[INDOLOGY] Lecture, Caley Smith: "PROLEGOMENA TO ANY FUTURE CASTE" Feb 19

[Charles DiSimone]

Dear Friends,

I would like to announce an upcoming hybrid talk we are hosting at Ghent.
Please feel free to join online.

Speaker:
Prof. Caley Smith, Georgia College & State University

Title:
PROLEGOMENA TO ANY FUTURE CASTE

Timing:
Thursday, Feb 19, 2026 @ 17.00

Location:
Faculteitszaal, Blandijn faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte Blandijnberg 2
9000 Gent, Belgium
And hybrid online.

Link to join online:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YmMwOTZiZDctZGJkNy00Yjg4LWFmMDgtY2FjNmM3NmVkYmE0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2273af577b-4293-4e0f-a45b-eeda433d8149%22%7d


Abstract:
The study of the complexities of caste in modernity and the medieval period
has flourished, thanks in part to shared interest and methods of
historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and scholars of religion,
gender, and queer studies. The following monographs represent a broad range
of methodologies all applied to understanding the phenomenon of caste:
Beyond Caste (Sumit Guha, 2013), Caste in Contemporary India (Surinder
Jodhka, 2017), Caste Matters (Suraj Yengde, 2019), The Vulgarity of Caste
(Shailaja Paik, 2022). Why has there not been a similar flourishing of
caste studies in the earlier period?

Indeed, discussions of the origins of varṇa in recent monographs such as
Religions of Early India (Richard Davis, 2024) and India: 5,000 Years of
History on the Subcontinent (Audrey Truschke, 2025) are virtually unchanged
from The Wonder that was India, vol. 1 (A. L. Basham, 1954). Namely, varṇa
is presented as the defining timeless and immutable social hierarchy of
India, charitably called “social estate” instead of caste. This inertia is
striking when a major challenge to the stability of varṇa’s past had
already been issued over twenty years previous in the form of Castes of
Mind (Nicholas Dirks, 2001). Indeed, important research on the conceptual
history of varṇa has, in fact, been on-going, although without being
integrated into a new communis opinio. In this talk, I will discuss why
this arrested development may have occurred as well as survey significant
scholarly advances from the past twenty years in the study of varṇa in the
preclassical period, through which I will suggest how this research might
serve as a basis for a new historical narrative the invention and
re-invention of varṇa.

Speaker Bio:
Caley Smith is a scholar of early South Asian religious history and
political imagination. His work focuses primarily on the conceptual
continuities and disruptions between the Vedas and emergent ascetic and
householder traditions. His current book project, The Invisible Mask,
explores the ritual impersonation of the god Indra and its influence on the
recitation traditions of early Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

Friendly greetings,
Charles

Prof. Dr. Charles DiSimone
Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies & Indology
Department of Languages and Cultures
Ghent University
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