In this pioneering work in the field of political and moral theory, the contributors explore the complex and varied meanings, contexts, forms, and languages of humiliation within an interdisciplinary framework. The essays unfold the meaning of humiliation by juxtaposing it with other concepts such as shame, disgust, discrimination, degradation, and segregation.

They also interrogate the structures that underlie and renew various forms of humiliation. The collection presents a wide-ranging comparative perspective on various forms of humiliation--racial humiliation in the context of colonialism, the humiliation of working classes in the Bombay textile strike of 1982, caste-based humiliation through the practice of untouchability, and various forms of gender humiliation.