This Land We Call Home: A History of “Criminal Tribes” in Modern India – An Interview With Nusrat F. Jafri
In this interview with Nusrat F. Jafri, we explore her much-acclaimed biographical fiction, This Land We Call Home (Penguin, 2024). The novel traces the evolution of the Bhantu caste from the 1800s to the 2000s, offering a nuanced perspective on the shifting contours of minority identity across northern India.
Jafri delves into the history of the Bhantu, a community labeled as “criminal tribe” under the British Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. She examines how the repeal of this Act in 1952, followed by the denotification of these communities, brought little respite. The replacement of the Act…
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