For An Informed Ambedkar Age
Milind X There is a tiny essay authored by the French critical theorist Jacques Derrida, the title of which is, The Dangerous Supplement. Derrida proposed in the essay that words or signifiers do not lead to concrete things. Language is a slippery slope where words lead to more words, or more supplements, and the actual …
Chanchal Kumar Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, was in the news headlines some days back for reasons that can only be called tragic. He was violently attacked on stage by a Muslim man, which has led to Rushdie losing eyesight in one eye and, according to the latest news, also losing control …
Nidhin Donald (നിധിൻ ഡൊണാൾഡ്) (Translated into Malayalam by Abhijith Baawa) ആമുഖം: സർവ്വകലാശാല എന്ന ‘ആശയ’വും ജനാധിപത്യം, ദേശ നിർമ്മാണം(nation building), വിജ്ഞാനോൽപ്പാദനം എന്നിവയുമായുള്ള അതിന്റെ ബന്ധവും സാമൂഹ്യശാസ്‌ത്രജ്ഞരും നയരൂപീകരണ വിദഗ്ധരും പലപ്പോഴും ആഴത്തിലുള്ളതും ചരിത്രപരവുമായ വിശകലനങ്ങൾക്കും സംവാദങ്ങൾക്കും വിധേയമാക്കിയിട്ടുണ്ട്‌.1 എന്നാൽ അത്തരം വിശകലനങ്ങൾ പലപ്പോഴും സർവകലാശാലകൾ സ്ഥാപിക്കുകയും രൂപവൽക്കരിക്കുകയും നിലനിർത്തുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നതിൽ അടങ്ങിയിരിക്കുന്ന സാമൂഹിക ഘടനകളുടെയും അതിന്റെ പ്രവർത്തനത്തിന്റെയും വ്യക്തവും (perceptive) ചരിത്രപരവുമായ പരിശോധനയായിരുന്നില്ല. മറ്റൊരു തരത്തിൽ പറഞ്ഞാൽ, യൂനിവേഴ്‌സിറ്റികൾ എന്ന ആശയം പലപ്പോഴും …
Sanjay Jothe अक्सर ही ग्रामीण विकास के मुद्दों पर काम करते हुए गाँवों में लोगों से बात करता हूँ या ग्रामीणों के साथ कोई प्रोजेक्ट की प्लानिंग करता हूँ तो दो बातें हमेशा चौंकाती हैं। पहली बात ये कि ग्रामीण सवर्ण लोग मूलभूत सुविधाओं जैसे सड़क, बिजली, तालाब, स्कूल आदि बनवाने की बजाय मंदिर, …
Eramangalathu Chitralekha On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Bahujan Students’ Front salutes all Bahujan revolutionaries who fought for gender equity in the oppressive casteist patriarchal system. It is due to the efforts of these valiant souls that we are here today, enabled to pen these very lines. We would like to share today …
Ayaz Ahmad In the wake of upcoming assembly polls, the question of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is being debated with traditional appeal to religious identity of Muslims & Hindus in their respective constituencies. From the vantage point of Pasmanda, the question of UCC is raised to create the binary of Hindu versus Muslim in …
Chanchal Kumar This essay shows with examples that incidents of caste discrimination have only proliferated instead of stopping in any way in modern towns and even in the national capital Delhi. I have been personally affected by it in my adult life. The only people for whom caste does not exist is savarnas, who …
Nidhin Shobhana In the name of the Nation: Historicizing Caste in Indian Universities (with special reference to Jawaharlal Nehru University) Setting up the Stage The ‘idea’ of a university and its connections to democracy, nation-building and knowledge production have been historically discussed and debated by several social scientists and policy-makers in great depth1. Such discussions have …
Nilesh Kumar Introduction This year, the nation is celebrating Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 125th Birth Anniversary. Dalits, Ambedkarite groups, non-governmental organizations largely run by Dalits, international bodies like United Nations (UN), some national and international universities, political parties like Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Hindu organisations like Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), Congress, the various state …