The Modern Anthropology of India

Peter Berger teaches Anthropology and Indian Religions at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His ethnographic research in highland Orissa focuses on religion, food, ritual, social structure and cultural change.

The Modern Anthropology of India is an accessible textbook providing a critical overview of the ethnographic work done in India since 1947. It assesses the history of research in each region and serves as a practical and comprehensive guide to the main themes dealt with by ethnographers. It highlights key analytical concepts and paradigms that came to be of relevance in particular regions in the recent history of research in India, and which possibly gained a pan-Indian or even trans-Indian significance.

1. Introduction: The many Indias: the whole and its parts 2. Andhra Pradesh: Economic and Social Relations 3. Bihar: Caste, Class, and Violence 4. Chhattisgarh: At the Crossroads 5. Gujarat: Transformations of Hierarchy 6. Jammu and Kashmir: dispute and diversity 7. Jharkhand: Alternative citizenship in an "Adivasi State" 8. Karnataka: Caste, Dominance and Social Change in the 'Indian Village' 9. Kerala: Plurality and consensus 10. Madhya Pradesh: Anthropology and Development 11. Maharashtra: Constructing Regional Identities 12. Northeast India: Ethnography and Politics of Identity 13. Odisha: Rajas and Prajas in a multi-segmented society 14. Punjab and Haryana: Kinship and Marriage 15. Rajasthan: Anthropological Perspectives on Tribal Identity 16. Tamil Nadu: Inequality and Status 17. Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh: Ritual Healing 18. Uttar Pradesh: Untouchability and politics 19. West Bengal: Colonial Legacy, Class Formation and Politics