Caste in a new light: Jati in British multiculturalism

Abstract

Advocates of multiculturalism claim that it supports the rights of cultural minorities and the public recognition of cultural differences. However, this article shows that this cannot be true of Indian culture as it has become transported to Britain, where multiculturalism actually poses a threat to it. Using the resources of the research programme of the Ghent School on the comparative study of India and Europe, this article substantiates this claim by showing how the dominant conception of cultural differences as well as the classical conception of the Indian caste system, which takes over the Indian social structures of jati, are both imported by multiculturalist thought and practice. The concretizing of multiculturalism in the form of anti-discrimination law is not only anticipated by a destructive politics of identity, but the law itself can be used to foster the destruction of Indian culture on the pretext of targeting the discriminatory caste system.