Caste and Outcast

by Mukerji, Dhan Gopal

• ISBN13: 9780804744348
• ISBN10: 0804744343
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-15
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

A person of rare talent and broad appeal, Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1890-1936) holds the distinction of being the first South Asian immigrant to have a successful career in the United States as a man of letters. As the author of two dozen published volumes of poetry, drama, fiction, social commentary, philosophy, translations, and children's stories, Mukerji was a pivotal figure in the transmission and interpretation of Indian traditions to Americans in the first several decades of the twentieth century. This reissue of his classic autobiographyCaste and Outcast, with a new Introduction and Afterword, seeks to revitalize interest in Mukerji and his work and to contribute to the exploration of the South Asian experience in America. Originally published in 1923, this book is an exercise in both cultural translation and cultural critique. In the first half of the book, Mukerji draws upon his early experiences as a Bengali Brahmin in India, hoping to convey to readers "an intimate impression of eastern life"; the second half describes Mukerji's coming to America and his experiences as a student, worker, and activist in California. Mukerji's text, written in an engaging personal style, is the kind of ethnographic writing that seeks to render intelligible and familiar the unfamiliar and the exotic. Gordon H. Chang's substantial Introduction locates the story ofCaste and Outcastwithin the larger context of Mukerji's life, tracing the author's personal history and his connections to such major figures as Jawaharlal Nehru, M. N. Roy, Van Wyck Brooks, Roger Baldwin, and Will Durant. The Afterword, by Purnima Mankekar and Akhil Gupta, examines the ways in which Mukerji stretches the limits of the autobiographical genre and provides a counternarrative to the dominant nationalist account of American society.

Author Biography

Karen Isaksen Leonard is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Social History of an Indian Caste: The Kayasths of Hyderabad(1978), Making Ethnic Choices: California's Punjabi Mexican Americans(1994), South Asian Americans(1997), and Muslims in the United States: The State of Research.(2003)

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Life and Death of Dhan Gopal Mukerji	p. 1
Caste
Childhood	p. 45
My Little Sister	p. 61
The Holy Man	p. 70
Initiation	p. 79
Pilgrimage, Benares	p. 86
Pilgrimage, the Hills	p. 92
The Cashmere Shawl	p. 102
Idols	p. 107
The Priest	p. 112
Trading Shawls	p. 117
My Brother's Marriage	p. 123
East and West	p. 132
Outcast
Initiation into America	p. 141
My Socialist "Friends"	p. 154
The Second Year in College	p. 166
Something of Frank's Life	p. 177
What Is the Answer?	p. 193
In California Fields	p. 200
Spiritualism	p. 211
Epilogue	p. 221
Afterword: The Homeless Self: Problems of Cultural Translation in Autobiography	p. 225
Selected Bibliography: The Work of Dhan Gopal Mukerji	p. 253
Notes	p. 257
Afterword References	p. 273
Editors	p. 277
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