The Skull and the Scholar

Abstract This article revisits Irawati Karve’s early scientific work in Berlin (1927–1931) to illuminate how her empirical refusal of Eugen Fischer’s racial-biological hypothesis constitutes a pivotal moment of epistemic disobedience within the institutional core of European scientific racism. By examining Karve’s doctoral research, her later anthropometric writings in India, and the contradictions of her caste and colonial positionality, the article argues for understanding decolonial pedagogy through ‘disciplinary dependence’, a framework that resists isolated disciplinary silos and instead cultivates relational, cross-disciplinary modes of knowing. Drawing on insights from decolonial theorists, critical pedagogy, and Indigenous epistemologies, the article shows how Karve’s methodological tensions can inform contemporary debates on decolonizing science, curriculum, and knowledge production. The concept of disciplinary dependence is proposed as a pedagogical approach to encourage ethical disobedience, epistemic plurality, and collaborative knowledge-making across scientific, social, and cultural boundaries.