Articles by George Varghese K

While Eurocentrism is a problem in Indian disciplines of knowledge today, a careful understanding of the methodological and conceptual issues involved in the diversification, interdisciplinarity and the advancement of the western systems of knowledge is required. Though there is a seeming illogic in the profusion of disciplines in the west today, it is marked by a heroic spirit for new experimentations, adventures and scientific advancement. True, its dynamic is often deleterious and fragmentary to the subject positions and cultural identity of the western humankind. Nonetheless, in the final tallying of the good and bad, the knowledge explosion only works to their overall advantage compared to the rest of the world.

Without being able to identify with either the upper castes or the lower castes on caste questions, or with left ideologies or rightist forces on the political front the visvakarma community of traditional artisans in Kerala aimlessly wanders from one shelter to another. The changes that are taking place in the self-identity of this community buffeted by new economic forces provide a clue to the process of reformulation of community identities by middle caste groups in recent times.