Caste as a social category and identity in colonial Lanka

Bibliographic Data

ID8961806
AuthorsJohn Rogers (0000-0001-6005-6610, Tufts University, corresponding author), John D Rogers (Tufts University, Boston)
Year2004
Volume41
Issue1
Pages51-77
Publication date2004-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Indian Economic & Social History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-4646 • E-ISSN: 0973-0893
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/001946460404100104
OpenAlexW1998191922
LanguageEN
Citations received9

This article argues that before the 1830s, 'caste' in Lanka fell within the standard range of regional variation found across South Asia. It was only after the 1830s, when the colonial state decided that caste was not a legitimate form of social identification, that the divergence between the island and mainland became marked. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries caste played little role in colonial discourse, but it remained important in social life and elite politics. Given the importance that scholars of India place on official discourse and policy for under standing identity formation, the Lankan case has theoretical and comparative importance

Caste · Colonialism · Divergence (linguistics · Elite · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Identity (music · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Gender Studies · History · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies