Race in South Asia: Colonialism, nationalism and modern science

Abstract Unlike caste and religion, race has not been considered a primary lens for reading the formative histories of the different communities in colonial India. “Race” in South Asia holds a prominent place primarily in the history of medicine. Largely, this scholarship can be considered situated within the more generalized framework of race being the determinant of colonial difference. Beyond that, however, the significant role “race” played in producing knowledge about the difference between communities within the subcontinent, has been underexamined. In the early‐mid 20th century, despite critiquing European race science, several Indian scholars continued to use “race” as a scientific object in order to trace racial difference and affinity between various communities—particularly, Dalits, Muslims, and Adivasis. This anticolonial, nationalist science which derived from certain European methods (viz., anthropometry), without conceding to all conclusions predominant in Europe (viz., the existence of racial purity), contributed to the production of upper‐caste Hindus as the hegemonic population of India. This article argues that much insight remains to be gained by focusing on how race played a fundamental role in producing the notion of the upper caste Hindu population as hegemonic, in distinction to its others, like Scheduled Castes and Muslims.