B.Tech

This Subject Includes

• Course No: HS 150
• Course: B.Tech
• Semester: IV
• Title: Critical Prespectives on Caste in Contemporary India
• Stream: Development Studies

• Preamble / Objectives (Optional): This course introduces students to the spectrum of issues and debates in understanding caste in contemporary India. It examines the social, economic, cultural and political aspects of the way in which caste continues to be reproduced in both rural and urban areas even as its shape and form continue to be dynamic. By engaging with the twin concepts of deprivation and privilege, the course examines these aspects through contemporary politics around caste in India.

  Course Content/ Syllabus: Introduction: genesis of the caste system, understanding caste and varna; Caste across rural India: village society, agrarian structure, occupational patterns; Caste across urban India: urban landscapes, employment and labour; Caste and politics: politicization of caste and castization of politics; Caste and gender: interlinkages, community and honour; Caste and education: affirmative action, higher education, knowledge production; Caste and assertion: Dalit Panthers, Ranvir Sena, Gujjar, Patel and Jat reservation uprisings, Una movement.

  Texts:

  2. Deshpande, S., The Problem of Caste (EPW), Orient Blackswan, 2014.

  3. Thorat, S. and K.S. Newman, Blocked by Caste, Oxford University Press, 2012.

  4. Teltumbde, A., The Persistence of Caste, Navayana, 2010.

  5. Dangle, A., Poisoned Bread, Orient Blackswan 2009.

  6. Kothari, R., Caste in Indian Politics, Orient Blackswan, 2010.

  7. Chakravarti, U., Gendering Caste: Through a Feminist Lens, Sage Publications, 2018.