Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India

by Nicholas B. Dirks

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691088950
• ISBN13: 9780691088952
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent !

The british did not invent caste but they exploited it to the hilt to divide the pluralistic Indian society.The thesis of the book matters. The thought provoking nature of the book is more valuable than its contents.Columbia and Chicago are doing a valuable job of undoing or atleast explaining the british (and german) rape on indian history. A thinking that an objective history can be written, like conducting a laboratory experiment where an observer is independent of the thing that is observed, is a major fallacy . No more attacks of scientific methods on humanities please!