Belkacem Belmekki: Colonial (Re)Invention of Tradition. The Case of Casteism in British India
Abstract
This article seeks to set out a case of colonial intervention aiming to remodel the social order within colonies through social engineering, which would lead to the invention – or perhaps the reinvention – of traditions. The focus of attention is British India where the most long-standing traditional institution, namely the caste system, as conceived of and practised throughout the subcontinent in the nineteenth century, is thought have been a colonial creation made possible thanks to the precious help provided by a collaborative group of local elite known as Brahmins, who had for long enjoyed spiritual, but also political, legitimacy within their immediate environment.
[Hindu society, casteism, Brahmins, Varna model, invention of tradition, census]
