For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Field notes from my micro-context1 Nidhin Shobhana As a child, I would always wonder why my house did not look as ‘clean’ as my Nair neighbour’s. Similarly, I always wondered why none of us Christians would look as ‘authentic’ as our Nair friends when we attended Malayalee Samajam Onam programmes. Jokes/comments such as ‘Christians2 …
At 6: 15 p.m., on 28th August, 2013, Old Conference Hall, Main Campus, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Talk on ‘Reclaiming the Legacy of Mahatma Ayyankali‘ Speaker: Mohammed Irshad 28th August marks the 151st Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Ayyankali one of the anti-caste superstars of India. He walked fearlessly on the streets of Travancore …
(This is the first part of the paper ‘Interpretation of Cultural Identity and Caste Hegemony in Selected Prose Writing of V.T. Rajshekar‘) Grishma Manikrao Khobragade Abstract Dalit-Bahujan-Ambedkarite writers have come to the fore of literary studies and culture studies in the recent years. These writers reveal in their writings various factors that propel actions …
Note from the interviewers –This is the transcript of a conversation between Dalit transgender feminist writer and theater artist Living Smile Vidya, who lives and works in Chennai, with her transgender brothers Kaveri Karthik and Gee Ameena Suleiman from Bangalore. This conversation took place on a late night after 11 pm in the basti where …
Dr. N. Sukumar Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realize that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic.~ Baba Saheb Ambedkar1. The past few weeks have witnessed a plethora of views, …
Dr Ajay Sekher Theyyam, the ancient ritual and popular art form of Malabar, is a cultural expression of the dalits and other contested sections of the stratified society. The subaltern classes used it as a strategic aesthetic and spiritual act and articulation against caste oppression and barbaric violence unleashed by the caste lords and …
[Via Anji Vikarabad] On December 25th, 2012, students in University of Hyderabad, led by the Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA), burnt a copy of the Manusmriti in the campus, which they called the ‘most notorious’, ‘barbaric’ religious text ever produced. 25th December is an auspicious day in the history of Dalitbahujan struggles because it was on …
Caste and Caste-Based Discrimination among Indian Muslims – Part 6: In the Period of ‘Muslim Rule’ Continued from here. Caste Struggle Masood Alam Falahi (Translated by Yoginder Sikand for NewAgeIslam.com) [Part 6 of Masood Alam Falahi‘s Urdu book Hindustan Mai Zat-Pat Aur Musalman (‘Casteism Among Muslims in India‘)] ~ With its philosophy of human …
Gail Omvedt (Written in November 2003) M V Nadkarni’s recent article “Is Caste System Intrinsic to Hinduism?: Demolishing a Myth”, (EPW, November 8, 2003) comes as a follow-up to his earlier article “Ethics and Relevance of Conversions: A Critical Assessment of Religious and Social Dimensions in a Gandhian Perspective” (Januay 18). Both articles show the fundamental stamp of Hindutva ideology, …