Dear friends:
You haven’t heard from me for the past several (seven) months. I will explain, but perhaps that would need elaborate space, attention, and engaged readership which could be compensated for better in a memoir. While a few friends turned down the idea of a memoir, an agent from Boston was and is still keen to put it out. But right now, I am preoccupied with two monographs staring at me. One that is scheduled to come out later this year, is tentatively titled, Caste: A New History. The second is Ambedkar’s biography which will take some time. I am extensively consulting Marathi sources and archives.
Lately, I have been busy with fixing schedules for the year 2022. The past two years of non-meeting will perhaps finally end with a more “normalised” lifestyle. I am not a strong proponent of “normal”.
2021 was, like any other year, a lesson for me. I am certain the past year was not particularly welcoming for anyone. With planetary catastrophe wrought by Covid havoc, the mismanagement of public health by the state, profiting out of people’s desperation and helplessness.
Perhaps my mind unconsciously is looking forward to welcoming 2022 and bidding a final goodbye to 2021 for all the lessons it has taught me, allowing me to grow at my pace.
Anyhow, there are a few updates before we bring closure to 2021.
Also, an announcement. I finally agreed to write a regular monthly column in Marathi for Loksatta, Marathi language’s most respected newspaper, well known for its sharp opinions. The editor had asked me to contribute last year but I had refused. I wrote occasional Marathi pieces in the meanwhile so my mother could access them. I am also writing the present column for my mother. The column in Loksatta will be written in the section “Ambedkarwaad”. You can read the first piece here.
माझा पहिला लेख “‘आंबेडकरवाद’ हा कशाचा तोडगा?” आपण इथे वाचू शकता.
The end of the year was sweet for me. The New York Times asked Amartya Sen: “Has a book ever brought you closer to another person”. The Nobel laureate replied: “Suraj Yengde’s recent book (Caste Matters)”.
Dalitality
Jan 2022
“I am yet to meet a savarna feminist who admires Mayawati. I will cite merely two incidents that have reassured my faith that caste trumps gender and other progressive politics.”
This has been a long time coming. I have been observing and noticing the trends in this direction with respect to Mayawati, the tallest Dalit leader in India. I offer a couple of anecdotes where I encountered these sentiments by Indian-American Savarna feminist scholars. In this month's Dalitality, I talk about how “Such liberals and caste-privileged academics and activists in the West exhibit the ancestral bigotry running in their blood.” Some of these people are “morning liberals, afternoon progressives, night-time radicals —and full-time caste chauvinists.”
LINK: Views about Mayawati, and what they tell us
Dalitality 2021
We've to cover nearly seven months of Dalitality. It would not be sufficient to do it here. However, I will add links to them below.
June, 2021:Buddha, the first doctor of the mind
July 2021: How State can benefit from quality education to SCs, STs
August 2021: Could BAMCEF be the needed answer to RSS?
September 2021: Across groups, the case for a caste census
October 2021: Is it yet an era for Dalit leadership?
November 2021: On climate, hear those who live by the Earth
December 2021: Retracing Fa-Hien in the land of the Buddha
December 2021: with Kunal Kamra Caste-less comedy: Time to lift curtains
Professor of Religion, Anantandan Rambachan invited fellow Hindus to think critically about their religion and its suffocating topic of caste in his entry for Dalitality. You can read the piece “Caste system: Hindus must reflect, drive change” here.
Francophone writer Ari Gautier has a mixed heritage of black and Dalit background. Ari is a poet and novelist who plays with new ideas and juggles creative vocabularies. He brought together a collection of poems along with his colleague Ananya Kabir through their initiative Le Thinnai Kreyole. Ari wrote a biographical piece with a critical appreciation of his own diverse cultural, racial, caste, and national backgrounds. You can read his entry for Dalitality entitled “Négrodalitalité, la Negrodalitality” here.
Articles
Source: The Caravan
The cover story that I had written for the Caravan in 2020 is now available for Hindi readers. You can read the piece here. आप यह लेख यहां पढ़ सकते हैं.
Reviews
Noted scholar of caste and historian of South Asia, Chinnaiah Jangam wrote an elaborate review for the Economic & Political Weekly of The Radical In Ambedkar, co-edited by Anand Teltumbde and I. Chinniah did an honest work of a reviewer to not only read each chapter with careful precision but also respect each author’s contribution. Usually, in edited volumes, some authors get preference over others. However, with Chinnaiah it had to be comprehensive. You can read the review here.
I reviewed Renaissance State, a book authored by a Marathi journalist and editor of Loksatta, Girish Kuber. This book centres Maharashtra in its own history not relying on the location of India. It makes a case for Maharashtra in national politics. Written with a love for his homeland, Kuber was loyal to the project of Marathi. You can read the review here.
South Asia’s prominent magazine Himal asked me to recommend three books that I read in 2020. The competition was tough. I couldn’t stop at three. It ended up becoming four. My list was: The Republic of Caste by Anand Teltumbde (who is still incarcerated by the Modi government under false charges courtesy of Pegasus software), The Impossible Indian by Faisal Devji, An Uneasy Embrace by Shobana Shankar, and Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. You can read my blurbs about them here.
Media profile
AsiaNews network did a profile on me. The young reporter Alessandra De Poli managed to capture the nuances quite efficiently. From my hometown to covering various geographies, the profile was sobering.
Source: AsiaNews
The article was published in English, Italian, and Chinese.
Other News
The story of estranged relations of Cornel West with Harvard received an admirable response from the student community. Harvard’s student-run The Crimson did an elaborate profile on him. I was honored to be interviewed. You can read the entire episode and the packed reportage by Josie F. Abugov and Harrison R. T. Ward here.
California State University (CSU) joined a host of other universities in the US to outlaw caste from its campuses. This, as expected, received a strong response from the deniers of the caste system. The Hindu American Foundation protested against the decision of CSU to add caste as a protected category. Their line of argument proves that basic logic doesn't work in the domain of caste Hindus. The opponents said that the move will trigger a spate of cases against Hindu/South Asian professors and would indiscriminately target them. Against what? Someone practicing casteism?? I am at loss. You can read about CSU’s announcement of the policy here. And coverage of the debate bringing in voices of Dalit students and professors from the US in the Vice media by an OBC Muslim Arman Khan.
Events
I was invited to Berlin to deliver a lecture at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry on “A Modern History of Caste”.
This talk was one of my formal in-person public appearances in 2021. The hall was packed, and the audience stayed till late to have discussions.
The video of the lecture is uploaded. Please see here.
Interviews
Source: TheWire.in
A few interviews that you could watch or read are linked below:
Caste and Reservations 101: Suraj Yengde Answers Some Frequently Asked Questions with T M Krisha.
Answering the Upper Caste: Suraj Yengde Lays to Rest Questions the Privileged Often Ask About Caste with T M Krishna
History
The bravery of the Mahar soldiers is celebrated across India. Mahars participated in a war alongside the British Army that ended the rule of Peshwa-Brahmin fiefdom in western Maharashtra. It is said that close to 500 Mahar soldiers braved the might of 24,000 Peshwa army near a place called Bhima Koregaon. Like the famous story of 300 Spartans facing a might of the Persian army in the famous battle of Thermopylae, the Mahar story also remains to be mythologized. The Dalits across India make an annual pilgrimage to pay respects to their warrior ancestors. It is also a reminder for them to not forget their true value and qualities.
Somnath Waghmare, a brilliant filmmaker from western India made a famous documentary on this episode chronicling the celebration and commemoration around the Bhima Koregaon history. You can watch the documentary here. We had the honor to shortlist the documentary for the Dalit Film Festival held in New York City.
Action
India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh is undergoing Assembly elections. It is a three-way tussle of strong people. All the contenders have sat in the chair of the Chief Minister of the powerful state. Among them, Mayawati is the most experienced. Mayawati’s party BSP has decided to contest the elections alone. The other two candidates are the BJP and Samajwadi Party (Socialist Party) coalition led by Yadav. Like every other Assembly election of the UP, this too will play a significant role in the next federal (2024) Parliamentary elections.
Two leading scholars of India have contributed important pieces in this context. Suryakant Waghmore looks at the politics of possible consolidation of OBCs and what it would mean for the elections. You can read his piece here. The other piece by Kancha Illaiah argues that the Shudras–the OBCs are no longer willing to be lured by the RSS-BJP.
“The food-producing forces, historically known as the Shudras in the Varna system, are now feeling rebellious against Modi. They have realised that his 2014 slogan, ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas—With Everybody, Development for All,’ is no longer trustworthy.” You can read his piece here.
Announcements
Students of Oxford University belonging to Dalit, Shudra, backward caste Muslim backgrounds organized an International Conference entitled “Counting Caste: Breaking the Caste Census Deadlock”.
This is a promising event that will bring together experts from various fields to debate and discuss the importance of the caste census. Without counting the numbers of castes, there cannot be any effective policy or governance. Only fools will ignore the numbers of demography at their peril. The fools also incidentally happen to be the beneficiaries of the current state of caste. Do register for this online two-day conference here.
Scholars of South Asia in the United States are organising an online conference Religion and its Publics in South Asia: Perspectives on the Past and Present
on Feb 24-25, 2022
. An interesting mix of panels will bring perspectives on Caste, Religion, Public Sphere among others.
Joel Lee’s book Deceptive Majority: Dalits. Hinduism, and Underground Religion
on the Balmiki also known as Lalbegi’s in Uttar Pradesh is out. Arjun Appadurai and Faisal Devji were full of praise for this treatise. I am looking forward to reading it soon.
I’d also recommend two books on different topics that gauged my attention.
Shobana Shankar’s An Uneasy Embrace
and
The King of the Mountain
by Martine Le Coz, is a story of the Dalit community’s beliefs and their wonderworld at the foothills of the Himalayas.
#JaiBhim #DalitLove,
suraj.
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