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Nicholas B. Dirks

Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Paperback – November 1, 2001

by Nicholas B. Dirks (Author)

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When thinking of India, it is hard not to think of caste. In academic and common parlance alike, caste has become a central symbol for India, marking it as fundamentally different from other places while expressing its essence. Nicholas Dirks argues that caste is, in fact, neither an unchanged survival of ancient India nor a single system that reflects a core cultural value. Rather than a basic expression of Indian tradition, caste is a modern phenomenon--the product of a concrete historical encounter between India and British colonial rule. Dirks does not contend that caste was invented by the British. But under British domination caste did become a single term capable of naming and above all subsuming India's diverse forms of social identity and organization.

Dirks traces the career of caste from the medieval kingdoms of southern India to the textual traces of early colonial archives; from the commentaries of an eighteenth-century Jesuit to the enumerative obsessions of the late-nineteenth-century census; from the ethnographic writings of colonial administrators to those of twentieth-century Indian scholars seeking to rescue ethnography from its colonial legacy. The book also surveys the rise of caste politics in the twentieth century, focusing in particular on the emergence of caste-based movements that have threatened nationalist consensus.

Castes of Mind is an ambitious book, written by an accomplished scholar with a rare mastery of centuries of Indian history and anthropology. It uses the idea of caste as the basis for a magisterial history of modern India. And in making a powerful case that the colonial past continues to haunt the Indian present, it makes an important contribution to current postcolonial theory and scholarship on contemporary Indian politics.

Print length

328 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Princeton University Press
Publication date

November 1, 2001
Dimensions

6.14 x 0.87 x 9.21 inches
ISBN-10

0691088950
ISBN-13

978-0691088952
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Is India's caste system the remnant of ancient India's social practices or the result of the historical relationship between India and British colonial rule? Dirks (history and anthropology, Columbia Univ.) elects to support the latter view. Adhering to the school of Orientalist thought promulgated by Edward Said and Bernard Cohn, Dirks argues that British colonial control of India for 200 years pivoted on its manipulation of the caste system. He hypothesizes that caste was used to organize India's diverse social groups for the benefit of British control. His thesis embraces substantial and powerfully argued evidence. It suffers, however, from its restricted focus to mainly southern India and its near polemic and obsessive assertions. Authors with differing views on India's ethnology suffer near-peremptory dismissal. Nevertheless, this groundbreaking work of interpretation demands a careful scholarly reading and response. John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Massively documented and brilliantly argued, Castes of Mind is a study in true contrapuntal interpretation. Nicholas Dirks is a subtle unraveler of the dense, many-layered fabric of India's colonial and modern history as they converge in the idea and practice of caste. Even for the nonspecialist, the results of this gripping book are remarkable to behold. No one before Dirks has examined the ways in which caste gathers from as well as ignores the complex realities and hierarchies of Indian society. Neither reductive nor schematic, the notion of caste that emerges here is genuinely original."--Edward W. Said

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press; First Paperback Edition (November 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691088950
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691088952
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 0.87 x 9.21 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,146,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #855 in Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
- #1,206 in India History
- #1,736 in Sociology of Class

Customer Reviews:
30 ratings

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5 star		58%
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Turnzilla

Very interesting argument, but incredibly dense and often unreadable ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

Very interesting argument, but incredibly dense and often unreadable at times when Dirks decides to string together many multi-syllable adjectives that require a dictionary.

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2013

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There's always a pattern with history and the curtains are pulled away to view the class system in another civilization.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Raj

Truthful

Reviewed in India on December 3, 2021

Verified Purchase

Very first book that spoke the truth about Hindu caste system.

Suresh Pachaiappan

Good book

Reviewed in India on January 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

Good book

One person found this helpful

Ashish Ranjan

Fine book

Reviewed in India on October 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a remarkable book by which I came across and studied till right now.

2 people found this helpful

KMN

Two Stars

Reviewed in India on November 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

The book did reach me on time but it was dog-eared and the spine was slightly damaged

One person found this helpful

Satya Prakash

Four Stars

Reviewed in India on October 14, 2015

Verified Purchase

Very insightful.

One person found this helpful

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