The Persistence of Caste

While the caste system has been formally abolished under the Indian constitution, according to official statistics, every eighteen minutes a crime is committed in India on a member of the dalit caste.

The Persistance of Caste uses the shocking case of Khairlanji, the brutal murder of an entire Dalit family in 2006, to explode the myth that caste is a feudal relic, and argues that it has been well assimilated not only by capitalist India, but also Globalising India - spreading out through the diaspora. The author argues that anti-caste activism itself has reflected and reinforced the worst stereotypes, identifying foes and friends in obsolete terms, and that in post-independence India, the authority of Caste has found a new ally, the state and its police.

This shocking and insightful new analysis will not only provide a fascinating introduction into the issue of caste in a lobalised world, but will sharpen any readers' understanding of caste dynamics as they really exist.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Caste: A Historical Outline
2. Beyond Varna: Caste in the 21st Century
3. The Political Economy of Attrocities: The Shaping of the Macabre Spectacle
4. Anti-Atrocity Law: Mitigation and its Malcontents
5. The Khairlanji Murders: Genealogy and Aftermath
6. Post-Khairlanji: A Chronicle of Repression
7. Mass Media: Massive Prejudice
8. Neoliberalism vs. Naxalism: Atrocities by the State
9. Exploding Myths: Globalisation, Civil Society and the Bahujan

About the Author:

Anand Teltumbde is a human rights activist, writer, commentator and analyst of the contemporary dalit and left movements. His recent books are 'Hindutva and Dalits' (ed.) and 'Anti-Imperialism and Annihilation of Castes'.