What B.R. Ambedkar Wrote to W.E.B. DuBois.
Listen to our B.R. Ambedkar student podcasts here.
Watch ICLS Director Anupama Rao discuss Ambedkar in “Anti Caste Writings” Series.
View an interactive Knightmap curated by Samuel Needleman.
B. R. Ambedkar is arguably one of Columbia University’s most illustrious alumni, and a democratic thinker and constitutional lawyer who had enormous impact in shaping India, the world’s largest democracy. As is well known, Ambedkar came to Columbia University in July 1913 to start a doctoral program in Political Science. He graduated in 1915 with a Masters degree, and got his doctorate from Columbia in 1927 after having studied with some of the great figures of interwar American thought including John Dewey. Columbia University awarded Ambedkar with an honorary LL.D. in 1952.
ICLS is pleased to announce the Ambedkar Initiative, led by Professor Anupama Rao. The Ambedkar Initiative links Columbia University with the anti-caste legacy of B. R. Ambedkar and recognizes his continued relevance to discussions about social justice, affirmative action, and democratic thinking in a global frame. Our project is dedicated to:
*Exploring genealogies of radical democracy outside the North Atlantic
*Addressing the complex interrelationship of identity inequality in global frame
*Recognizing emergent affinities and solidarities in the struggle for recognition and social justice
At present, this multi-pronged Initiative consists of the following scholarly and Public Humanities components:
1) The Annual Ambedkar Lectures supported by the EVP, Columbia; Provost, Barnard College; Dean of Humanities; Dean of Social Sciences; and various departments and units at Barnard and Columbia.
2) B. R. Ambedkar Book Series published by Columbia University Press.
3) The course, “Columbia University and B. R. Ambedkar,”which draws on relevant holdings at the RBML, [Rare Books and Manuscript Library] and which is being developed with the support of RBML librarian Thai Jones, and student researchers.
4) Public exhibits, installations, readings and workshops to commemorate Dalit activism, aesthetics, and public culture.
5) Development of Ambedkar Research Fellowships to enable scholars to conduct brief spells of library research at Columbia University and in the broader New York city area. (in progress)
6) The Ambedkar Initiative supports the Columbia Journal of Asia (CJA), an open-access, peer-reviewed platform for undergraduate creative and academic pieces on Asia and the Asian diaspora, by sponsoring the CJA’s B. R. Ambedkar Essay Prize, awarded to an undergraduate work of exceptional scholarly merit, whether part of a larger thesis or a standalone article. See more here.
The video recordings of the Inaugural Ambedkar Lectures are available on Youtube to view. To access the videos, click here .
Read the Borderlines article, “Dalit is the New Political and Epistemic Horizon: An Interview with Suraj Yengde,” from November 23, 2020.
Watch a review of our US premiere screening of Chaityabhumi, December 2023.
- Dalit Film and Cultural Festival (DALIFF)
- Practicing Caste: On Touching and Not Touching
- Inaugural Ambedkar Lectures | Ambedkar Now
- Inaugural Ambedkar Lectures | Global Ambedkar
- To Think Otherwise: An Interview with Anupama Rao
- B. R. Ambedkar and the Study of Religion at Columbia University: Castes in India, Gender and Primitivity
- Ambedkar Lectures on Youtube
- Fifth International Conference on the Legacy of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar at the New School
- Workshop for the Cambridge Companion on B.R. Ambedkar
- Second Annual Ambedkar Lectures |Race, Caste, and American Pragmatism
- Second Annual Ambedkar Lectures |Remaking Publics: Gender, Affect, Insurgence, Presence
- Suraj Yengde in Conversation with Anupama Rao on his recent publication Caste Matters
- Rethinking Caste Intersectionality: A Conference on Caste, Gender, and Race
- (Cancelled) Film Screening, “Recasting Selves” Followed by a discussion with director Lalit Vachani
- Understanding Systemic Racism | Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
- Understanding Systemic Racism | Nico Slate on Race, Caste, and Democracy
- Understanding Systemic Racism | Race, the Human, and Humanity in These Times
- Understanding Systemic Racism | Suryakant Waghmore Urban Democracy: Caste and the City
- Understanding Systemic Racism | The Third Annual Ambedkar Lecture by Isabel Wilkerson
- Understanding Systemic Racism: Ambedkarite Aesthetics and Contemporary Art Practice
- Discussion with V. Geetha, author of Bhimrao Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India
- “New Writing on the Thought of B. R. Ambedkar”
- Religious Criticism as Public Ethic: B. R. Ambedkar and his Contemporaries
- Babasaheb - Savita Ambedkar Book Panel
- Ambedkar, Dewey, and the Evolution of Pragmatism in India
- Ambedkar Age Digital Bookmobile
- Screening of Chaityabhumi
- Caste, Gender, Diaspora
- A Conversation with Chandra Bhan Prasad
