Prajwal Gaikwad, a PhD scholar at the Centre for Women’s Studies working under the supervision of Prof. K. Suneetha Rani, presented his paper entitled “The Plea in the Courtroom: From Theogamy to Same Sex Marriage” at the Sixth International Conference on the Unfinished Legacy of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, “Law, Caste, and the pursuit of Justice” held at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A. from October 20 to October 22, 2023.
Prajwal Gaikwad
Prajwal’s Gaikwad’s presentation on October 30, 2023 under the theme Caste, Gender, Violence was a critique of the traditional practice of theogamy in the Devadasi and Hijra communities in India. The paper extends the ideas of Dr. Ambedkar in the lieu of the petition in the Supreme Court for the recognition of same-sex marriage.
The conference was organised by CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University. The annual conference encourages the scholarship across disciplines to critically engage with the caste systems in South Asia and beyond, and explores the marginalisation and inter-generational oppression of religious, racial and cultural minorities across the countries.
The Hon’ble Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, The Chief Justice of India delivered the keynote address at the Conference.
The generous funding and support has been provided by the Institution of Eminence (IoE) at University of Hyderabad.