Description
Police Matters offers a groundbreaking analysis of how police institutions functioned as agents of both state control and caste reproduction in South India across three quarters of a century. Through meticulous examination of archival records and local histories, Radha Kumar demonstrates how policing practices were deeply embedded within existing caste hierarchies, even as they claimed to represent modern, impartial governance.
The book traces the evolution of police systems from the British colonial period through India’s independence and into the early decades of the Indian Republic. Kumar shows how police work was not merely a matter of law enforcement but a complex negotiation of social power, where caste considerations shaped everything from recruitment and promotion to arrest patterns and investigative practices.
By focusing on the everyday aspects of policing rather than grand institutional narratives, this work reveals how the modern state apparatus both challenged and reinforced traditional social structures. Essential reading for scholars of South Asian history, caste studies, and the history of law enforcement.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.