{"product_id":"the-poison-in-the-gift-gloria-goodwin-raheja-9780226707297","title":"The Poison in the Gift: Ritual, Prestation, and the Dominant Caste in a North Indian Village","description":"\u003ci\u003eThe Poison in the Gift\u003c\/i\u003e is a detailed ethnography of gift-giving in a North Indian village that powerfully demonstrates a new theoretical interpretation of caste. Introducing the concept of \u003ci\u003eritual centrality\u003c\/i\u003e, Raheja shows that the position of the dominant landholding caste in the village is grounded in a central-peripheral configuration of castes rather than a hierarchical ordering. She advances a view of caste as semiotically constituted of contextually shifting sets of meanings, rather than one overarching ideological feature. This new understanding undermines the controversial interpretation advanced by Louis Dumont in his 1966 book, \u003ci\u003eHomo Hierarchicus\u003c\/i\u003e, in which he proposed a disjunction between the ideology of hierarchy based on the \"purity\" of the Brahman priest and the \"temporal power\" of the dominant caste or the king. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gloria Goodwin Raheja\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226707296\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226707297\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/15\/1988\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 300\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.03h x 6.15w x 0.64d","brand":"Gloria Goodwin Raheja","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44057294504191,"sku":"9780226707297","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_cf62d4ac-1fad-4e80-ab17-a502dce4e503.jpg?v=1685046144","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-poison-in-the-gift-gloria-goodwin-raheja-9780226707297","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}