Social Anthropology Seminar - Dr James Staples, Brunel University London - ‘’COWS, BEEF, AND IDENTITY POLITICS IN COTEMPORARY INDIA”
| Dates: | 23 February 2015 |
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| Times: | 15:00 - 17:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Speaker: | Dr James Staples |
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Social Anthropology Seminar
Monday, 23rd February 2015
Dr James Staples, Brunel University London
‘’COWS, BEEF, AND IDENTITY POLITICS IN COTEMPORARY INDIA”
The fact that debates over cattle slaughter and the consumption of beef featured at all in the run-up to India’s hotly-contested election last year is testament not only to the continuing symbolic, material and affective significance of beef to life in the sub-continent, but to the levels of ambivalence and controversy that still surround a meat apparently long since rejected as food by the majority of Indians. In some contexts beef consumption is held up as a marker of cosmopolitan sophistication. In others it is decried as an unclean, defiling practice that threatens the cultural sensibilities (and perhaps bodily integrity) of the Hindu majority. Opposition to beef eating is described by Dalit activists as ‘cultural fascism’—a threat to their very identity—at the same time as those same beef-eaters are accused of violence towards the cultural mores of the non-beef eating castes. This paper explores the shifting and highly contested meanings attributed to beef and cattle in contemporary India, where—I argue—it plays an important role in continuing battles over caste status and identity.
2.016/2.017, Second Floor Boardroom, Arthur Lewis Building
3:15 – 5:00pm (Tea and coffee available outside the room from 3:00pm)
ALL WELCOME!
Speaker
Dr James Staples
Role: Speaker
Organisation: Brunel University London
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
2.016/2.017, Second Floor Boardroom, Arthur Lewis Building
Arthur Lewis Building
Manchester
