Patterns of Residence in Poona, India, by Caste and Religion: 1822–1965

Abstract

An analysis of the residential distribution of caste and religious groups in Poona (India) over the past century and a half shows distinctive patterns of segregation and centralization that have largely remained unchanged despite the city's growth and development. The upper castes are residentially centralized and the lower castes are decentralized in Poona. Such a centralization of the elite has been observed in most other past and present cities of the world, although the pattern is less common in the contemporary United States. The Jews and Parsees, and the Christians, tend to be highly segregated and decentralized in Poona. However, Negroes in large American cities are generally more highly segregated residentially than the Jews, Parsees, Christians, and even the depressed and untouchable castes in Poona. The American cities show an average degree of segregation of the foreign-born white ethnic groups, and of the native whites of foreign or mixed parentage, from the native whites that is as great, if not greater, than the mean extent of segregation of caste groups in this Indian city.