Renowned scholar and writer V. Geetha will present Democracy, Anti-Caste Movements and India's New Left Agenda, an exploration of one of the most significant social justice movements in modern India. Drawing on the legacy of the anti-caste movement that gained momentum in the 1970s, Geetha will examine how grassroots activism continues to shape contemporary democratic struggles.
Focusing on the work of a Communist Party of India (Marxist)-affiliated Front in southern India, the lecture will explore efforts to confront violence and discrimination against India's historically marginalized Dalit communities (also known as the untouchables). Moving beyond questions of labour and the workplace, Geetha will offer an exploration into the evolving relationship between caste, democracy and left politics.
Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 5 - 7 p.m.
Ross Building, S802
V. Geetha is an independent scholar, translator and playwright. She writes in English and Tamil on caste, labour, gender and education and civil rights. Her published work includes Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and Undoing Impunity: Speech after Sexual Violence (New Delhi: Zubaan, 2016).