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The Wire
06-06-2025
- Politics
- The Wire
An Anti-Caste Counterculture Is Gradually Taking Root in UK Universities
In a darkened lecture theatre in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, about 50 people gathered on a Sunday morning for a special screening of Court by Chaitanya Tamhane, a movie that critiques casteism in the Indian legal system. Meanwhile, 400 kms away in northwest England, a book stand in the library of Lancaster University showcased a special collection on caste and Ambedkar. And in another part of the UK, at the University of Leeds, students gathered to commemorate Ambedkar's birth anniversary and discuss plans for the newly formed Dr Ambedkar Society. These scenes from Dalit History Month celebrations in April this year in different parts of the UK represent a quiet but growing assertion taking root in many English university campuses. With more Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi students going to the UK for higher education in recent years, they are creating a counterculture on campus, challenging how 'India' and 'South Asia' are understood among British and international students and faculty. Through organising lectures, workshops and film screenings, and by forming anti-caste and Ambedkarite student societies on campus, marginalised students in the UK are amplifying voices from within their communities on an international platform and contributing to the global understanding of caste and resistance to it. Some are taking the effort further by trying to push for their universities to recognise caste in their policies, to help address the familiar patterns of discrimination and structural inequality marginalised students experience in the UK. Creating a new cultural presence on campus With tens of thousands of Indian students enrolling in UK universities every year, it is commonplace to find 'India Societies' and 'Hindu Societies' among the many student-run clubs on campuses across the country. In fact, societies that promote Hindu religion and culture on campus have been around in the UK since at least 1991 . Through these groups, students organise a variety of events including Bollywood nights, aartis , Diwali and Garba celebrations, and discussions on Indian politics and society Dalit students who came to the UK to study did not feel represented by any of these existing societies, said Abhishek Bhosale, PhD scholar and current President of the SOAS Ambedkar Society. When the society was formed in 2018, the idea was to create a safe space where Dalit students could get together, as well as to democratise and diversify the campus by putting forward their stories and perspectives, he said. In the past year, during Abhishek's tenure as president, the society has organised several public events including a discussion with The Wire' s Sukanya Shantha and her lawyer Disha Wadekar on their petition in the Supreme Court about caste-based discrimination in Indian prisons. The society also organised discussions on Shahu Patole's book Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada and Anand Teltumbde's book Iconoclast. What impact do students hope to have through these events? Abhishek explained that by telling the story of caste in a university like SOAS with an international, politically engaged student body, sensitisation about caste inequalities can reach the wider world through these students when they return to their home countries. 'We want to internationalise the authentic stories of people from Dalit backgrounds. For example, if not for the SOAS Ambedkar Society, there wouldn't be a discussion in London on Patole's book about Dalit food,' Abhishek said. They also try to bring the academic discussions to life through cultural events such as the Anti-Caste Film Festival they organised in April this year, where the Court was screened. With support from the filmmakers who obliged without a screening fee, the students also showed Jai Bhim Comrade , Fandry , Kaala , and Dr B R Ambedkar to a diverse audience of 60-70 members in London. Poster of the Anti-caste film festival organised by the SOAS Ambedkar Society (Left). A scene from the screening (Right). Photo: Abhishek Bhosale/ SOAS Ambedkar Society. SOAS is also home to the first known Adivasi student society in the UK, the Maki Munda Indigenous Studies Society. In the 2023-24 academic year, a few students from Jharkhand who were at SOAS on various government scholarships created this society to engage with Adivasi issues on an international platform. In their public events, they make it a point to invite Adivasi scholars and grassroots activists as panelists, often joining virtually from India, to share their indigenous knowledge and first-hand experiences. During a student fair in January 2024, the society also organised an Adivasi dance from the Chotanagpur region. 'People write about the poverty among Adivasis, their trauma and rights abuse but rarely do they embrace Adivasi culture. As Adivasis, we constantly battle damnation and shame in being who we are. Through the dance, we wanted to showcase our rich heritage and give it due regard in an international space,' said Madhuri Xalxo, a PhD scholar and founding member of the society. A handful of universities in the UK now have Ambedkarite or anti-caste societies formed by students. The Ambedkarite Society of Edinburgh at the University of Edinburgh was formed in January 2024 as a response to various incidents of casteism that marginalised students experienced from fellow Indian students of privileged caste backgrounds. 'I was very taken aback by the lack of sensitivity among many Indians. So we formed the society to promote an anti-caste consciousness among students from India, among diaspora and among international students,' said Aniruddha Mahajan, PhD scholar and founding president of the society. At the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a few Dalit students started an LSE Ambedkar Society in January 2024 to give the iconic social reformer's ideas due regard in his alma mater. Ambedkar enrolled as a student in LSE in 1916 and completed a master's degree and a PhD from the university. Ritu Kochar, PhD student and founding president of the society, said, 'I was very proud to join the same university where Babasaheb once studied. But when I came here, I realised that even though Ambedkar is featured prominently as a notable alumni of LSE, there is hardly any engagement with his ideas on economics, caste or religion.' Through its activities, the society aims to change this and bring focus to his scholarship. At the University of Oxford, the Oxford South Asian Ambedkar Forum (OxSAAF) was formed in 2021 with the intention to create an alternative to the existing Indian cultural presence on campus, mostly associated with Diwali and Bollywood. 'One thing we wanted to do from the beginning was to create a desi counterculture of food, clothing, films and so on, in Oxford,' said Shireen Azam, DPhil scholar and founding member of OxSAAF. For instance, in 2022, OxSAAF organised a screening of the film Kaala by anti-caste filmmaker Pa Ranjith. 'After the screening, we gave out food coupons which said 'India is not a vegetarian country'. We served both veg and non-veg food but we wanted to push against the widespread association of India with vegetarianism,' Shireen said. Most societies have about 6-10 core members from different caste backgrounds and nationalities, with many more students and members of the public participating in their events. Despite their resolve to assert their presence, keeping the societies active year after year is a challenge since master's students leave when their one-year courses conclude, and PhD students are often kept busy by research and academic commitments. Outside of societies, some individual students like Mayur Helia, PhD scholar Lancaster University, are also doing their bit to bring insider perspectives to conversations on caste within academia. When he first enrolled here, he noticed that the university's library did not have many books on caste or Ambedkar. 'The library had whole sections of books on Gandhi and on Nehru but there was hardly anything on caste, especially those written by people from within the Dalit community,' Mayur said. This prompted him to write to the library's administration in 2024, suggesting that they commemorate Dalit History Month just as they mark occasions like Black History Month and LGBTQ+ History Month. The library staff obliged and in April 2024, for the first time, the library had a bookshelf showcasing books such as Caste Matters by Suraj Yengde and Coming out as Dalit by Yashica Dutt, along with a note on the significance of Dalit History Month. This year, too, the library celebrated the occasion with a dedicated bookshelf. Instagram: Lancaster University Library. Perhaps the biggest shift is the presence of so many researchers from marginalised caste backgrounds in the UK, engaged in academic knowledge production on caste, its history and its contemporary life. Students see this as an opportunity to correct the 'Savarna gaze' in research on the subject and to tell overlooked stories of resistance and dignity. 'There are enough privileged caste researchers doing research on us. I want Dalits to come here to the UK and talk about the community. Now it is time for insiders to get their voice and for the mic to be passed,' said Mayur, whose own PhD research is on caste, resistance and surveillance among sanitation workers in South Asia A growing push for recognition of caste in policies within UK universities Ambedkar famously said that caste would migrate with Hindus wherever they went, a prediction that has been visibly borne out in recent years across the globe. In the UK, too, students from marginalised castes experience subtle and unsubtle forms of discrimination from South Asian faculty and fellow students, and even outside the campus For instance, as a master's student at the University of Edinburgh, Vaishnavi (who goes by first name only) felt alienated by fellow Indian students when she told them she was on the Maharashtra government's overseas scholarship for OBC students 'After I told them, those students didn't want to go out with me, they didn't want to be friends. It disturbed me,' she said. It reminded her of similar experiences of discrimination she had endured during her undergraduate studies in India. 'You come from India and you are trying to run away from that but even here, you are getting the same experience,' Vaishnavi said Many students are first-generation learners who don't have the support networks or resources to tide over these challenges of moving to a new country with an unfamiliar academic system. Even the scholarships, particularly the National Overseas Scholarship, has its issues with students complaining that the stipend amount is insufficient to cover the high cost of living in the UK, forcing them to work part-time jobs Although university administrations in the UK are generally sensitive to the diverse needs of students, a lack of understanding of caste and its impact on the student experience means that universities are ill-equipped to address the specific issues of marginalised caste students. As president of the Ambedkarite Society of Edinburgh, Aniruddha tried to help a few students seek redressal after being subjected to caste-based discrimination from fellow Indian students. But the institutional mechanisms of the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) in place to deal with such grievances fell short. 'It was difficult to make them understand the seriousness of the complaint and the overt and covert ways in which caste discrimination takes place. Most importantly, they didn't understand the impact it has on the victims and the trauma they experience,' Aniruddha said. When contacted, the EUSA said they were not in a position to comment since they are in the process of changing their representatives for the new academic year. To tackle this lack of understanding, students are now also trying to bring an acknowledgement of caste in policies within their universities. In 2023, students at SOAS, led by Sushant Singh who was then the union's co-president for Welfare and Campaigns, made a proposal to the Students' Union to add 'caste' to their Equality and Diversity policy. Now, as per the amended policy , the union is committed to creating equal opportunities and eliminating discrimination on the basis of caste, along with other characteristics such as age, race, and gender identity. The policy, however, applies only to the students' union and not to the university since the two are separate legal entities. Some students, like Yashashwani Srinivas, a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, are trying to bring change by taking up positions with some influence. Yashashwani is a recipient of the White Rose doctoral studentship funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK. She applied to be on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee for the studentship, and once on it, she advocated for caste to be included in the diversity monitoring. She was successful and, since October 2023, the studentship guidance states that while students will not be discriminated against on the basis of caste, age, race, gender and so on, this information will be collected anonymously to monitor the diversity of the cohort. It's a small change but in the process of doing it, Yashashwani hoped to begin important conversations around caste, conversations which she and fellow students now plan to keep going through the newly formed Dr Ambedkar Society at Leeds. Students are not alone in this fight – they are supported, with evidence and advice, by existing networks of anti-caste advocacy groups in the UK. Santosh Dass MBE, chair of the Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance (ACDA) in the UK, argued that these small wins, like Yashashwani's and the one at SOAS, are 'vital' even if they don't have an immediate impact. 'Maybe having the word 'caste' in the diversity policies will make them think about how people in positions of power may be treating Dalit students differently,' she said Dass and others in the UK's decades-old Ambedkarite movement have been campaigning for caste to be included in the UK's 2010 Equality Act which provides legal protection from discrimination at the workplace and in wider society on the basis of nine protected characteristics, including race, gender, sexual orientation, and age Previously, their efforts were thwarted by counter-lobbying from groups such as the Hindu Forum and the Hindu Council in the UK. Now, with students and Ambedkarite societies on campus trying to bring a recognition of caste within their universities' policies, activists like Dass are hoping that it creates a bottom-up demand for the UK government to include caste as a protected characteristic in the law If caste is added to the Equality Act, universities would be required to take active steps to eliminate discrimination on the basis of it and advance equality of opportunities, said Meena Dhanda, Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Politics at the University of Wolverhampton and long-time anti-caste activist. This could result in sensitisation for all staff and more targeted support for marginalised caste students with finding accommodation, navigating academics, scholarships and addressing any discrimination What happened in Oxford in 2023 is an indication of how the work of student societies and anti-caste groups in the UK can come together to create a wider impact. In June 2023, OxSAAF organised a one-day conference on the theme 'Caste Beyond South Asia' with participation from academics, senior university administration staff, and key activists from the UK. Professor Annapurna Waughrey and Professor Meena Dhanda, both academics involved in the anti-caste movement, and Dass of ACDA shared their research on caste discrimination in the UK in housing, education and employment. Holly Cooper, Equalities Officer for the Oxford branch of the University and College Union (UCU) which represents academic and support staff in higher education, was present at the meeting. ' The conference revealed the extent of the injustices related to caste-based discrimination at Oxford and the wider community. As Equality Officer, my main job is to address injustices, and so taking action was a necessary step,' Holly said in an email response. The discussions prompted Holly to take up the issue of caste at a meeting of the Oxford UCU branch, ultimately leading to them passing a resolution to recognise 'caste' as a protected characteristic within the branch. The motion also led to many conversations among branch members on what caste is and what caste discrimination looks like. Yet, the Equality Act even as it exists today does not hinder universities from making positive change, if they have the intent to do so. Since the 2023-24 academic year, the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) offers the Savitribai Phule Graduate Scholarship , the first of its kind, targeted at students from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Caste backgrounds as well as first-generation learners to study on eligible master's programmes. The centre, based in Somerville College, University of Oxford, made a case for the scholarship on the basis that students from historically marginalised castes faced a higher barrier of entry to study at the University of Oxford. Commenting on the role of UK universities in addressing caste inequity, Baroness Jan Royall, Principal of Somerville College, said in an email, 'Universities have a responsibility to ensure that students from all backgrounds have equal access to education and opportunities. While caste discrimination may not be as widely discussed in the UK, it remains a deeply entrenched issue for many South Asian students. If we are serious about global inclusivity, we must acknowledge these challenges and take meaningful steps to address them.' Anti-caste activists, academics and students believe that the clamour for change within universities will only gain momentum in the coming years. As more students from marginalised castes come to the UK to study, there will likely be more instances of discrimination from privileged caste peers, and a greater push for universities to take notice and address inequities within South Asian and Indian communities. 'It is one thing to be interested in issues of caste out of intellectual curiosity. But it is different when it's intimately connected with your own lives. The presence of people for whom it's a question of their own lives has changed everything. Their presence will force a change which is urgently needed,' Professor Dhanda said. Meghana Choukkar is a journalist and researcher affiliated with King's India Institute at King's College London. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
New Indian Express
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Redefining the aesthetics of photography
When the camera slips from the grip of casteist and colonial gatekeepers, it finds new ways to see. It lingers on daily life, catches the blush of celebrations, the weight of grief, the shape of land and longing. This Dalit History Month, as part of the Vaanam Art Festival by the Neelam Cultural Centre, Niththam (Everydayness) showcases precisely this shift. Here, photographs hum, installations snarl, and poems whisper what mainstream archives have tried to bury. Let the image breathe Jaisingh Nageswaran, photographer and a first-time curator with the restless energy of someone who's spent years dismantling casteist lenses, describes the exhibition as 'a visual poetry'. 'Photography isn't just about taking pictures. It's about how you display them,' he says. Images here are unruly: a boy's laughter showcased across a vast white slab, a film flickering quietly in a corner. The room invites you to pause, lean in, and unlearn the aesthetics imposed upon us. Now, with smartphones and digital access, photography is no longer the preserve of the elite. But once, photography was an outsider's gaze. 'My grandparents weren't allowed into a photo studio when they got married,' he recalls. 'They had to go all the way to Palani to take a picture.' So, Niththam asks: if everyone can be a photographer now, what does it mean when twelve artistes focussing on stories from the margins, tell their tales — on their terms? Rethinking beauty For Jaisingh, aesthetics must emerge from lived reality. Influenced by Arthur Jafa's work on Black aesthetics, Jaisingh believes in disrupting — not discarding — existing forms. 'We question the aesthetic, not to break it, but to find new meaning in it.' Sadia Mariam Rupa's 'Noise' opens the show with tenderness and tension. A woman bends to bless a child. A dove perches in a cage. Domestic moments from the Korail Basti — washing corners, modest desks, patterned curtains — build a visual diary of survival. Below, drawings and mixed media works chronicle bureaucracy and history: redacted forms, ID cards, annotations. 'It's an attempt to listen to the sound of the place,' says Rupa. Kabilan Soundararajan's 'Echo of Silence' features portraits of Parai drummers and koothu artistes suspended like a chorus line. 'Since it showcases music, I wanted these photographs to move,' Jaisingh notes. Abhishek Khedekar turns to his hometown, Dapoli, composing layered images of memory and myth. He includes archival photos by Subhash Kolekar, the first photographer from the region, blending fiction and history. Rajyashri Goody's 'Eat With Great Delight', borrowing its title from Omprakash Valmiki's Joothan, critiques hunger, shame and the politics of leftovers. Displayed near the wall are poems from Vasant Moon's 'Growing Up Untouchable in India.' Jaya Shruti Laya's 'People of the Frontline' confronts climate inequality. The images ask: Would heat waves be taken seriously if they affected the privileged? Land, labour, loss Abila documents displacement from Manjolai estate; her photographs, acts of witness, taken during ration trips back home. Selvakumar, raised in the nearby Oothu Estate, captures how generations of labour shaped the landscape. His 'Stories of Our Scars' speaks of betrayal, pain, and the myths built atop mountain silence. Arunkumar Marimuthu's 'An Object or Two' is quiet yet radical. While in a village near Kolkata, he photographs women not through portraiture, but through the objects around them. These objects hold endurance and unspoken stories. And Nirmalprasaath T's 'Lignite' documents how the Neyveli mines erase entire villages. His lens focuses on land under threat, and the cycle of forced development and forgotten people. Moving mediums Mehul Singhal's 'Anatomy of Barber and Shop' deconstructs the barbershop as a social ecosystem. The monochromatic images show that it is not just a place of grooming — it's a living, breathing site of community, ritual and rhythm. Filmmaker Di Sica Ray's 'The Creation of Adam' is a film told through hands alone. Michelangelo's verse echoes in Italian while hands reach from artificiality toward nature — a yearning for escape and reconnection. The film is screened throughout the exhibition in one corner. The show ends with Prabhakar Kamble's kinetic installation, 'Disfiguration of Image'. A motorised brush smears saffron paint across a miniature Ambedkar statue — only to reset and begin again; a comment on how ideologies try to erase what threatens them. Jaisingh says, 'Earlier Orange was associated with Buddha. Now we associate it with the BJP. The paint that is spilled on the floor indicates violence. Everyday violence of Dalits is what we wanted to show.' The British brought cameras to catalogue 'natives' like exhibits. For decades, Dalit presence was limited to famine porn or fetishised suffering. Niththam flips that frame. Here, there are no lowered gazes. These images don't flinch. Neither should we. Niththam is on view at Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai, until April 29.
Mint
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Dalit History Month: Culture as power and other stories to read this weekend
All through April, Dalit History Month, the team at Lounge has been talking about ways to mark the contributions and resilience of the historically marginalized Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In urban settings or in certain circles, caste isn't always demonstrated, but there are subtle ways in which it plays out to the disadvantage of Bahujans—who lands an internship because their mother went to school with the CEO, finding a crew in the office because you all watch that one show, or swapping football stats with the boss. This trivia for small talk or access to networks is a result of generations of privilege, and we asked two writers to weigh in on these more subtle forms of exclusion—or rather, about the extra work Bahujan youth have to put in to create opportunities for themselves. Ethnographer Balram Vishwakarma sent us a very personal piece on Bahujan youth having to understand pop culture and make it their power to enter a room. A few years ago, a friend showed me Balram's Instagram page, little stories of everyday life that capture the lived experience of people from the working class. He starts with the question 'How much do you earn?,' and his subject could be a vegetable vendor, a Mumbai taxi driver, a weaver, a streetside mechanic or a dhobi. He brings that same voice to his lively and thought-provoking piece about learning cultural shorthand to navigate elite spaces, which can also be read as a comment on the need for humanities education that expands horizons, imaginations and empathy. It is complemented by Raju Kendre's essay, which says that the modern legacy of caste remains unequal access—to jobs, education, healthcare, culture, and therefore to wellbeing and wealth. The two essays are illustrated by the talented Siddhesh Gautam, whose art for solidarity during Dalit History Month worked perfectly with this idea of elusive cultural capital. The cover of Lounge, dated 26 April 2025 with artwork by Siddesh Gautam/Bakery Prasad And now, on to the other stories we worked on this week. Placing Jaideep Ahlawat and Saif Ali Khan in opposition is a good idea in theory: low-vibe grumbler versus high-vibe trickster. Rehan (Khan) is an internationally renowned jewel thief who's been laying low. He's hunted down in Budapest by his younger brother, who begs him to help out their father, with whom Rehan had a falling out. A thuggish art dealer, Rajan (Ahlawat), is blackmailing the retired doctor to get Rehan to Mumbai and help him rob a priceless jewel. And there's a detective, Vikram (Kunal Kapoor), who's been trying to catch Rehan for years. It's the kind of plot that has delivered multiple blockbusters before, but this one seems tired, writes Uday Bhatia. Read more. A craving for good dessert no longer requires a trip to a specialty patisserie or bakery. Restaurants across the country have upped their dessert game and serve inventive pastries, cakes, bakes and other goodies that making the wait for the end of the meal that much sweeter. Smitha Menon picks her favourite restaurants that make dessert a meal in itself. Read more. Artist Mithu Sen's work has always evoked a range of emotions—it can be unsettling, calming, thought-provoking, disturbing, fun. Her new book, Unmyth, examines her art of the past two decades, with experts, scholars and collectors weighing in. She herself unpacks her process, explains the way she breaks down as well as builds up ideas and concepts through her art, and wants viewers to think. Avantika Bhuyan interviews Sen. Read more. A Nepali food experience rising through the ranks of menus is the thakali thali. This traditional platter originates from the community living in the Thak Khola valley in the Mustang region of Nepal, and is served during festivals and family gatherings. It is now on menus across the country. It features a combination of rice, lentils, vegetables, meat and homemade pickles. The basic components are black dal, gundruk (fermented leafy greens), rice, seasonal chutneys and a protein, usually mutton. With one of Kathmandu's most popular restaurants, Jimbu Thakali, set to open in Delhi later this year, Priyanko Sarkar writes that thakali thalis are likely to be the next big culinary import from Nepal. Read more. As the mercury shoots up, staying cool becomes top priority. While air conditioners and cooling foods offer momentary relief, the season also calls for a holistic, natural wellness solution like aromatherapy. Aromatherapy expert Blossom Kochhar writes about four essential oils you could introduce into your self-care routine: lemon, jasmine, orange and lavender. Known for their cooling properties, these oilshave other benefits. Read more. Australian cricketer Shane 'Watto' Watson didn't call it completely quits after retiring from all forms of the game in late 2020. Instead, Watson's post-retirement jaunt has seen him take on new roles with élan. In 2024, he put all his learnings and experiences from winning—and losing—on field to pen The Winner's Mindset, a motivational book that imparts guidance on how to be 'performance-ready in any arena of life'. In an interview with Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran, Watson, an IPL 2025 commentator, talks about his techniques to bounce back after an off day, and tips to nurture a positive mindset. Read more. First Published: 26 Apr 2025, 08:36 AM IST
