It is our pleasure to invite you to participate in the book launch events and discussions to be held at Chennai.
Event 1
Hatred in the Belly: Discussion on Appropriation of Dr. Ambedkar’s Writings, Life & Struggle
Date: Saturday, 13th February 2016
Time: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Location: At ICSA Centre, Egmore (Opposite to Govt. Museum), Chennai.
Special Invitees
Punitha Pandian, Publisher – Dalit Murasu
Neelakandan, Publisher – Karuppu Prathigal
Naren Bedide (Kuffir), Founder , Editor – Round Table India
Prof. Lenin, Dept. of Tamil, Loyola College, Chennai
Dr Karthick RM, University of Essex, UK
Dr Ezhilan Naganathan, Youth Activist & Rationalist
Dr Anu Radha, Dr Ambedkar Govt. Arts College, Chennai
Prince Gajendra Babu, Educationist, State Platform for Common School System
In 2014, Arundhati Roy and Navayana publications came together to introduce the seminal text Annihilation of Caste, penned by Dr Ambedkar in 1936. This Roy-Navayana project annotated the Annihilation of Caste with an introduction that suffers from over wrought prose, by Arundhati Roy. Roy was then promoted to be a co-author with DrAmbedkar in this priced edition. This triggered a series of nationwide debates by dalit-bahujan intellectuals, researchers and students.
These debates included misappropriating knowledge production by Roy and Navayana;exposing their insinuating narratives that repositions Brahmanical hegemony in anti-caste articulations; commodifying and privatizing a treatise that has been in public for decades and finally exposing Roy’s privileged and insufficient intellect to read the radical text.
These debates also showed the world that a refreshing Dalit and anti-caste scholarships is in the making to challenge Brahmanical hegemony. These collective voices culminated in the book ‘Hatred in the belly: Politics behind appropriation of Dr. Ambedkar’s writings.’
Saturday’s event would mark the launch of the book in Chennai and further the discussions and struggle against Brahmanical hegemony. The city has a legacy of early Dalit publications such as ‘Oru Paisa Tamilan’ by Iyothee Thasar in 1907 and the discussions would also aim to chronicle and understand the assertion of anti-caste publications from dalit-bahujan spaces against the context of institutions such as Navayana Publishers which attempt to appropriate and distort the Ambedkarite movement.
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The book will also be launched on the same day in another event, details are as follows:
Event 2
Hatred in the belly: Book Launch and Rohith Vemula’s Torch bearing
Saturday, 13th February 2016, 3.30: PM to 7.30 PM.
Venue: Kaviko Arangam, 2nd Main Road, CIT Colony, Mylapore (near Music Academy)
Chief Guests
Prof. Naganathan, Prof. A Karunananthan, Naren Bedide (Kuffir), Kathiravan, Journalist Tamil Arasan, Prof. Semmalar.
The programme will be co-ordinated by Dr. Ezhilan Naganathan. The book will be introduced to a gathering largely drawn from students and teachers. The event would mark discussions on the tragic death of Rohith Vemula, Research Scholar in Hyderabad Central University.
All are Welcome. Jai Bhim!
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