstandings in Many Languages National Integration in a Fragmented Society Inconclusive Conclusions: Some Theoretical & Practical Considerations Epilogue: Another Republic for India References Index.

Inside and outside : conceptual continuities from household to region in Kumaon, north India

Abstract: This thesis is an ethnographic study of the social organisation of a Central Himalayan village Fieldwork was carried out between 1989-1991 in Almora district of the Kumaon region in the hills of Uttar Pradesh, India Kumaoni villagers conceptually organise their social world on segmentary principles, locally expressed by the opposition between the inside (bhiter) and the outside (bhyar) The conceptual opposition of 'inside' and 'outside' is replicated at various levels of society In this study it is examined with regard to intra-household, inter-household, affinal and inter-caste relations, and to interactions with the gods and spirits and plains society Insiders and outsiders are ordered hierarchically such that insiders consider themselves morally superior to outsiders At every level of identification, outsiders are constructed as greedy, dangerous and untrustworthy Disorder and harm are presented as originating from 'outside', and are associated with 'outsiders' The 'inside', as contextually defined, is vulnerable to these outside forces, and must be protected Accompanying this presentation is the ideological stress on the separation, regulation and containment of social categories This is most clearly elaborated on the household level, but is also pertinent on the levels of caste and region Men and women's contrasting experiences of marriage, kinship and residence inform their representations of the household and supra-household relations Although the inside/outside dichotomy and its associations are shared by both genders, men and women apply them differently Men express the inside/outside opposition in terms of broader levels of community, be it lineage, caste, village or region For women the inside/outside distinction, though significant on these broader levels, ultimately begins at the household level and extends outwards from there The immediate 'community of insiders' for women is the household whereas for men it is the lineage At the same time, however, the category of 'women' is not a homogeneous one; depending on their interests, status, role, age and so forth, women give different representations of the same social reality Thus, men and out-married women (daughters and sisters of the village) talk about social relations in terms of harmony and cooperation In-married women (wives of the village) present the village as a tense, conflict-ridden place where deceit and rivalry between households represent normal social relations

Orissa famine of 1866: demographic and economic consequences.

Abstract: The author examines the causes and the demographic social and economic consequences of the 1866 famine in Orissa India. The focus is on the differential mortality impact by class caste age and sex. (ANNOTATION)

Nandanar: Untouchable Saint and Caste Hindu Anomaly

Abstract: Cultural beliefs in support of untouchability are still prevalent in India today despite government efforts and new ideologies to combat them These beliefs, I suggest, cannot be understood solely as a cultural tradition passively carried forward to the present, but are supported as well by psychological and social dynamics Here, a study of the differing caste versions of an untouchable saint legend helps reveal some of these psychological and social aspects of untouchability beliefs through a discussion of attribution theory in social psychology and Bakhtin's dialogic approach to literature In 1984-85 I1 did fieldwork in Tamil Nadu in a Paraiyar (untouchable) community near Chidambaram From interviews with caste Hindus1 in the vicinity, sharp insights of some untouchable informants, and observances of interactions between caste Hindus and untouchables, I became aware not only of caste Hindus' views of untouchables-views in accord with the traditional Hindu belief that untouchables are inherently polluting, immoral, submissive, and lacking in intelligence-but also noted how cognitive manipulations in attribution processes, in conjunction with Hindu ontology and etiology, helped maintain these views, even in the face of contradictory information, such as an untouchable exhibiting positive qualities These cognitive processes also became evident as I collected stories about Nandanar, an untouchable saint, and no

Words, Conduct, Caste

Abstract: How do we know what counts as speech and what counts as conduct? When is government disabled from regulating conduct that is intended to express ideas? What is the relationship between constitutional principles of equality and constitutional principles of free expression? And how do these questions bear on current controversies over pornography and hate speech? In this Essay, I propose some answers to these questions. I offer these general propositions: 1. As a matter of history and principle, the constitutional commitment to equality should be understood as a prohibition against systems with caste-like features. Courts should play a cautious role

Muslim evolution and conversions in Karikal, South India

Abstract: In South Asia, conversions to Islam seem to have been effected through persuasion or pressure or due to the social discontent of some low caste Hindus. Some modern scholars lay more stress on the factor of force than on that of persuasion to explain conversions, while some others subscribe to the role played by the Sufis and the missionaries. In the present study, the veracity of these claims with regard to the Muslims of Karikal is explored. It is shown that conversions actually depend upon many local factors such as famine, epidemics, natural calamities and migrations, apart from force or the role of Sufis. It is also stressed that only area-restricted studies can bring to light the real circumstances of conversion in every region of South Asia.