New books on caste and power in the Pancatantra

[McComas Taylor]

Dear friends

I am pleased to announce the publication of my book 'The Fall of the 
Indigo Jackal: The Discourse of Division and Purnabhadra's Pancatantra', 
by SUNY Press. Thanks to all those kind colleagues on the Indology list 
who have supported me in this project over the past five years.

<http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=61473>

Details: http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=61473

Extract from publisher's blurb:

"In this book, McComas Taylor looks at the discourses that give shape 
and structure to the fall of the indigo jackal and the other tales 
within the /Pancatantra./ The work’s fictional metasociety of animals, 
kings, and laundrymen are divided according to their /jati,/ or “kind.” 
This discourse of caste holds that individuals’ essential natures, 
statuses, and social circles are all determined by their birth. Taylor 
applies contemporary critical theory developed by Foucault, Bourdieu, 
Barthes, and others to show how these ideas are related to other 
Sanskritic master-texts, and describes the “regime of truth” that 
provides validation for the discourse of division."


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Dr McComas Taylor
Head, South Asia Centre
Faculty of Asian Studies
The Australian National University
ACTON ACT 0200

Tel: +61 2 6125 3179
Fax: +61 2 6125 8326

Email: mccomas.taylor at anu.edu.au
URL: http://asianstudies.anu.edu.au/wiki/index.php/Dr_McComas_Taylor
Location: Room E4.26 Baldessin Precinct Building