Untouchable: An Indian Life History

Freeman's study of a forty-year-old untouchable, named Muli, is a welcome contribution to South Asian ethnography, offering unique insights into the impact of complex psychosocial and environmental forces on India's untouchable castes. . . . It also has broader implications for the understanding of oppressed peoples throughout the world. . . . The volume includes certain topics that have received little attention from anthropologists. There are chapters on 'oath friendships,' transvestites (male prostitutes), a symbolic marriage to a tree trunk, and several devastating chapters about the sexual exploitation of Bauri women by high-caste men. The text is full of rich information on social roles, family structure, marriage customs, and dishonesty among bureaucrats, priests, farmers, and even fellow Bauris." ---James J. Preston, "Journal of Psychological Anthropology"