Jodhka S.S., Naudet J. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Caste

Oxford University Press, 2023. — 682 p. — (Oxford Handbooks). — ISBN: 978-0198896715.Beginning with the 1990s, the subject of caste has seen a profound increase in interest among scholars. What was until then approached as a fossilized tradition of the ritual-obsessed Hindus refusing to see the progressive spirits of the emerging world and studied as a branch of anthropology, suddenly began to be seen as a complex reality deeply embedded in a range of institutions and social practices, attracting scholars from a wide range of disciplines--sociology, political science, history, literature, and even economics. Underlying this opening of the subject of caste were many factors: epistemic, empirical, and political. Caste is no longer approached through the classical binaries of 'traditional' and 'modern'; the 'East' and the 'West'; or the 'closed' and 'open' systems of stratification. With the growing consolidation of caste-based identities among those ranked lower down in the hierarchy since the 1990s, raising questions of citizenship and dignity, the subject has acquired a new salience. As the emerging research shows, the realities of caste on the ground have always been diverse across regions, often contested and ever changing. This Handbook presents a wide range of essays written by authors representing diverse academic disciplines and perspectives, bringing together the emerging trends in the research, imaginations, and lived realities of caste.* Presents an updated overview of caste drawing on the latest ground-breaking research.
* Offers a new definition of caste beyond conservative orientalist understandings.
* Provides compelling and diverse new perspectives on caste beyond the classical binaries of traditional and modern, East and West.
* Brings together a dynamic mix of contributors across the disciplinary spectrum of social sciences.Acknowledgements
Notes on Editors and Contributors
Introduction--Studying Caste: Conceptual Currents and Emergent Perspectives, Surinder S. Jodhka and Jules Naudet
SECTION I: CONCEPTUAL FRAMES
Editors' Introduction
The Idea of Caste through the Ages: Concept, Words, and Things / Roland Lardinois
Hierarchy / Martin Fuchs
The Jajmani System / Peter Mayer
Caste and Capital / Carol Upadhya
Caste and Class / Jules Naudet
Caste and Kinship / Janaki Abraham
SECTION II: HISTORY, STATE, AND THE SHAPING OF CASTE
Editors' Introduction
Caste and Kingship / Harald Tambs- Lyche
Transformations of Caste in Colonial India / Dilip Menon
Census, Caste Enumeration, and the British Legacy / Leigh Denault
Caste Disputes in Colonial India: Conflicts and the Legal Shaping of Caste / Julie Marquet
Caste and the Law / Gautam Bhatia
Reservations and Affirmative Action / Ashwini Deshpande
Backwardness / S. Anandhi and Kalpana Kannabiran
SECTION III: CASTE AND THE RELIGIOUS REALM
Editors' Introduction
Hinduism and Caste System / Mathieu Claveyrolas
Hindu Sects and Caste in South Asia / Raphaël Voix
Sanskritization: The Inheritance of an Ideational Category / George Kunnath
Caste and Hindutva / Joel Lee
Caste among Muslims in North India and Pakistan / Julien Levesque
SECTION IV: LOCAL POWER AND THE POLITICAL PROCESS
Editors' Introduction
The Dominant Caste / Nicolas Martin
Caste Associations and the Post-Mandal Politics of Caste / Rajeshwari Deshpande
Do Indians Vote Their Caste or Their Jati, or Their Class, or...? / Christophe Jaffrelot
Caste, Patronage, and Criminalization of Politics / Lucia Michelutti
SECTION V: COMMUNITY PROFILES AND REGIONAL TRAJECTORIES
Editors' Introduction
How to Write New Histories of Caste / Ramnarayan Rawat
The Brahmins of Urban India / Haripriya Narasimhan
Agarwal Banias of Delhi / Ujithra Ponniah
Caste Logos: A View from Tamil Nadu / Zoe E. Headley
The Invisibility of Caste in Bengal / Sarbani Bandhopadhyay
Caste in Punjab / Surinder S. Jodhka
Caste, Ethnicity, and the State in Nepal / David N. Gellner
SECTION VI: DALIT LIVES AND PREDICAMENTS OF CHANGE
Editors' Introduction
Ambedkar's Legacy / Anand Teltumbde
Changing Dynamics of Untouchability / Suryakant Waghmore
Dalit Movements in India / Hugo Gorringe and Karthikeyan Damodaran
The Mahars and Dalit Movement of Maharashtra / Harish Wankhede
Dalit Activism and Transnational Mobilization / Eva-Maria Hardtmann
Caste, Race, and Ethnicity / Deepa S. Reddy
Caste and Tribe / Jai Prasad
Denotified Communities / Kalpana Kannabiran
SECTION VII: EMERGING ENTANGLEMENTS OF CASTE
Editors' Introduction
The Economics of Caste / Guilhem Cassan
Caste and Merit / Ajantha Subramanian
Caste and Mobility / Divya Vaid
Caste and Gender / Pushpesh Kumar
Caste and the Diaspora / Radha Modi
Name Index
Subject Index