Colloquium Series: “Dalit Politics: Possibilities and Crisis”

2018 Apr 13, Friday
Seminar Hall, 10th Floor, Pixel A (Azim Premji University)
Dalit Politics

About the Lecture
Dalit politics contains a dual meaning in its form and content. One means the empowerment of Dalit communities and the second the influencing of politics and society as a whole. In this lecture, I would like to explore the performance of Dalit politics in both these senses, as an alternative politics and as a politics of state power. I will concentrate on reviewing the crisis of contemporary Dalit politics and exploring the contours of new possibilities that lie in Dalit Politics in North India.

About the Speaker
BADRI NARAYAN, a social historian and cultural anthropologist is Director, G B Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. His interests lie in popular culture, social and anthropological history, Dalit and subaltern issues and the relationship between power and culture. Besides publishing a number of articles, both in English and Hindi, he has recently written Fractured Tales: Invisibles in Indian Democracy (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2016). His other critically acclaimed books are Kanshiram: Leader of the Dalits (Penguin, 2014), The Making of the Dalit Public in North India: Uttar Pradesh, 1950-present (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011); Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India (Sage Publication, New Delhi, 2006) and Fascinating Hindutva – Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation (Sage Publication, New Delhi, 2006).