Monster in Your Path - The Private Life of Caste in India

The Monster in Your Path is an original and provocative look at why the global Left stumbles when dealing with historical structures of subordination like caste or race. Sharika Thiranagama examines rural communities in Kerala, where decades of Communist Party rule transformed life through land reform and social reorganization. Despite Marxist ideals, new forms of caste disparities have moved from "public" space to private spaces and private lives. Through exquisitely crafted ethnography that centers Dalit women, the book explains how historical economies of humiliation and subordination continue to unfold in modern spaces like the private home. From histories of enslavement to the houses and neighborhoods through which Dalit communities build dignity and self-worth, Thiranagama sets a new agenda for caste studies in India and beyond.

About the author

Sharika Thiranagama is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University and author of In My Mother's House: Civil War in Sri Lanka.

Product details

• Authors: Sharika Thiranagama, Thiranagama Sharika
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 27.03.2026
• EAN: 9780520425149
• ISBN: 978-0-520-42514-9
• No. of pages: 324
• Series: Atelier: Ethnographic Inquiry in the Twenty-First Century
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Ethnic Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Slavery, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, India, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Asian History, HISTORY / Asia / South / India, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / Asian Studies, Ethnic studies / Ethnicity