Anthropometric surveys were weaponized to prove converts came from lower Hindu castes.

Evidence

Reverend John Takle – a New Zealander working as a missionary in Bengal – used the most recent “scientific” evidence that tracked intermarriage between Muslim and native races to supposedly prove a long-standing conclusion. In 1911 he stated, “The anthropometric survey made by government proves conclusively that the vast majority of the Mohammedans in India are converts from among the depressed Hindu communities.” — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 89

Categorization

• QUESTION: What exactly was the anthropometric methodology, and how did caste theory shape the survey design and interpretation?
• XREF: Connects to phrenology and race-science precedent, and to current debates over how biometric data can encode bias. — connects to: While these Americans and Britons avoided any suggestion that someone, drawn by a positive characteristic of the religion, might willingly accept Islam, others argued that, if there had been a good reason for South Asians to convert, it reflected less the value of Islam than the deficits of Hinduism, specifically caste prejudice and the proscription of widow remarriage. Reverend John Takle – a New Zealander working as a missionary in Bengal – used the most recent ‘scientific’ evidence that tracked intermarriage between Muslim and native races to supposedly prove a long-standing conclusion. In 1911 he stated, ‘The anthropometric survey made by government proves conclusively that the vast majority of the Mohammedans in India are converts from among the depressed Hindu communities.’; Caste explains Hindu neglect that risks aborigines converting to rival faiths.

Broader Connections

• Caste explains Hindu neglect that risks aborigines converting to rival faiths. #complicates (0.60)