Counting Caste and the (Re)production of Inequality

• In Event: 458 - Regular Session. The Politics of Race, Ethnicity and Religion

Abstract

This paper explores the case of the first nationwide enumeration of caste in India’s post-colonial history to understand how state projects and policymaking play a role in the production of knowledge about caste. It traces the macro and micro politics surrounding the Socio-Economic Caste Census to explore how an exercise in social knowledge making intersects with the reproduction of inequalities. I draw upon interviews, observation and an extensive review of primary and secondary documents. This paper uses and extends Bourdieu’s field theory to show how the census is part of an active fight to maintain and acquire power and how in the process the caste count takes on a form very different form—and produces different types of data--than those who ardently pushed for it intend or desire.

Author

• Trina Vithayathil, Providence College