juthaa in Trinidad: food, pollution, and hierarchy in a Caribbean diaspora community

Focusing on the Hindi term juthaa—food and drink that have become “polluted” by being partially consumed—this article explores pollution ideology and its implications for social relations and the construction of identity among Hindu and Muslim East Indians in Trinidad. It suggests that in this overseas community the salience of the concept of juthaa, though caste derived, is indicative of an egalitarian morality at work in concert with hierarchical principles. This, in turn, has implications for the way we understand cultural reproduction and change, ritual, and stratification among diaspora populations. [pollution ideology, social stratification, South Asian diaspora, transnational identities, Trinidad] 1994 American Anthropological Association