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Early historiography of the South-Asian Partition tended to emphasize on the high politics surrounding the struggles against British imperialism and the transfer of power, focusing on prominent leaders and politicians and their roles in achieving self-rule. The perspectives of the general populace and the effects of high politics on those on the periphery of society, have been elided. However, since the 1990s, alternative voices, documenting the human dimension of Partition and the histories of marginalized masses, previously excluded from official histories, have started to gain importance. This article analyses how the graphic narrative, “The Taboo,” by Malini Gupta and Dyuti Mittal, offers such an alternative history, presenting the experiences of the residents of a refugee camp (Cooper’s camp) who have not been rehabilitated to this date and thereby remained trapped as “historical residues” of the Partition. This article discusses how the narrative highlights the subjectivity and agency of the refugees, particularly, the refugee women, with lower caste and class backgrounds whose histories have remained undocumented in official records. It further examines “The Taboo” as a microhistory of Partition that presents the local history of the camp and foregrounds the agency of the protagonist Lily, as an unattached refugee woman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay makes a pedagogical intervention in the theorisation of Indian writing in English (IWE). It asserts that postcolonial studies and anthologies of IWE have deliberately excluded Dalit writing which narrates the caste discrimination experienced by the majority of the Indian population. It proves the discipline of IWE—the writing and its study—has been hegemonised by upper-caste writers and academics who disregard the historical presence and literary worth of Dalit writing. This essay proposes that Dalit writing in English (DWE) should be viewed as an independent area of study. It traces the history of Dalit writing through three waves in conjunction with Indian politics and argues that DWE achieved the "Dalitification" of English by challenging Brahmanical control over the language and introducing caste into the reading and writing of English from a Dalit perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the life and contributions of Ranajit Guha, an Indian historian and founder of the Subaltern Studies collective, who passed away in 2023. It highlights Guha's involvement in anti-colonial socialism during his student days and his support for agrarian socialist revolution in India post-independence. The text also delves into Guha's role in the Naxalite movement, the rise of Subaltern Studies in the 1980s, and his philosophical reflections on revolutionary being towards the end of his life. The article emphasizes Guha's interest in non-human beings and his advocacy for multispecies democracy and human and non-human well-being. [Extracted from the article]

Drawing from publications by Swami Achutanand and the Adi-Hindu Mahasabha press between 1916 and 1940, this article examines the role of this north Indian Dalit organization in creating language and categories of liberalism in the Hindi vernacular. The Mahasabha poet-activists published numerous song-booklets in a variety of Hindi song genres to intervene in ongoing discussions on the subjects of representation and equality which they characterized as mulki-haq and unch-niche. Histories of liberties in late colonial India have typically examined its emergence within dominant Hindu and Muslim middle-class groups. This article uncovers the unique contributions of Dalit poet-activists who recognized the value of liberal ideas and institutions in challenging caste and abolishing "Manu's Kanun" (lawgiver Manu's Hindu law codes). It highlights the methodological importance of mohalla (neighborhood) sources usually located in Dalit activists' houses in untouchable quarters. The chapbooks found in mohalla collections have enabled the writing of a new history of the Mahasabha's activism and of the initiatives taken by poet-activists in founding a new Dalit politics in northern India. I explore the emergence of a Dalit literate public which sustained the activities of the Mahasabha and which responded with enthusiasm to its articulation of the new social identity of Achut (untouched) and a new political identity of Adi-Hindus —original inhabitants of Hindustan (India). Offering a new methodological approach in using mohalla sources and song-booklets composed in praise of liberal institutions, this essay makes a significant contribution to the recovery of a forgotten Dalit public sphere in early twentieth-century India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid‐19 lockdown in India in March 2020 revealed the presence of Adivasi communities in the marine fishing industry of Goa, a coastal state in India. While the migration for work of Adivasi communities from the central regions of the country is well recorded, their movement across geographies of the forest and the coast is relatively unknown. Working with initial data collected during the lockdown, interviews conducted after the pandemic and using secondary materials, the paper sought to understand the social and material conditions in the forest and the coastal regions that shape this movement. Centring the waged relation of Adivasi workers opened the door to thinking about the marine fishing sector in India as a capitalist industry, while paying attention to social reproduction highlighted how the coastal and forest regions are spatially linked through their movement and labour. This highlights that the coasts and forests are going through distinct processes of capitalist intensification and expansion. Making connections between ecological appropriation, historical processes of resource extraction and marginalization, the paper finds that the extraction of fish resources in Goa is made productive through the hierarchization and differentiation of Adivasi workers. It reveals how the social relations of identity and caste mediate access to and define conditions of work at sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to decentre/decolonize our understanding of capitalist development in the Global South call for more complex and differentiated categories of work that acknowledge the significance of both non‐waged and reproductive labour. These categories would allow us to more clearly 'see' the varying intersections of gender, class and caste within this world of work. Even as the literature on work in the Global South acknowledges the importance of forms of non‐waged work, there is still more work to be done to sufficiently incorporate the labour of social reproduction. In this paper, which emerges from an effort to apply a feminist social reproduction lens in the field, we propose understanding work through four conceptual dyads: waged productive labour, non‐waged productive labour, waged reproductive labour and non‐waged reproductive labour. Through an in‐depth description of three specific cases from a time‐use survey we conducted in rural Punjab, India, we argue not only that all four dyads are required to encompass the world of work but also that this more expansive conceptualization can help us produce richer analyses of the intersections of class, caste and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Caste: The Lies That Divide Us" is a book by Isabel Wilkerson that explores the rigid hierarchies of caste systems in America, India, and Nazi Germany. The book is divided into seven sections that examine the various facets, causes, and consequences of caste. Wilkerson draws parallels between the discrimination faced by African-Americans in the United States and the Dalit community in India. She also discusses the eight pillars of caste that are common to all three societies. The book calls for radical empathy and action against injustices to create a world free from caste divisions. [Extracted from the article]

Science and Engineering education are jewels of higher education. In India, among the pioneers of premium technical institutes, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are structurally designed to deliver global knowledge capital with a state-of-the-art curriculum and rigorous standards. Their capability to positively impact the global scale is visible, yet they are internally challenged. The constant interplay of inclusion and exclusion impacts the progress and performance of students. The study specifically examines the role of the social identity of caste in generating accessibility and mobility barriers in IITs. Although the affirmative action policy serves as a gateway for marginalised identities like Dalits, IITs ecosystem preserves the privileges of upper castes. Through IIT Delhi fieldwork, an attempt has been made to check how the gaps in affirmative action policies result in the exclusion of the marginalised in higher education. Educational mobility is restricted for Dalits students who battle against the indifference and caste hegemony of IIT Delhi. The study contests the idea of merit and castelessness in IIT Delhi by contextualising cultural capital with caste discrimination in India. It displays a contrast between the theory and practice of inclusion in higher education. The findings are useful for tracing subtle or indirect forms of discrimination operating in IIT Delhi that contradict the Indian constitution democratic ethos of equality and social justice. The findings will assist public policy and professional institutes of higher education to devise an inclusive strategy beyond government-sponsored affirmative action for sustainable education development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on crisis have brought to fore the necessity of studying the gendered impact of such events. Covid‐19 too has shown how gender relations play a role in the political economy of crisis, relief and response as well as recovery. This article focusses on the experiences of paid domestic workers in India who are among the most invisible and marginalized of India's informal workers and largely excluded from labor discourse and employment legislation. With Covid‐19, the precariousness characterizing the sector has also been further exposed and exacerbated, with vast numbers of workers now facing significant challenges to livelihood, as well as several new/additional pressures and risks, both at work and at home. In this article, we examine these Covid‐related challenges, drawing on interviews conducted with domestic workers, NGO practitioners, and labor rights' activists in Delhi and Kolkata between April and August 2020. We show how, during the national lockdown, many domestic workers in these cities experienced increased insecurity related to jobs and housing, as well as an increased control and surveillance at home. Furthermore, with the partial easing of lockdown and the associated 'return' to work, many experienced reduced bargaining power at work, increasingly blurred roles, and heavier workloads. Workers also experienced more overt forms of avoidance behavior, linked to ideas of caste/class and more recent notions of 'hygiene'/'distancing'. In detailing these experiences and contextualizing them within a much longer history of invisibilization and marginalization facing workers engaged in social reproduction, we draw attention to what we call the 'precarious continuities' in paid domestic work. We argue that the crisis allows for a lens to widen the theoretical understanding around social reproduction as a form of underpaid and devalued labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cinema acts as a cultural product, a medium of expression and a source of popular entertainment; usually it appears to conscientiously genuflect to upper-caste dictums. Since its inception, Telugu cinema, or Tollywood, the third-largest film industry in India, has produced various caste-based films like Gudavalli Ramabrahmam's Malapilla (1938), Kasinadhuni Vishwanath's Kalam Marindhi (1972) and K. Balachander's Rudraveena (1988), amongst others. In the discourse surrounding caste, the 'Dalit woman question' and its representation is either consciously ignored or erased, and thus, it stands enfolded in upper-caste reformist politics. This article analyses the representation of Dalit women in select Telugu films produced at significant sociopolitical junctures of contemporary times. These films mark a significant departure from the stereotypical representation of Dalit women as submissive and portray them as women with voices. Within the larger framework of feminist activism and human rights discourse, we see Dalit women protagonists in these films with an agentic space of their own. In the Indian context, where equality and no discrimination are constitutional rights, the films under discussion, Srikanth Addala's Narappa (2021) and Sekhar Kammula's Love Story (2021), are an appropriate intervention to showcase the inclusivity of Dalit women in the larger scheme of Indian feminism. This study employs critical textual and frame analysis to read selected Telugu films as cultural texts with Dalit feminist consciousness embedded within them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hindu law tradition grounds its social ethics on an ideological hierarchy of class or caste known as varṇa. The positive inculcation of this hierarchy is bolstered by a fear of social inversion, known as pratiloma, in every area of law and society. Through an examination of the concept of pratiloma, this article contends first that the central Hindu law principle of dharma, religious and legal duty, depends upon knowing and abiding by one's place in society. From this Hindu articulation of social rank as the foundation of ethics, the article then draws a comparison between classical Anglo-American conservatism and Hindu law to suggest that conservative traditions in general base moral action on social station and the fear of breaking social rank. Ethics in Hindu law, therefore, are derived from an acceptance of social station within the varṇa hierarchy and the constant cultivation of local expectations of proper behavior according to social position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magahiya Doms have historically suffered from the double stigma of criminality and untouchability. They were notified as a Criminal Tribe in 1913 but also came to be recognised as useful for the colonial state due to their role as sweepers and scavengers. The missionaries and colonial officials attempted to order and fix the identities of communities such as these. In this paper, I discuss the concept of touch and untouchability in relation to the caste system in India. I juxtapose the idea of the body proposed by Ambedkar in Annihilation of Caste against the caste body and colonised body. Against the static and closed identity which the state attempted to bestow on the Doms, I seek to understand the body itself as processual, moving and relational. Magahiya Doms resisted colonial moves to stabilise social identities every step of the way. I also discuss the role of the colonial apparatus as a mediator that sought to impose a new order of hygiene. The colonial mechanisms of governance cut off the older ties and relational tendencies and placed themselves and their logistics as chains through which frozen identities could communicate. In this way, they partitioned off bodies and settled themselves as chains connecting the partitioned bodies. After being de-notified as a Criminal Tribe, the Magahiya Doms were categorised as a Scheduled Caste in 1952. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines Basava's rejection of ritualistic practices and caste-based divisions, arguing that rituals and social hierarchies undermine true spiritual and intellectual growth. Topics include Basava's opposition to Brahminical rituals, his advocacy for equality through the concept of kayaka, and his reforms in Kalyana that challenge traditional social structures and promote social justice.

This article analyses the meanings, practices and socio-historical contexts of kudumbayogams (family associations) among the large, relatively prosperous, multi-denominational community of Syrian Christians in Kerala, who are today spread across the globe. Kudumbayogams present new ways of mobilising and displaying family, kinship and community ties. The article argues that while earlier socio-economic shifts inaugurated the spatial dispersal and reconstitution of Syrian Christian patrilineal families and households, they also led to the formation of family associations, alongside other modern associational forms. Based on a detailed analysis of printed family histories, and allied documents, this study conceptualises kudumbayogam as a modern fortification of attempts to resolve the ambiguities of changing times by tethering a Christian brand of upper-caste social conservatism with 'neoliberal' individualism. This modern fortification mobilises households and families through an array of structures and activities that seek to foster cultural continuity, communication, conflict resolution and charity among its members. In the process, kudumbayogams actively blunt intra-group contradictions and highlight inter-group differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a study of five women's studies degree programmes, this article attempts to discuss pedagogical issues that are surfacing in higher education on account of the changing social composition of students since the implementation of reservations for Other Backward Classes in higher education. Critical pedagogy has not found much space in discussions on higher education in the Indian context. The exception has been reflections on feminist pedagogy that primarily draw on Freirian thought and the scholarship of bell hooks. Against this background, the article brings out how the epistemic principles of critical disciplines like women's studies generate ethical expectations of the feminist teacher, particularly in relation to caste in this case. It goes on to discuss the limits imposed on these ideas of feminist pedagogy by the institutional and structural inequalities in higher education and how the dominant social composition of teachers necessarily limits possibilities of feminist pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Bali, honorifics serve as interactional tools determined by the situational context of discourse. In this regard, the present research aimed to uncover patterns of honorific usage in intercultural marriages between Japanese and Balinese individuals within the realm of pragmatic studies. The researchers employed observation along with data collection techniques involving listening, note-taking, and interviewing families of Japanese-Balinese intermarriages. Primary data consisted of dialogues among intermarried families in the districts of Badung, Gianyar, and Denpasar City, considering the high frequency of intercultural marriages in these regions in Bali. The findings revealed a dynamic interplay of honorifics within the context of cross-cultural marriages, shedding light on how language interaction reflected and shaped social interaction norms based on the context of cross-cultural marriages. Specifically, honorifics for Balinese women and children followed the social status of the father's family. Naming conventions for women from the Wangsa Jaba caste, including foreign citizens married to men from the Tri Wangsa caste, involved a process termed "perkawinan naik status" (status-elevating marriage), where the woman was given the honorific "jero" followed by her first name. In contrast, those not belonging to the Wangsa Jaba caste were named according to the birth order of the Japanese woman. This condition also applied to children born from intercultural marriages. Considering these results, this research is expected to contribute significantly to the academic literature on cultural anthropology, linguistics, and cross-cultural studies, offering insights into tolerance, appreciation of differences, and the ability to adapt to cross-cultural relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of precarious organizations exacerbated by neoliberal work arrangements underscores the need for a comprehensive exploration of their intersection with social diversity challenges. Historically, precarity has been examined with a focus on the uncertain organizational structures and processes, neglecting the diversity of the worker. To address this gap, we elaborate on the contributions in our themed section to offer an intersectional feminist perspective. An intersectional feminist perspective sheds light on the multi-layered experiences of the precarity of life for diverse groups so that organization studies might contribute more effectively to addressing the complexities posed by precarious organizations. We present conceptual and empirical insights that advance organization studies by deepening our understanding of the relational and situated dimensions of precarity, thereby contributing to theoretical and practical advancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on precarity predominantly adopts a monolithic view of labour market intermediaries and ignores the differential distribution of precarity based on social group membership. This omission not only hinders a nuanced understanding of precarity but also prevents our ability to address inequalities. To address this, we examined the influence of caste on differential experiences of precarity among labour contractors (LCs) in the garment industry in Tamil Nadu, India. We find that unequal distribution of social capital along caste lines leads to Dalit LCs experiencing greater precarity than their upper caste counterparts, and being stuck in such precarity. Specifically, caste-based dynamics of social capital threaten the survival of Dalit LCs by distorting their economic wellbeing and destabilizing their leadership, and hindering their upward occupational mobility by confining their spatial mobility, limiting resourceful connections, and thwarting growth opportunities. Our study shines new light on how societal inequalities differentially distribute precarity among actors in the same occupation and underscores the intersectional nature of occupational precarity as well as the contextual nature of social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though management research on caste is growing, it is not yet on a clear trajectory to realize its vast potential due to varying terminology and framing of caste, the limited incorporation of directly relevant work fromproximate disciplines, and the narrow and selective usage of the attributes of caste. To remove these obstacles, we review 259 scholarly works on caste (216 articles and 43 books and research reports) and develop an integrative framework to (a) clarify the contemporary manifestations of caste as being a graded hierarchy, an inherited membership, anda set of socially enforced practices; and (b) summarize the outcomes of caste at individual, occupational, organizational, and societal levels, while also consolidating the mechanisms through which caste influences these outcomes. Additionally, to position management scholarship on this topic for greater impact, we develop a research agenda that reflects contemporary interests in management research and the world at large about inclusion in organizations and societies. The caste system has practical significance for a large portion of the global population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edward Long (1734–1813), wrote the History of Jamaica (1774), in part, with the hope that his words would reshape the colony's frontier by drawing yeoman farmers from Britain to the island's unsettled interior. Long's vision was to remake the unimproved frontier into something approximating rural England, which would serve the planter class by reducing island food prices; denuding forested safe havens for runaways and rebels; and refashioning the colony into something that could better withstand nascent British antislavery critique. Long's rhetorical strategy obscured the harsh realities of Jamaica's slave economy while it pointed potential migrants away from commercial slave ownership. This article highlights how the planter-author juxtaposed his picturesque descriptions of the island with quantitative tables that were intended to attract migrants of a certain caste. It was Long's hope that these settlers would be liminally and forever fixed between the enslaved population and the ruling planter class. Long's plans for the creation of British settlements excited neither the ruling class nor potential migrants and therefore failed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first social novel in Kannada, Indira Bai, is an important work not just for literary enthusiasts but also for historians of modernity, communities and communalism. The novel presents the engagements and negotiations of an upper-caste community with modernity. The gaps, presences and absences in the novel have the potential to throw light on the inter-community relations of present-day coastal Karnataka which is constantly bothered by communal disturbances. Corroborating the gaps and absences in the novel with certain historical sources, this article aims to strengthen the perspective that we need to restore literary sources from the regional languages as tools for constructing a more robust historical narrative. Translations help us take those resources to a wider, global audience in this endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitution of India prescribes provisions to safeguard the lives of the Scheduled Castes. Special Acts are designed to address the existing challenges related to discriminatory practices and brutal violence against them by the dominant communities. However, the protective legislations have seldom acted to restrain the increasing display of cruelty against the historically marginalised. Mundane normalised violence compels us to question the authority of caste and the functioning of the legal system in India. The persistence of caste-based violence highlights the inability of state and bureaucracy to create order in society. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the nature of the social dynamic, causes of violence against Dalits, and the working of administrative and judicial machinery. This article presents a detailed analysis of a caste violence that occurred in 2006 in the Bura Bartara village in Uttar Pradesh. It examines the usage of violence by the dominant Lodhi caste to maintain and reproduce the caste-based social order. Simultaneously, it attempts to theorise caste atrocity as a form of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper first presents a historical record of the caste system in India, shedding light on the socioeconomic disparities and discrimination that persisted for centuries. It then delves into the genesis and evolution of the Reservation System, highlighting its constitutional foundations and subsequent amendments. The paper outlines the intended goals of the Reservation System, emphasizing its role in promoting the social justice, equality, and empowerment of the marginalized communities in the society. The paper critically assesses the potential impact of a comprehensive Caste Census on the accuracy and relevance of reservation policies. An analysis of the implications of the Caste Census on the Reservation System follows, considering both potential positive outcomes and challenges. The study explores the prospect of identifying new beneficiaries who may have been historically excluded, as well as the risk of exacerbating social tensions or reinforcing stereotypes. The paper also investigates the implications for political representation, resource allocation, and the overall socioeconomic development of the marginalized communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In forest‐fringe areas of India's Sundarbans, young men at the intersection of low caste and class become invested in electrical repair and maintenance work – as a gendering practice that enacts a specific logic of care. This work takes embodied knowledge (tongue), thoughtful improvisation (tape), and lifelong commitment (time) to fragile things and people in need. Tongue, tape, and time make the difference between good and bad care – between good, honourable men and men who do not or cannot care. In a place of changing aspirations but lasting deprivations, the costs of caring are expensive for men of limited means, and yet the costs of not caring cause the same men to suffer from unanticipated forms of gendered vulnerability. In this article, electrical workers’ caring masculinities are analysed in their political, economic, and moral dimensions to reveal ongoing tensions in the social constitution of (gendered) personhood: as care both obviates and causes ruination, these tensions must be constantly smoothed out for care to maintain its generative potential. Informed by fifteen months of fieldwork on an island of India's Sundarbans, the article seeks to trouble repair and maintenance work as care work – for care both does and undoes both men and things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study delves into the epidemiological transition, examining the intricate changes in health status patterns and their connection to morbidities. Specifically, it assesses morbidity transition at both national and subnational levels in India and their determinants from 1995 to 2018. This study examines self-reported morbidities in India by utilising four rounds of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data (52nd, 60th, 71st, and 75th) from 1995–2018. We estimated prevalence by conducting descriptive analysis on socio-demographic determinants and morbidities such as: Infectious and Communicable Diseases (In&CDs), Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), Disability and other diseases. Moreover, we employed pooled regression analysis to explore morbidity risk transitions over the past decades. The study revealed a steady upsurge in morbidity prevalence in India, doubling from 56 (per thousand) in 1995 to 106 in 2014. However, a considerable decline was observed in the most recent round in 2018 (79 per thousand). From 1995 to 2018, NCDs gained a prominent share in morbidity trends. Kerala in the southern region reported the highest rates, followed by states like Lakshadweep, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab, and others. Age, sex, residence, education, caste, religion, and wealth are pivotal factors in determining the severity of different disease burdens in different sections of the population in India. Over the study period (1995, 2004, 2014, and 2018), the odds of reported morbidities risk transition significantly increased over successive decades: 1.81 times in 2004 (95% CI: 1.78–1.84), 2.16 times in 2014 (95% CI: 2.12–2.2), and 1.44 times in 2018 (95% CI: 1.41–1.46), compared to 1995 (52nd round). The study reveals significant disparities in morbidity reporting across Indian states from 1995 to 2018, attributed to distinct demographic, social, and economic determinants. India continues to grapple with the dual burden of diseases, but the NCDs burden is mounting at a faster pace than CDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we tested the application of morphological skew in Agelaia timida by reporting caste dimorphism and comparing it with other epiponine species. A description of a nest of A. timida is also provided. Females were measured to investigate morphological differences between castes and dissected to assess ovarian development. Three types of ovaries were found: filamentous (workers), developed with some mature oocytes (intermediates), and developed and inseminated (queens). Queens are bigger than workers, but discriminant analysis showed castes are not morphologically distinct. Mahalanobis distance showed a statistical separation between inseminated and non-inseminated females, and the only distinct group was workers. The results differ from other species of Agelaia, which present clear-cut caste differences. Thus, A. timida fits into morphological skew theory since it forms small colonies with low caste differentiation and nonsterility of workers. These features, plus the presence of a true envelope, may be plesiomorphic, as observed in the ground plan of Epiponini. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Myrmecina was described basing on males of M. graminicola. Though representing the caste type, males were sufficiently described in only two out of 105 species known in the genus. However, the morphology of the male external genitalia remained undescribed. Re‐examining by SEM the male of M. graminicola, we describe and illustrate in detail for the first time the external genitalia, redefining and updating the morphological male diagnosis of the genus. We also analyze the overall morphology, illustrating additional peculiar characters of this species as follows: (i) a very distinctive stipital groove in the dorsolateral stipes; (ii) a developed uncinate‐shaped mesoscutellar arm; (iii) the antennal cleaning; and (iv) the absence of meso‐ and metatibial spurs. This morphological study will be useful as a base for further morphological descriptions of the males in other species of the same genus to support correct taxonomic identifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Teaching Taboo Topics: Menstruation in a Global Context" discusses the importance of menstrual health education as a global public health issue. It highlights the impact of stigma and lack of access to menstrual products on women's and girls' human rights. The article describes a course that explores menstruation in different cultures, dispels myths, and emphasizes menstrual health as a holistic well-being concept. It also addresses the challenges faced in India and the U.S. regarding menstrual health, including lack of awareness, hygiene issues, and social stigma. The course aims to educate students on menstrual health, dispel misconceptions, and promote cultural competency and global citizenship. [Extracted from the article]

The article, "My Pursuit of Classical Indian Astronomy," is a personal account by S. Balachandra Rao, an Indian researcher, about his journey and experiences in the field of classical Indian astronomy. He discusses his upbringing, education, and interest in computational and mathematical aspects of positional astronomy. The author reflects on the challenges and joys of their research, highlights the contributions of their team, and discusses various obstacles faced by researchers in the field. The text also mentions various astronomical phenomena, tables used in Indian astronomy, and provides a list of books and conferences related to Indian astronomy. These resources can be valuable for researchers and scholars in the field. [Extracted from the article]

This essay analyses and historicises a contemporary dominant narrative among India's biomedical doctors, that the early post‐independence period (1940s–1970s) was characterised by immense public trust and confidence in the biomedical profession, with the patient‐doctor relationship experiencing a 'golden era'. By exploring people's experiences with and perceptions of doctors during these decades, I show that contrary to contemporary understanding, public dissatisfaction with doctors was substantial even in the early post‐independence period. I argue that the dominance of privileged‐caste and ‐class Indians in the medical profession nurtured a caste privilege‐based elitist outlook within the mainstream profession and its leadership and created an insurmountable socioeconomic distance between doctors and the large majority of the public. What doctors deemed as people's 'trust' in them and their profession was often simply a manifestation of people's general deference towards the elites of the society. This incorrect interpretation of patient‐doctor dynamics in the past has been a constant feature of mainstream narratives around the doctor‐society relationship in post‐independence India and has remained largely under‐explored and under‐historicised in the medical, scholarly and public discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precarity of journalistic labour has received significant scholarly attention globally, leading to a plethora of studies that attempt to theorise changing journalistic roles, practices, and norms. Whereas precarity in newswork is formulated as the "new normal" in the Global North, the precarious situation of marginal(ised) newsworkers in the Global South has been simply normal. Based on ethnographic research in two small-town formations in South India, this article presents how stringers working in Indian-language newspapers have developed a complex professional identity and shared norms through journalistic and extra-journalistic practices to survive in the field. In doing so, we develop, in a novel way, Bourdieu's concept of illusio to understand the formation of a professional identity that spans adjacent fields. This paper's critical engagement with the difficult working lives of stringers and their invisible labour has learnings for analysis of precarity in journalism across the Global North and South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss the development of a multilingual dataset annotated with a hierarchical, fine-grained tagset marking different types of aggression and the "context" in which they occur. The context, here, is defined by the conversational thread in which a specific comment occurs and also the "type" of discursive role that the comment is performing with respect to the previous comment(s). The dataset has been developed as part of the ComMA Project and consists of a total of 57,363 annotated comments, 1142 annotated memes, and around 70 h of annotated audio (extracted from videos) in four languages—Meitei, Bangla, Hindi, and Indian English. This data has been collected from various social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram. As is usual on social media websites, a large number of these comments are multilingual, and many are code-mixed with English. This paper gives a detailed description of the tagset developed during the course of this project and elaborates on the process of developing and using a multi-label, fine-grained tagset for marking comments with aggression and bias of various kinds, which includes gender bias, religious intolerance (called communal bias in the tagset), class/caste bias, and ethnic/racial bias. We define and discuss the tags that have been used for marking different discursive roles being performed through the comments, such as attack, defend, and so on. We also present a statistical analysis of the dataset as well as the results of our baseline experiments for developing an automatic aggression identification system using the dataset developed. Based on the results of the baseline experiments, we also argue that our dataset provides diverse and 'hard' sets of instances which makes it a good dataset for training and testing new techniques for aggressive and abusive language classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how Kolis—who are an OBC—and Adivasis in Gujarat negotiate and are constituted by militant Hinduism. Once the anchor of a secular political coalition, the political personhood of Kolis has shifted since 2014. The television complex and temple-building activities of Hindu chauvinism create a context in which identification with Brahmanical Hinduism, a vegetarian normativity, and distancing from Muslims transpires. However, the Hindutva-identifying subjectivity is fractured. Adivasi self-making resists temple cultures and caste Hinduism and asserts non-vegetarianism. Some Kolis' affective relationalities with Bhakti saints and critiques of temple-going suggest that oppositional potentialities to Brahmanical Hinduism are always present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper introduces, inventories and interrogates prevailing narratives about the complex trajectories through which a putative Syrian Christian dynasty named Villarvattom has taken root in communal genealogies and the popular imagination of Kerala. The paper, by examining historical evidence, argues that the existing historical documents compel us to consider it as a retrospectively invented and imagined tradition necessitated and facilitated by the unique socio-political structures of Kerala viz. the ideational complexes wrought by caste and allied practices, the dislocation caused by successive colonial regimes and the overall crisis experienced by the indigenous Christian community. The paper surveys the present state of literature, discusses explanatory models, points to the possibility of cultural introjection and seeks ways in which the study can be taken forward more comprehensively and productively so that we gain perceptive insights into both the ecclesiastical and secular histories of Kerala. The paper argues that it is an invented tradition, a defence mechanism collectively, and perhaps unconsciously, evolved by the beleaguered Syrian Christians under the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial rule, which had inflicted debilitating blows to the power and glory enjoyed by this community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This issue of the Journal of Scottish Philosophy focuses on race and racism during the Scottish Enlightenment. One article examines how American Enlightenment thinkers, such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, promoted white hegemony while also advocating for the abolition of slavery. Another article explores the views of novelist Elizabeth Hamilton on race and religion, concluding that she can be described as a cultural racist. A third article defends David Hume's universalist account of human nature against accusations of racism. The final article discusses the ideas of James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, who challenged Hume's claims about the achievements of black Africans. The issue aims to contribute to the understanding of race and racism in Scottish Enlightenment philosophy. [Extracted from the article]

Ant mandibles perform different functions (e.g. feeding, hunting, and nest building), and previous studies on workers of some species revealed that they are enriched in transition metals (Zn and Mn), which improve cuticle hardness. Whether this trait is adaptive in all ant species is still unclear. One way to test for such adaptation is to compare sexes and castes within species as well as species with different life-histories. Here, we evaluated the transition metal enrichment in workers, queens, and males of 12 species of the Holarctic genus Lasius Fabricius 1804. The genus is adequate to test for the evolution of this trait because of two reasons. First, males show small, often toothless mandibles and do not contribute to nest activities, hence leading to the prediction of lower metal-enrichment compared with workers and queens. Second, this genus includes both socially parasitic (of other Lasius species) and non–parasitic species, leading to the prediction that females of the former, because they engage in fights with the host, have higher metal-enrichment compared with females of the latter. Our Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis provided evidence for an adaptive role of Zn and Mn in Lasius mandibles. At intra-specific-level, males had lower amount of Zn and Mn in their mandibles compared with workers and queens (which did not differ). Although parasitic and non-parasitic queens had similar metal amounts, parasitic workers showed higher Mn content and marginally higher Zn content than workers of non-parasitic species. Overall, our results strongly suggest that both colony activities and parasitic life-style promoted greater metal-enrichment in Lasius females. Given the huge biological diversity of ants, large comparative studies are needed to assess the generality of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of social evolution, inclusive fitness theory has been successful in making a wide range of qualitative predictions on expected patterns of cooperation and conflict. Nevertheless, outside of sex ratio theory, inclusive fitness models that make accurate quantitative predictions remain relatively rare. Past models dealing with caste fate conflict in insect societies, for example, successfully predicted that if female larvae can control their own caste fate, an excess should opt to selfishly develop as queens. Available models, however, were unable to accurately predict levels of queen production observed in Melipona bees—a genus of stingless bees where caste is self-determined—as empirically observed levels of queen production are approximately two times lower than the theoretically predicted ones. Here, we show that this discrepancy can be resolved by explicitly deriving the colony-level cost of queen overproduction from a dynamic model of colony growth, requiring the incorporation of parameters of colony growth and demography, such as the per-capita rate at which new brood cells are built and provisioned, the percentage of the queen's eggs that are female, costs linked with worker reproduction and worker mortality. Our revised model predicts queen overproduction to more severely impact colony productivity, resulting in an evolutionarily stable strategy that is approximately half that of the original model, and is shown to accurately predict actual levels of queen overproduction observed in different Melipona species. Altogether, this shows how inclusive fitness models can provide accurate quantitative predictions, provided that costs and benefits are modeled in sufficient detail and are measured precisely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines changes in earnings of the workers over 1 year. The results show differential impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on income of the workers. The findings suggest that workers, whose occupations were restricted in the initial phase of lockdown, continue to do worse even after lifting the restrictions. Females, casual workers and the less educated are among the worst affected by the economic shock. They continue to lag behind with no sign of catching up with other groups. The study asks for short- and long-term policy measures to address the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States (U.S.) racial caste system and White dominance began in slavery, culminating in Black intergenerational racial trauma. Until recently, Black intergenerational racial trauma largely was ignored by family scholars and therapists. Given that Black intergenerational racial trauma is inseparable from racial caste in the United States, it should be regarded as a wider, systemic problem, requiring intervention at the micro (e.g., family) and macro (e.g., society) levels. The U.S. dominant White society's investment in conserving racial caste furthers the ideological (e.g., political) and sentimental (e.g., democratic ideals) nullification of Black intergenerational racial trauma. Therefore, Black intergenerational racial trauma is often disenfranchised and can hamper Black people's experience of racial trauma as a collective. As passive bystanders, family scholars and therapists are co‐conspirators in the long, enduring suffering of Black people. As advocates, family scholars and therapists are called upon to name the racial hierarchy in the United States as a caste system and to advance Black humanization. Specifically, Wilkerson's (Caste: The origins of our discontents. Random House, 2020) notion of the U.S. racial hierarchy as a functioning caste system frames the discussion of Black intergenerational racial trauma and includes the following topics: Black racial trauma, disenfranchised Black intergenerational racial trauma, collective Black intergenerational racial trauma, Black intergenerational racial trauma and the U.S. academy (traditionally White institutions of higher learning), history and its impact on Black intergenerational racial trauma, the Black body and racial trauma, intersectionality and the U.S. caste system, and collective hope and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the concept of democracy in Paleolithic hunter-gatherer communities and its relevance to modern democratic systems. It argues that these communities operated under a "reverse dominance hierarchy" system, which ensured political equality among members. The text explores the evolution of Homo sapiens from alpha male-dominated communities to more egalitarian societies and discusses the debate surrounding gender equality in Paleolithic communities. It also introduces the concept of self-domestication as a possible explanation for the evolution of cooperative human behavior. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the history of democracy in order to rethink and improve current democratic systems. [Extracted from the article]

A recent report by G. Clark points to a sustained persistence of social status in England that extends vertically across several generations and horizontally across many levels of kinship. We seek to put his findings in historical perspective. We do so by relating them to two lines of thinking related to biological inheritance. One predated the rediscovery of Mendel’s work and led to the field of quantitative genetics, which dealt on the whole with quasi-continuously varying traits. The other is based on the rediscovery itself and led to a reconciliation between quantitative genetics and discrete Mendelian elements of heredity. Both were enmeshed with the supposed need for, and societal consequences of, eugenics and assortative mating. Also on both issues, the significant ideas can be traced to R. A. Fisher, inspired in one case by F. Galton and in the other by J. A. Cobb, with strong support for Galton and Cobb coming from Karl Pearson. Clark’s findings point to societal stratification, and assortative mating for wealth is a straightforward hypothesis to account for it. However, it should be noted that the findings support, but do not prove, the hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aaji, an aging, lower-caste storyteller, singer, spirit medium, and rice farmer from a village in northern India, uses her distinctive voice and vocal traditions to engage with the spirit of the seven Devis (goddesses). The careful cultivation of human, more-than-human, and ethnographic relationships over time reveals what multimodal anthropology might entail when collaborating with more-than-human spirits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text provides an overview of John Rawls's concept of political liberalism and its implications for pluralist societies. Rawls argues that in societies with diverse and reasonable comprehensive views, a political conception of justice is necessary to address conflicts over fundamental issues. He emphasizes the importance of social cooperation, well-ordered societies, and the acceptance of diverse conceptions of the common good. The text also discusses the distinction between comprehensive and political conceptions of justice, the need for a political conception in pluralist societies, and the challenges of maintaining a distinction between essentials and ordinary policy. It concludes by suggesting that political liberalism represents a realistic utopia. [Extracted from the article]

Mawani has penned a breathtaking book that challenges the terra-centric understanding of modern (Western) law through an anti-colonial narrative of a ship, its passengers, and the ambitiously defiant journey they took together across the timespace of the erstwhile British Empire. Five years after its publication, this book review seeks to revisit this narrative and distinguish Mawani's work as pathbreaking for the theorisation of law at a planetary scale in ways that also account for the 'non-human' and 'more-than-human' relations. Unlike many newer strands of scholarship seeking to theorise more-than-human dimensions of law- be it in ecological or technological contexts- Mawani's novel 'oceans as method' approach refuses to erase the centrality of racialised violence to the legal empire, including in law's foundational concepts like time, jurisdiction, object and subject. The last section offers some reflections on how engagements with the contexts of caste could have rendered the work richer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study’s primary objective is to examine how the Chilean and Indian post-secondary systems have responded to the challenge of equity in access to higher education and the influence of some institutional measures on inclusion. Access to higher education institutions must be equitable for applicants and institutions. In the Chilean case, the relationship between access and equity is examined from different perspectives on the applicant’s characteristics, such as family income, secondary schooling, and gender. The other two views are the type of institution students select and get admission to based on the institutions’ ownership (public vs. private). The study primarily uses data from CASEN and SIES databases between 1990 and 2017. The data is analyzed after providing a brief theoretical foundation on equity and its importance in higher education. The second section delves into the data on equity access to higher education in India, focusing on the factors of caste, class, and gender. In this section, primary data was collected from reputable government institutions such as the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and the National Sample Survey Organisation, spanning the period 1995–2014. Finally, the third section analyzes and compares the results of equity of access to higher education between India and Chile. Drawing from the previous discussions, the section also highlights the successful policies that can be mutually implemented in these countries for positive results. Overall, the article provides a comprehensive analysis of equity of access to higher education in India and Chile, offering valuable insights into the factors that influence the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manchadikkari is a region in central Kerala occupied primarily by Dalit Christian communities. The majority of the people in the area are agricultural daily wage workers who have been economically and culturally marginalized. Caste discrimination and exploitation mark their past and present. The people in Manchadikkari articulate powerful anti-caste politics through their creative cultural productions like songs, stories, and plays that take shape in their community groups. The remembrance and reiteration of caste experiences in these community groups keep alive the history of caste exploitation and transmit these memories to the next generation. This paper analyses the play Azhakante Kutil ('Azhakan's Hut'), authored by Thankamma Titus from Manchadikkari in 2021 and performed by a group of women who are members of the community group 'Sanjeevani.' This study considers the processes of conceptualization, production, and performance of the play to show how these processes embody anti-caste politics. The play dwells on the community's caste history to show that caste is not an anachronism of the feudal era but actively determines the present cultural and material conditions. When contextualized in the community, the play exists as a moving narrative of the community's cultural activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Contentious issue of agricultural reform in India, particularly focusing on the three Acts proposed by the ruling party in September 2021. These Acts aimed to revolutionize farming practices but faced significant opposition from agrarian communities nationwide, culminating in extensive protests and the eventual withdrawal of the bills. The debate surrounding these Acts delves into questions of agrarian identity and the historical construction of the farmer's role, going back, to colonial-era policies and their lasting impact. The article highlights the complex interplay between legal frameworks, social identities, and economic structures, emphasizing the transition of the farmer's identity from a class-based to a caste-based construct. Through historical analysis and contemporary parallels, it explores how colonial legacies continue to shape agrarian politics and the ongoing struggle to define and protect the interests of farmers in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of the Indo-Persian identities in Medieval Muslim Deccan, specifically focusing on the cultural and artistic influences from Persia and Central Asia on the Deccan region of central India between the 14th and 16th centuries. It discusses the political, social, diplomatic, and religious aspects of the Deccan sultanates, highlighting the syncretism between Islam and Hinduism and the patronage of culture, arts, and architecture by the princely courts. The article also explores the rise of immigrant Muslim elites in the Deccan states, the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate into smaller successor states, and the history and cultural influences of the Bijapur, Golconda, and Qutb Shahi dynasties. Overall, it emphasizes the unique Indo-Muslim symbiosis that emerged in the Deccan region during this period. [Extracted from the article]

Caste polymorphs of the ant Camponotus compressus (Fabricius, 1798) are distinct by their morphology and life styles; the two distinct castes are largely nocturnal and rely on their visual sensory system to interpret their temporal niches. The compound eyes of the castes were explored through Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in order to delineate cast specific organisation and adaptations of the compound eye. The findings reveal that major workers of C. compressus possess a more sophisticated visual system in terms of its morphological features along with optical properties that enhances a better vision, which includes a greater number of ommatidia and high ommatidial density, a higher ommatidial diameter, low inter ommatidial angle and a more efficient pupillary mechanism to counter conditions where ambient light levels are high. This underlines the dependence of scouts (major workers) on visual system and the foragers on olfactory system in the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article arises from a study located in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. In it, I revisit the colonial imprints that have produced binary constructions of native and outsider. Based on an investigation of the dialogical relationship between a nativist society and anti-migrant policies and practices of the post-colonial state, I argue that those who lie at the periphery of a native-native dichotomy are criminalized. This dichotomy stems from a brahminical culture and structural intersections of gender, caste, class, religion and ethnicity; the intersections define who is a more legitimate resident than the other, eligible to become an 'authentic citizen'. The article questions why the Bengali-speaking Muslims or lower caste Hindus and women from these communities become 'convenient proxies' for illegally migrated Bangladeshis, and are susceptible to punishment by a caste Assamese state. By presenting accounts of people's lived realities, the article aims to disrupt the hierarchies of identities and experiences that make citizenship relatively accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]