Decolonizing a discipline in distress

Abstract

India‐based anthropologists must contend with the legacies of colonial epistemologies and postcolonial imperatives in an increasingly neoliberal academy and Hindu‐supremacist nation‐state. For these scholars, anthropology's values of critical humanism are more vital than ever. The challenge is to uphold them in ways that both include and reach beyond the academy. Over the decades, Indian anthropologists’ position has shifted with regard to their discipline, to academic institutions, the nation, and the wider world since Independence. Today, they face challenges to the vision of democratizing anthropology in terms of institutional autonomy and public accountability. The Indian experience may provide insights to colleagues in the North.