Leah Van Wey Trina Vithayathil Brown University
While an enormous body of social science research utilizes census data, empirical studies of the process by which census data are produced remain rare. Population censuses are part of the representational practices of contemporary nation-states. Censuses help to determine the boundaries of elected seats and are also administrative tools used to distribute material benefits. Census data influence how taxes will be apportioned across regions and help to establish the eligibility criteria for state welfare programs. Over the last two decades, a range of actors--including courts, social scientists, government agencies, and sections of the public--have made increasing demands for "objective" data on caste. Responding to these pressures, the Government of India decided in 2010 to conduct a caste census. For the first time since 1931, caste data will be collected from every household in the country. Building upon a scholarly tradition that makes censuses an object of research, this dissertation is a qualitative study of how official data on caste are produced during this contemporary caste count in India. The co-PI will study the role that state actors, civil society, the private sector, and general public play in the making of social data. While remaining attuned to the individuals, objects, and institutions involved in this nationwide exercise, the empirical study of the caste census is grounded in the Indian State of Karnataka, in order to understand the role of local histories in producing centralized knowledge.
Broader Impact
This project will build multidisciplinary collaborations with anthropologists, historians and economists. Research findings will be presented at interdisciplinary conferences, workshops and research partnerships and to academic audiences in the US and India. The project will also create a rich set of qualitative and archival data that will be available for use by other social scientists. Finally, the findings of this dissertation will provide those who plan to use the collected caste data with a detailed empirical account of how the official data are produced.
