Kriti Kapila Bücher

The book questions the relevance of anthropology in the modern era, considering its colonial roots established in the 19th century. It explores the implications of current social movements, such as Black Lives Matter, and the push for decolonization within academic curricula. The text examines whether the discipline can be reformed or if it remains irreparably tainted by its historical associations, prompting a critical reflection on its future in contemporary society.

Nullius is an anthropological account of the troubled status of ownership in India and its consequences for our understanding of sovereignty and social relations. Though property rights and ownership are said to be a cornerstone of modern law, in the Indian case they are often a spectral presence. Kapila offers a detailed study of paradigms where proprietary relations have been erased, denied, misappropriated. The book examines three forms of negation, where the Indian state de facto adopted doctrines of terra nullius (in the erasure of indigenous title), res nullius (in acquiring museum objects), and, controversially, corpus nullius (in denying citizens ownership of their bodies under biometrics). The result is a pathbreaking reconnection of questions of property, exchange, dispossession, law, and sovereignty.