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Jun 6 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Folks, some resources for educating yourself about the basics of #caste, in history and today. A lot Indians probably don't need this... some other folks who follow me here appear to be in dire need of this education.

#AcademicTwitter
I have successful taught Flueckiger's "A Note on Caste," which is about 5 pages in her book Everyday Hinduism.

It covers terminology in different languages, some caste markers, class / urbanization differences, and discrimination.

google.com/books/edition/…
For your really basic, sort of statement of facts, this BBC explainer can be helpful. It doesn't connect the dots much, but it has the virtue of being succinct:

bbc.com/news/world-asi…
For a focus on caste in the US, I like this. For those of us who include social justice and anti-racism in teaching, I think it can teach well.

equalitylabs.org/castesurvey/#w…
Updating for those criticizing without reading --

Folks, I was clear that I was giving basic 101 primers that explain the lay-of-the-land on caste in 2022. This thread isn't a full syllabus on caste, nor is it an account of anti-caste thinking and activism.

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More from @AudreyTruschke

Dr. Audrey Truschke Profile picture
Jun 8
We lose a lot of things in history, and right now I am somewhat obsessed -- in a healthy, historian way -- with the takht-i firuza, or the so-called Turquoise Throne.

Here's the story --
Kapaya Nayaka, ruler of Telangana in the second quarter of the 14th century, commissioned the throne.

He originally intended it as a gift for the Tughluqs, who were in Daulatabad, trying to hold onto their relatively newly acquired landholdings in central and southern India.
But the Tughluqs couldn't hold on. Some of their own rebelled, and the rest tucked their tail between legs and ran back to Delhi.

The rebels established a new Indo-Persian dynasty in 1347: the Bahmanis, originally based in Gulbarga.

So, they got the throne instead.
Read 7 tweets
Dr. Audrey Truschke Profile picture
May 17
We have learned a lot about how the Hindu Right -- in the US and India -- operates in the last year, and how they coordinate with one another.

SASAC has updated the Hindutva Harassment Field Manual to reflect those advancements in our knowledge.

hindutvaharassmentfieldmanual.org/organized
Specifically, there is added information about TekFog, an app used to manipulate social media and encrypted messaging platforms.
There are also insights gained from analyzing the anti-intellectual attacks on the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference, which came from Hindu nationalist groups in the US and India.

They tried to make it look like grassroots concern, but the data reveals the harassment.
Read 4 tweets
Dr. Audrey Truschke Profile picture
Apr 21
@davidfrum Sure. In brief, Aurangzeb's name is a dog whistle to signal that it is acceptable to hate and use violence against present-day Muslims.

Here's a bit more on how it works --
@davidfrum Hindu nationalism stipulates that Muslims are the primary enemy, always.

This othering has electoral and social value for Hindu nationalists in the present. But it is hard to justify, and so Hindu nationalists demonize Muslims relentlessly, including in the past.
@davidfrum Hindu nationalist mythology stipulates, among other things, that Muslims oppressed Hindus for hundreds of years (this is historically inaccurate).

The Hindu nationalist idea, then, is that Muslims deserve to be oppressed today, as retribution for the past.
Read 4 tweets
Dr. Audrey Truschke Profile picture
Jan 23
Folks, I'm going to model here what a scholarly discussion might look like.

Please notice that there is neither name-calling nor abusive language (hallmarks of Hindutva harassment).

#THREAD
I stipulated (few days ago): "Sanatana Dharma", as a phrase, comes about, historically, in the 19th century.

Purvapaksha (objector): But don't we see the Sanskrit adjective sanātana modifying dharma in texts as early as the first millennium CE, such as dharmaśāstra works?
Me: Sure, we do. But lots of things modify 'dharma' in premodern Sanskrit texts. I was speaking about a specific phrase.

Purvapaksha (objector): Okay. But surely it is relevant that these two words are paired in premodern Sanskrit texts, many of which are termed "Hindu" today?
Read 7 tweets
Dr. Audrey Truschke Profile picture
Jan 21
Q: Dr. Truschke, why don't you ever talk about Sanatana Dharma.

Answer: 🧵

#Hinduism #history #colonialism
Some Hindus prefer the term "Sanatana Dharma" for their tradition or set of religious practices.

Literally, the phrase means "eternal dharma," but y'all know there's much more to language than literal meaning. So let's talk history.
The term "Sanatana dharma" was coined in the 19th century, during British colonialism.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. Most terms for Hindu traditions or strands thereof -- including Hinduism and Brahmanism --were coined during the British colonial period.
Read 9 tweets
Dr. Audrey Truschke Profile picture
Jan 16
Your periodic grim reminder, given the recent US attention to anti-Semitism --

If you oppose anti-Semitism, you also oppose Hindu nationalism (Hindutva), a hateful political ideology that still uses anti-Semitic slurs at times.
scroll.in/article/901309… #Hindutva #antiSemitism
If you're not familiar with Hindutva, you might be wondering -- Does that salute in the photo looks kinda Nazi? Yes, and not accidentally.

Hindutva is a global phenomenon, with significant support in the US. Educate yourself.
What else do Hindu nationalists do while giving a Nazi-inspired salute? Promise to commit genocide.

This is no exaggeration. This happened a few weeks ago, and is still trickling into international news: cnn.com/2022/01/14/asi… #Hindutva #genocide
Read 6 tweets

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