To Be Cared For

To Be Cared For offers a unique view into the conceptual and moral world of slum-bound Dalits ("untouchables") in the South Indian city of Chennai. Focusing on the decision by many women to embrace locally specific forms of Pentecostal Christianity, Nathaniel Roberts challenges dominant anthropological understandings of religion as a matter of culture and identity, as well as Indian nationalist narratives of Christianity as a "foreign" ideology that disrupts local communities. Far from being a divisive force, conversion integrates the slum community-Christians and Hindus alike-by addressing hidden moral fault lines that subtly pit residents against one another in a national context that renders Dalits outsiders in their own land."

Read an interview with the author on the Association for Asian Studies' #AsiaNow blog.

Auteur

Nathaniel Roberts is Research Fellow at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen.

Contenu

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments
Terminological Notes

Introduction
1 . Outsiders
2 . Caste, Care, and the Human
3 . Sharing, Caring, and Supernatural Attack
4 . Religion, Conversion, and the National Frame
5 . The Logic of Slum Religion
6 . Pastoral Power and the Miracles of Christ
7 . Salvation, Knowledge, and Suffering
Conclusion

Appendix: Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion
of Religion Ordinance, 2002
Notes
References
Index