Welcome to the February edition of our monthly virtual panel series! This month’s conversation, titled “Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and The Anti-Caste Thought,” will take place on February 6th, 2026, at 9:30 AM EST / 8:00 PM IST.
This panel explores the thought of Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and its challenge to entrenched social hierarchies. It examines the historical context and philosophical foundations of his critique of caste and other social injustices. Speakers discuss Babasaheb’s ideas on democracy, equality, nationalism, and social justice. The conversation connects his writings to contemporary anti-caste movements and struggles. The panel reflects on his continuing relevance in imagining a more just society.
Our speakers are
Pratishtha Maurya
Pratishtha Maurya is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. Her PhD research engages with the writings of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, focusing on his critical engagement with history and religion and the role of religious inquiry in shaping social and political identity. Through this lens, her work seeks to understand Ambedkar’s vision of a “becoming” community. She has been a Summer Visiting Fellow at the University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp and has presented her work at institutions such as IIT Guwahati, the University of Hyderabad, Dublin City University, and the European Association for South Asian Studies.
Akash Sulochana
Akash Sulochana is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad. His research interests lie in mobility studies, critical caste theory, anti-caste philosophy, and the Ambedkarite counterpublic in Maharashtra. In his doctoral work, he particularly engages with Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s idea of personhood and maitri. He has presented his work at various national and international conferences. He completed his Master's in Sociology (2017-2019) and MPhil in Educational Studies (2019-2023) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. During his time in JNU, he was also active with the students group, United Dalit Students Forum.
Apoorva Heroor
Apoorva Heroor is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at BITS Pilani, Goa. She holds an M.Phil. in Political Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and an M.A. in South Asian Studies from Pondicherry University. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. Her doctoral dissertation, titled “Becoming a Nation and a People: Ambedkar on Postcolonial State Formation in India,” examines Ambedkar’s engagement with questions of caste, nation, and the making of the postcolonial Indian state through close textual analysis.
This panel is chaired by Apoorva Heroor
Moderated by Nayana Kirasur
Nayana Kirasur is a PhD student at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information. Her work explores how everyday information technologies — such as documents, data, and social media — shape power and inequality. She is particularly interested in how these technologies both reinforce and resist structures of oppression related to caste, gender, and geography in India. Her current projects include examining data-driven governance in rural India and understanding the role of social media in circulating discourses around caste and gender. With these lines of inquiry, she hopes to further ground the critical caste analysis framework in the fields she draws upon.
The panel is hosted by the Global Anti-Caste Thought Graduate Working Group, Global Asias, Rutgers University and co-hosted by Rutgers Anti-Caste Collective, previously Fatima Ambedkar Birsa Periyar Phule Savitribai Students and Workers Association, Rutgers University.