ABSTRACT In this article we introduce the special issue through framing the debate on the role of caste in India’s current land wars. We draw attention to how caste consistently mediates land transfers in present day India by pre-empting, undermining, or fuelling processes of social contestation, as well as the ways in which land claims in turn shape realigned or reimagined caste identities. Based on this, we make three main arguments. The first and most obvious one is that in contemporary conflicts over land, caste matters in evolving ways that deserve attention. Second, we argue that caste and land are recursively linked categories that are produced and reproduced in continuous interaction, even as multi-scalar political economies (re)shape them. And third, that different registers of caste are articulated by different social groups in more or less overt ways as they stake often competing claims to land.

中文翻译：

---

印度新土地战争中的种姓政治

摘要 在本文中，我们通过构建关于种姓在印度当前土地战争中的作用的辩论来介绍这一特刊。我们提请注意当今印度种姓如何通过先发制人、破坏或助长社会竞争过程来持续调解土地转让，以及土地要求反过来塑造重新调整或重新构想的种姓身份的方式。基于此，我们提出三个主要论点。第一个也是最明显的一点是，在当代土地冲突中，种姓以值得关注的不断演变的方式发挥着重要作用。其次，我们认为种姓和土地是递归联系的类别，它们在持续互动中产生和再生产，即使是在多标量政治经济（重新）塑造它们时也是如此。第三，