Agrarian Studies and the Caste Conundrum

The article calls for a recognition of caste as a structuring reality of agrarian life in South Asia. Such a recognition may also have a larger and comparative bearing beyond India. The article also argues for a simultaneous recognition of the serious problems with the almost universally accepted “idealistic†conceptualizations of caste. Further, approaching caste as an aspect of land relations and the realities of economic processes would significantly enhance our understanding of its obvious materiality, which makes it persist in contemporary times. A widespread “blindness†towards caste in the agrarian studies and, likewise, the imaginations of caste primarily as a “religious†phenomenon have broader academic and political implications. Bringing them together would thus require a recognition and opening-up of this academic conundrum. A critical engagement with the disciplinary framings of agrarian studies and, perhaps more importantly, of caste studies is thus called for.