Description
Cambridge University Press (Manohar) Caste Knowledge and Power Ways of Knowing in Twentieth-Century Malabar by K N Sunandan
Caste, Knowledge, and Power investigates the transformations of caste practices in twentieth century India and the role of knowledge in this transformation and in the continuing of these oppressive practices. The author situates the domination and subordination in the domain of knowledge production in India not just in the emergence of colonial modernity but in the formation of colonial–Brahminical modernity. It engages less with the marginalization of the oppressed castes in the modern institutions of knowledge production which has already been discussed widely in the scholarship. Rather, the author focuses on how the modern colonial–Brahminical concept of knowledge invalidated many other forms of knowing practices and how historically caste domination transformed from the claims of superiority in acharam (ritual hierarchy) to the claims of superiority in possession of knowledge.Uses transdisciplinary methodology that challenges the restrictions posed by protocols of disciplinesClose reading of oral histories that engages readers and encourages them to make their own interpretationsAnalyses the hierarchies of caste dominance and knowledge production