POLI 322 Lecture Notes - Official Language, Vaishya, Shudra
11 Mar 2014
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Document Summary
Censuses suggest that everyone belongs to just one religious group/language group/etc. So censuses make cultures seem more clearly divided than they are. European colonizers gave a lot of attention to culture as a way of understanding local society. Did this because they felt they were so culturally different. This form of classification is not just a thin over-layer over society; it has some effect on what happens in society. However, this form of official society influences what happens. E. g. if colonial officials give attention to religious classification, they also signal in the process that if you make demands on behalf of the religious group you have a better chance of getting a response. That signal gave people incentives to make demands on behalf of these groups. In a sense, censuses shove people in cubbyholes and make them feel like they belong exclusively to one group. Movements developed to mobilize members of groups.
