Anti-Caste Histories and Solidarities

Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi, Vimukta, and other anti-caste communities in South Asia, have long-standing histories of fighting against caste oppression. In their efforts, these diverse communities have envisioned democratic futures, futures free of caste, be it in the form of the utopia of Begumpura (city without sorrows) or by converting into other egalitarian faiths or imagining collective identities. For long, these communities have fostered solidarities that have been in the making, at times contested, other times fragile, and yet other times strong and emancipatory. Through oral histories, these knowledge communities have passed on equally emancipatory ideologies. With each passing generation, they have reimagined and redefined themselves. To commemorate this rich past and to continue the contemporary dialectics, ‘Dalit Bahujan Adivasi Vimukta Women, Trans, Non-binary People’s Collective’ and ‘South Asian Scholars and Activists Solidarity’ bring forth this ‘Anti-caste Histories and Solidarities’ lecture series in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.

In this series, some contemporary intellectuals, writers, artists, and activists from diverse anti-caste locations will reflect on pertinent questions: how do historically oppressed diverse communities with emancipatory movement histories investigate, imagine, and build anti-caste solidarities? Why is engagement with these histories and solidarities critical? How caste still dominates and shapes the lived realities of Dalits and many other marginalized groups in India? How do the state and its system as it exists fails and yet remain the only source for the oppressed castes and minorities to seek justice? These are some of the challenging questions scholars and activists of anti-caste scholarship and movements have engaged with for several decades. Yet many questions remain unanswered, get distorted, or remain sidelined due to their complexities. This lecture series attempts to engage with these complex questions in the spirit of continuing the knowledge exchange. 

All of the discussions will be held as online seminars in English. Preregistration is necessary.

Sarita Pariyar
Utsukta: Reimagining Intergenerational Caste Narratives and Futures of anti-caste solidarities in the making
08/04/2022 at 17.00 CET
Moderated by Swati Kamble
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ASCMYdhkSdOyjnYVliHY8A

Disha Wadekar 
The Caste of Dissent 
16/04/2022 at 17.00 CET
Moderated by Nikita Sonavane 
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qscK5MnKTVKB5HJFOEpOaw

Kanthi Swaroop
Caste and COVID -19: Recasting Sanitation Work in India
21/04/2022  at 17.00 CET
Moderated by Palashi Vaghela
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_scPW37A4QyqeidSGS-2erQ

Z. A.
Anti Caste Anti Islamophobic Positionality: Contemporary Reflections of a Hijabi
28/04/2022 at 17.00 CET
Moderated by Rupali Bansode
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d7zJi70vTz2GI3EcfzL6Jg

Manu Kaur (they/them)
How casteism shows up in the diaspora: the urgent need for caste protections 
05/05/2022 at 17.00 CET
Moderated by Shrujana Shridhar
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_eMA__6o_Rlyv6VIuVQZ6DQ

Dalit Bahujan Adivasi Vimukta Women, Trans and Non-binary People’s Collective

DBAV Women, Trans, and Non-binary People’s Collective is an autonomous group of three generations of Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi, Vimukta, and Trans and non-binary activists. The collective’s members are engaged in transnational, national, regional, and grassroots activism. Many are research scholars, academics, artists, poets, writers, journalists, lawyers, and other professionals—this engagement in anti-caste activism, knowledge production, and intersectional praxis span five decades. As a group, we strive for horizontal and inclusive collaborations.

South Asian Scholars and Activists Solidarities (SASAS)

SASAS is a self-organized group of activists, students, and researchers in Germany and Europe. Anti-caste, intersectional feminism, and non-hierarchical autonomy are the core ideologies of our collective. We aim to commemorate the contributions of anti-caste social revolutionaries and generate awareness around the issues of caste and caste-based discrimination that continue in South Asia and around the globe. Further, we also aim to build solidarity with other resistance movements, particularly of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour, Roma Sinti, and migrant groups in Germany and Europe.