Thiago P. Barbosa, "Racializing Caste: Anthropology Between Germany and India and the Legacy of Irawati Karve (1905-1970)" (de Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2025)
Thiago P. Barbosa, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Leipzig, delves into the intricate relationship between racialization and caste through the work of Irawati Karve. He discusses how Karve challenged the racial hypotheses of her time and addresses the colonial legacies affecting contemporary anthropology. Barbosa also critiques outdated racial classifications in education and explores the intersection of genetics and social factors in understanding caste, emphasizing the need for decolonization in scientific practices.
45:04
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
Karve's Bold Scientific Contradiction
Irawati Karve contradicted a prominent racist hypothesis about skull asymmetry while doing her PhD in Berlin.\n- Despite opposition, she passed with the lowest passing grade and became a key anthropologist in post-colonial India.
insights INSIGHT
Karve's Complex Legacy
Karve used racial methods to study caste origins but shifted towards multiculturalism post-1940s, embracing tolerance.\n- She embodied the tension between critiquing racism and using inherited scientific tools linked to racial thought.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Haunting Legacy in Anthropometry Classes
Indian anthropology classes still teach anthropometry using methods tied to racial science's history.\n- Students feel awkward facing outdated or racist content embedded in these physical measurement techniques.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Racializing Caste, Anthropology Between Germany and India and the Legacy of Irawati Karwe
Racializing Caste, Anthropology Between Germany and India and the Legacy of Irawati Karwe
Anthropology Between Germany and India and the Legacy of Irawati Karwe
Thiago P. Barbosa
The book focuses on the legacy of Irawati Karve (1905-1970), an Indian anthropologist trained at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Eugenics, and Human Heredity in Berlin, Germany (1927-1930) and a prominent scientist in post-colonial India. Besides a historical analysis of Karve's adaptation of racial approaches to the study of Indian castes, the book applies material-semiotic and ethnographic lenses to examine how her work is taken up today in anthropology and population genetics. By showing how transnational and transcolonial entanglements in race science shape knowledge on human diversity in India, the book offers novel insights to discussions in anthropology, STS, and global history, including the racialization of difference, colonial legacies, and post-colonial sovereignty in science. It contributes to a better understanding of the co-constitution of politics and sciences of human diversity and it argues for a closer attention to inequalities as a way to de-link from the legacies of scientific racism.
Racializing Caste: Anthropology Between Germany and India and the Legacy of Irawati Karve (1905-1970) (De Gruyter, 2025) analyzes how racial knowledge has circulated in transnational entanglements, particularly between Germany and India, into the research on human variation in India, racializing the understanding of caste and ethnicity. It focuses on the legacy of Irawati Karve (1905-1970), an Indian anthropologist trained at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Eugenics, and Human Heredity in Berlin, Germany (1927-1930) and a prominent scientist in post-colonial India. Besides a historical analysis of Karve's adaptation of racial approaches to the study of Indian castes, the book applies material-semiotic and ethnographic lenses to examine how her work is taken up today in anthropology and population genetics. By showing how transnational and transcolonial entanglements in race science shape knowledge on human diversity in India, the book offers novel insights to discussions in anthropology, STS, and global history, including the racialization of difference, colonial legacies, and post-colonial sovereignty in science. It contributes to a better understanding of the co-constitution of politics and sciences of human diversity and it argues for a closer attention to inequalities as a way to de-link from the legacies of scientific racism.
Thiago Pinto Barbosa is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Leipzig.
Armanc Yildiz is a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt University.
New Books in Sociology