May 14, 2019

How did the Indian ‘untouchable’ disappear from Singapore?

India’s caste system is an ancient one, and still has ramifications today. However, despite the sizable minority of Indians in modern Singapore, many of whom were of the lowest ‘untouchable’ caste, both the system and its accompanying prejudices appear to have vanished. In A Subaltern History of the Indian Diaspora in Singapore, Assistant Professor John Solomon (NUS Department of History) traces this disappearance through the colonial period to Singapore’s independence in 1965, showing how the dramatic societal upheaval therein contributed to the evolution and dissolution of untouchable identity.

You can find out more about this book here.