Forking paths: Re-envisioning experience, caste, and the everyday social - I

Abstract

The attempt here is to think with, and systematically through, Gopal Guru and Sundar Sarukkai's ambitious work, Experience, Caste, and the Everyday Social (2019). Addressing the two configurations of thought underlying the work - namely the focus on "sensing" as central to the conceptualisation of the social and the idea of "the everyday social" - the paper tries to capture the movement of the text and the conceptual manoeuvres underscoring it. The challenges for our attempt at theorising caste are highlighted, even as new pathways are forged for understanding the problem of caste in India.