Webinar on Institutional Discrimination Against Bahujan, Adivasi, and Dalit Faculty within Indian academia

About the Savitri Phule Ambedkar Caravan

SPAC is an inclusive collective which primarily works for the welfare of the Bahujan community on-campus. As a committee founded by some great minds and visionary Bahujan students of NLSIU, SPAC aspires to effectuate the methodologies of Babasaheb Ambedkar to Educate! Organise! Agitate! We sit as equals to educate each other and organise our brothers and sisters in a movement against injustice.

About the National Law School of India University

NLSIU was the first National Law University established in India in 1986. The premier law school was set up with a mission to pioneer legal education reforms, and to anchor the transformation of the Indian legal system through research and policy interventions.

The recent incident of the resignation of Professor Veepin Vitil from IIT Madras due to caste-based discrimination was a distressing reminder of the prevalent Brahminical violence in institutions which pushes DBA individuals to take drastic steps for the sake of their sanity and protection. Prof. Bhanu Pratap Mehta's exit from Ashoka University had become a national sensation, whereas the media attention given to this incident is characteristically much less than what it warrants.

The event will be led by Dr. Sumit Baudh, Dr. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, Dr. Anandita Pan and Dr. M. Parthasarathi.

About the speakers

Dr. Sumit Baudh is a well-known Dalit Scholar. Formerly, a British Chevening scholar, Dr. Baudh has held many prestigious fellowship positions. Dr. Baudh received their Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from the UCLA School of Law, their Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the London School of Economics, and graduated with honors as Bachelor of Laws and Arts (B.A. LL.B. Hons.) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Dr. Baudh is qualified to practice law as an Advocate in India and enrolled as Solicitor n.p. with The Law Society, England and Wales.

Dr. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is an Indian political theorist, prolific writer and a Dalit rights activist. He writes in both English and Telugu languages. His main domain of study and activism is the annihilation of caste.He is the author of the books such as Why I am not a Hindu and Post- Hindu India . He has been a recipient of the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and was a Nehru Fellow between 1994-1997 and has been awarded for his study of land reform in undivided Andhra Pradesh. He is an Ambedkarite.

Dr. Anandita Pan is an Assistant Professor at Department of Humanities and Social Science, at a well-known University in MP. She has worked extensively on Caste and Gender in India, and intends on expanding her research to the domain of gender and cultural studies with special emphasis on sexuality and representation in literature, oral, visual and popular media. Her literary works include "Mapping Dalit Feminism" which was released in 2020. In her book, considered a path-breaking study in her field, she argues that Dalit women are an intersectional category who are simultaneously affected by caste and gender.

Dr. M. Parthasarathi is an Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Studies at a well known University in Hyderabad. He has focused on Dalit literature and caste politics in his work. His famous works include "Preliminary Remarks on Dalit Poetry", "Tamil Dalit Literature: Aesthetics, Politics and Life Narratives" and "Dalit: the making of a political subject". He has also written on topics such as "Critique of Caste Violence: Explorations in Theory" and "Paramakudi Violence: Against Dalits, Against Politics".

The event is scheduled to begin at 06:00 p.m. on July 24th (Saturday).

The speakers will give their points of view for 15-20 minutes, followed by a quick question and answer session.

The meeting link for the same- We hope to see you all in the webinar.

Registration Link - https://nls-ac-in.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WbuMWCb1QPSO8iERIu43Gg

Zoom ID: 948 3889 7424

Passcode: 114556

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