While the caste system has been formally abolished under the Indian Constitution, according to official statistics, every eighteen minutes a crime is committed in India on a dalit-untouchable. The Persistence of Caste uses the shocking case of Khairlanji, the brutal murder of four members of a dalit family in 2006, to explode the myth that caste no longer matters. In this expose, Anand Teltumbde locates the crime within the political economy of post-Independence India and across the global Indian diaspora. This book demonstrates how caste has shown amazing resilience - surviving feudalism, capitalist industrialization and a republican constitution - to still be alive and well today, despite all denial, under neoliberal globalization. This insightful new analysis not only provides a fascinating introduction to the issue of caste in a globalized world, but also sharpens our understanding of caste dynamics as they really exist.
About the AuthorAnand Teltumbde is a human rights activist, writer, commentator and analyst of the contemporary dalit and left movements.
Reviews'Anand Teltumbde's analysis of the public, ritualist massacre of a dalit family in 21st century India exposes the gangrenous heart of Indian society. This is not a book about the last days of relict feudalism, but a book about what modernity means in India.' Arundhati Roy 'Every foreigner, who does not see how odious the caste system is, must read this.' Samir Amin
Book InformationISBN 9781848134492
Author Anand TeltumbdeFormat Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Zed Books LtdPublisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC