Indigeneity, caste, tribe and the limitations of decolonial thought in South Asian socio–legal studies: The need for a decolonial–debrahmanical approach

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dc.contributor.authorKumar, Arvind
dc.date.accessioned2026-03-05T17:18:54Z
dc.date.available2026-03-05T17:18:54Z
dc.date.copyright2025
dc.description.abstractThe dominant decolonial approach in Adivasi studies and South Asian socio-legal studies is broadly and primarily rooted in a critical study of the British colonial rule, epistemologies, laws and institutions, as they are considered to be the roots of social, cultural, religious, legal and political challenges faced by post-colonial India. Therefore, in common vocabulary, the decolonial or decolonisation approach is synonymous with identifying and dismantling the legacies of colonial rule and epistemologies. This paper highlights the limitations of the dominant decolonial approach in relation to post-colonial discourses vis-à-vis categories of caste and tribe. I argue that the classification of social groups into caste and tribe has more to do with Brahmanical epistemology than colonial epistemology. Subsequently, drawing upon Adivasi oral narratives from the field, this paper argues that there is a need to look beyond the prevailing decolonial approach and consider a decolonial–debrahmanical approach to address the decolonial challenges in post-colonial India.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.identifier.citationKumar, A. (2025). Indigeneity, caste, tribe and the limitations of decolonial thought in South Asian socio-legal studies: The need for a decolonial–debrahmanical approach. Journal of Law and Society, 52(S1). https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12547
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12547
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/23413
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherJournal of Law and Society
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject.departmentFaculty of Law
dc.titleIndigeneity, caste, tribe and the limitations of decolonial thought in South Asian socio–legal studies: The need for a decolonial–debrahmanical approach
dc.typeArticle

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