Blurring Bovine Boundaries
Cow Politics and the Everyday in South India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11016557 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Staples (0000-0002-2648-8636, Department of Anthropology, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1125-1140 |
| Publication date | 2019-11-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | South Asia Journal of South Asian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0085-6401 • E-ISSN: 1479-0270 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00856401.2019.1669951 |
| OpenAlex | W2984662784 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 6 |
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with butchers, cattle traders and beef eaters in South India, the aims of this paper are twofold. Firstly, it challenges two dominant assumptions made in respect of cattle slaughter and beef consumption in South Asia: one, that the beef trade directly concerns only Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and Christians, and two, that respect for cattle is the near sole preserve of upper-caste Hindus. Secondly, given the strength of the empirical evidence against these two assumptions, it considers how such a stark framing of the debates along caste and communal lines has been sustained so successfully and for so long. Using insights from the anthropology of ignorance—to which this article makes a unique contribution—I argue that part of the answer lies in the strategic acts of not knowing what goes on at particular junctures along the chain from the cowshed to the dinner plate, which a number of different actors are complicit in working to maintain
Archaeology · Caste · Consumption (sociology · Ethnography · Ethnology · Framing (construction · Geography · Ignorance · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · South asia · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
| Citations per year | 1.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |