Our speakers are:
Dr Tanvi Adarsh
Dr Tanvi Adarsh is an independent researcher from India engaged actively in national and international academic circles. She has been awarded a PhD on the topic of equity experiences of Dalits in the public higher education sector of India. Her thesis explores gaps in accessibility and how marginalities are shaped and sustained despite inclusive frameworks in tertiary education institutes. Tanvi’s research interests supplement caste, exclusion, public policy, and DEI studies. Along with being a UGC fellowship recipient, she has also worked with NITI Aayog and Humsafar Trust. Presently, Dr. Adarsh is working on the nature of inclusion in mobility sectors of the Global South.
Iram Fatima
Iram Fatima is a Ph.D. scholar at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. Her research interests revolve around the intersection of social and political psychology, with a particular focus on topics like political activism, psychological resistance, collective action, and mobilization. Her Ph.D. project looks at the processes of digital activism, resistance, and online collective action among the Dalit population in India. As part of the thesis, she has visited higher education institutions and explored the experiences and challenges faced by Dalit student activists.
Ashok Danavath
Ashok Danavath is a graduate from TISS, Hyderabad. He holds a Master’s degree from the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He works as a Senior Researcher with NCDHR and writes on educational and policy issues affecting SC-ST communities in India and globally. Ashok’s research focuses on higher education, land, caste, tribal communities, and welfare policies in India and internationally.
The panel will be moderated by Arpita Biswas.
Arpita Biswas is a PhD student at the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies department at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her research interests broadly include studies of nationalism, visual culture and embodiment. As a part of her dissertation, she aims to study embodied representations of the Indian geobody, questioning the various modalities through which nations have historically been represented. Arpita is also involved with anti-caste organizing work at Rutgers University and is the chair of Anti-Caste Working Group at the Rutgers chapter of the AAUP-AFT union.
The panel is hosted by the Global Anti-Caste Thought Graduate Working Group, Global Asias, Rutgers University and co-hosted by Fatima Ambedkar Birsa Periyar Phule Savitribai Students and Workers Association, Rutgers University.