BureaucraticArchaeologyisamulti-facetedethnographyofquotidianpracticesofarchaeology,bureaucracyandscienceinpostcolonialIndia,concentratingontheworkingsofArchaeologicalSurveyofIndia(ASI).Thisbookuncoversanendemiclinkbetweenmicro-practiceofarchaeologyinthetrenchesoftheASItothemanufactureofarchaeologicalknowledge,wieldedinthemakingofpoliticalandreligiousidentityandsummonedasindelibleevidenceinthejuridicaladjudicationinthehighestcourtsofIndia.Thisbookisarareethnographyofthedailypracticeofapostcolonialbureaucracyfromwithinratherthanfromtheoutside.Itmeticulouslyuncoversthesocial,cultural,politicalandepistemologicalecologyofASIarchaeologiststoshowhowpostcolonialstateassemblesandproducesknowledge.Thisisthefirstbooklengthmonographontheworkingsofarchaeologyinanon-westernworld,whichmeticulouslyshowshowtheoryofarchaeologicalpracticedeviates,transformsandgeneratesknowledgeoutsidetheEuro-Americanepistemologicaltradition.
