Hi #twitterstorians! This is the second installment on #Srinivas. Today we focus on his concept of #sanskritization
which was key in the development of Indian #anthropology and #sociology.This is part of our history of concepts. @UoMhistdept @LeedsUniHistory @CSMCH_Edin #AHRC
which was key in the development of Indian #anthropology and #sociology.This is part of our history of concepts. @UoMhistdept @LeedsUniHistory @CSMCH_Edin #AHRC
#Srinivas coined the term #sanskritization in the late 1940s and early 1950s while researching the Coorgs of South India. #Sankritization was used as a way to explain how certain groups like the Lingayats of Karnataka had move up in a caste structure that was supposed to be fixed 
The main idea behind #sanskritization is that lower castes groups imitate and adopt Sanskritic culture and values. Along with economic and political power, eventually, #sanskritization would translate into ritual power too. This would make lower caste groups to move up socially
#Sanskritization then appears as a remnant of early anthropological ideas such as #diffusionism and #acculturation that traced how culture spread throughout the world. The difference is that #Srinivas was looking only into India. In some ways it was a challenge to #westernization
While #Sankritization was innovative it was not entirely original. Several anthropologists have been looking to explain the dominance of Brahmanism in India. In fact, #Ambedkar during his time @Columbia wrote about 'the infection of imitiation' during his classes w/ #Goldenweiser
#Goldenweiser was a disciple of #FranzBoas who was interested in acculturation too. While #sanskritization was well received by many Indian anthropologists it was also subject to strong criticism.
For instance, C. #Parvathamma probably the first Dalit woman Sociologist educated in @UoMhistdept under #MaxGluckman thought that #sanskritization was blind to the influence that lower caste people and culture had in India.
Despite such criticism, #Srivinivas impact in Indian anthropology and sociology is unquestionable. This is clear if one looks to the people we trained and the #classic works he produced but that will come on #Friday
