Caste Profiling in Indian Social Sciences
Epistemology of Ignorance as a Tool of Governance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22010577 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shayju C (0000-0002-0063-5220, Independent Scholar, India, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 180-210 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Philosophy of Race (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2165-8684 • E-ISSN: 2165-8692 |
| Publisher | The Pennsylvania State University Press (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5325/critphilrace.14.1.0180 |
| OpenAlex | W7167067771 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 35 |
Highlighting caste profiling in India under British and post-British rule, this article points toward the need to compare caste and race in an appropriately historicized way and to recognize caste oppression in India as a form of racial inequality and structural discrimination. It historiographically traces the role of Brahmanic epistemology in constructing “India” and “Hindu” identities and incorporating different groups into Varna hierarchy and thereby “Hinduizing” them in order to impose caste profiles, for example, on the Tiyyas and Ezhavas of Kerala. Subsequently, the role of Brahmanic epistemology in constructing caste as a subject of sociology and anthropology is also traced in the imposition of “Sanskritization” and the equating of “India” with “Hindu.” The author argues that Hinduization and Sanskritization constitute a methodological nationalism that is in fact Brahmanic and racist and that forms the dominant epistemology of the Indian social sciences. Following the framework of the Theory of Racial Ignorance, this article shows how Indian social sciences perpetuate Brahmanic racism through caste profiling of marginalized groups while ignoring their realities and histories. Caste profiling is a tool of governance and epistemic violence, and it is an integral aspect of Brahmanic racism
Caste · Corporate governance · Hierarchy · Ignorance · Oppression · Racism · Social order · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Social and Economic Development in India
Conceptions of Community, Nation and Politics
Legacies of Matriliny
Conceptualizing Epistemic Oppression
A Cautionary Tale
Racialization and ethnicization
Guest Editor’s Introduction
The Necessity of Dalitude
The Evasive Racism of Caste—and the Homological Power of the “Aryan” Doctrine
Why did you send me like this?’
Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing
Sanskritisation Revisited
Sanskritisation’ as Appropriation of What Was Denied
The social origins of a caste association, 1875–1905
Epistemic exploitation in education
A Note on Sanskritization and Westernization
Individualism and Equality [and Comments and Replies]
Cleansing India
Sanskritization
The remembered village
Both Sides of the Story
Racing for Innocence
Temple-Entry Movement in Travancore, 1860-1940
The Reproduction of Inequality
Matriliny did not become patriliny
Matriliny, Marxism, and the Birth of the Communist Party in Kerala, 1930-1940
Caste and Politics
The Stain of White
Caste in Contemporary India
Rethinking Postcolonial Democracy
Impossible Burdens
Myths of meritocracy
The Logic of Affirmative Action
Making Merit
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |