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Caste, Entrepreneurship and the Illusions of Tradition is an ethnographic study of the potters of Kolkata’s Kumartuli, an analysis of their lives and the related commodification and instrumentalization of caste. This group of artisans turned artists do not display passive responses to colonial and capitalist encounters but engage actively with the modern and economic developments of society at large, redefining the concept of caste identity in the process. Caste, Entrepreneurship and the Illusions of Tradition suggests a new academic direction for the study of modern India, and of caste in particular, through an empirically grounded portrayal of the synthesis of traditional categories and contemporary realities.
This book is an important addition to the ever-expanding literature on the modern avatars of caste. Based on a theoretically grounded analysis and rich collection of interviews, it provides valuable insights about the evolving relationship between tradition and modernity. The author’s awareness about the subtle nuances of Bengali language and culture is truly impressive. —Ayan Guha (2020) Caste, entrepreneurship and the illusions of tradition: branding the potters of Kolkata, Contemporary South Asia, DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2020.1843796
Geir Heierstad is research director of international studies at the Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research, and former associate professor in South Asia studies at the Department of Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, Norway. Heierstad is co-author of Indiske utfordringer (Indian Challenges, 2014), and coeditor of The Politics of Caste in West Bengal (2016), India’s Democracies: Diversity, Co-optation, Resistance (2016) and Demokrati på indisk (Democracy Indian Style, 2010).
List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Transliteration and Terminology; Prologue: The Durga Puja Business; 1. On Kumars, Modernity, Caste and Commodification; 2. The Civilized Potters and Their Neighbourhood; 3. Birth of Tradition, Coming of Modernity; 4. Ancestral Homes – East versus West; 5. Turmoil and Economics; 6. Accumulated Value: Education and Caste as Assets; 7. Commodification of Caste; References; Index.