caste
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Was India ever really “secular”?
Starting from a book asking whether Europe was ever really Christian, the author argues India’s secularism was a chimera, a collectivist society ruled by an English-speaking elite, whose failure to…
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Browncast Ep 38: Indian Elections
On Browncast Episode 38, hosts and guests MJ, Kushal and Vidhi debate India’s 2019 election, covering caste dynamics, the BJP’s rise in Bengal and Odisha, personality politics, communalism, and a…
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Hollywood’s rising South Asian Starlet
A short note on Jameela Jamil’s rise in Hollywood, adding that casteism affects far more people than Islamist terror and that readers who demand evidence when he attacks caste show…
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Live Blogging – Brahmin Identity in Modern India
Live notes from a Cambridge lecture on Brahmin identity. Points include Brahmins as a traditional elite like samurai, social capital aiding adaptation, and a ‘Brahmin double’ by which Tamil Brahmins…
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When Brahmins get treated like Dalits; the world listens
Responding to an Instagram post, the author argues that white people must learn more about race, but asks how many upper-caste Indians would let their children play with Dalits, and…
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Is the social justice exterior overwhelming the Indian nationalist interior?
Drawing on fifteen years of contact with young Indian Americans, the author describes a gap between their socially liberal public presentation and the nationalistic, sometimes anti-Muslim and caste-proud views they…
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South Asia is Latin America minus 2,000years
The author argues that Latin America’s racial hierarchy of Europeans, mestizos and Indians is the best analogy for caste, claiming genetic evidence links Aryan-related ancestry to caste rank and that…
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Manifesto Musings
Opening a planned series on the 2019 election manifestos, the author compares the BJP’s leader-centred, ‘resolution’ style with the Congress’s focus on people and delivery, and asks whether caste, communal…
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Jallianwala Bagh; 100 years on
On the centenary of Jallianwala Bagh, the author is infuriated that Britain’s prime minister would not apologise, reflects on Britain’s mix of condescension and respect towards India, and suggests caste…
