Caste in History

Author: Ishita Banerjee DubePublisher: Oxford University PressYear: 2008Language: EnglishPages: 304ISBN/UPC (if available): 978-0-19-568936-5 DescriptionBy bringing together a careful selection of old and new works, seminal and recent studies by historians and social scientists, this interdisciplinary reader in the Themes in Indian history series reflects on the diverse understanding of caste in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial India. It examines Caste as institution and ideology and as perception and practice by charting its varied trajectories and changing contours. It also explores the experiences in every day life of hierarchies and disabilities of caste. The result is a questioning of pervasive presuppositions regarding the given-ness of caste as involving tacit structure and action.ContentsSeries NotePrefaceacknowledgementIntroduction: Question of CasteCASTE ND COLONIALISMCaste and British Merchant Government in Madras,1639-1749The Census, social structure, and Objectific