Description
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd Untouchable Pasts: Religion, Identity, And Power Among A Central Indian Community, 1780-1950 by Saurabh Dube
Untouchable Pasts constructs an anthropological history of an unusual community over the last two hundred years. The Satnamis of central India have combined the features of a caste and a sect to question and challenge the tenor of ritual power that variously defines Hinduism. Combining archival and field work, the book presents an interpretive account of Satnami endeavours, encounters, and experiences the ethnographic pasts of a numerous community that continues to be a significant presence in the newly constituted state of Chhattisgarh.
The book brings together recent analytical departures and significant critical developments within contemporary scholarship in history, anthropology and sociology. By casting these theoretical tendencies in a critical dialogue with one another, the book thinks through some of those overriding oppositions that have formed the conceptual core of social thought and political enquiry in both Western and non-Western contexts.