The Centre for Women’s Studies, School of the Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) organized Savitribai Phule Memorial Annual Lecture on February 2, 2018 at the Auditorium, School of Humanities. The Theme of the lecture was “Knowledge, Teachers, and Students: Drawing from Anti-caste Practices”. Prof V. Geetha, a scholar, social historian and feminist activist was invited to deliver the lecture.
The program started with Dr. Deepa Sreenivas explaining the history and motto behind organizing Savitribai Phule Memorial Annual Lecture on Savitribai Phule’s birthday every year. Starting the importance of women teachers in India, She also narrated the struggles Savitri Bai had to go through being the first women teacher to have a girl’s school.
Succeeding the program, Prof Soumya Dechama gave a brief introduction of the speaker Prof V. Geetha. She said that she is honored and thrilled to have Prof. Geetha as a speaker.
Prof Geetha started her speech paying homage to Savitri Bai Phule’s endeavors to start an anti-caste movement in India. She also threw light on Phule’s Madras Secular Society which preached the notion that critical knowledge doesn’t make anyone rational but finding new social relations.
She also enlightened the audience about the Madras Social Corporation which encourages people to read the works of Ambedkar.
She opined that in the last few decades commendable works by scholars giving perspective on Gender and Caste have come into the picture. She also advised the audience to have a critical approach to past in order to study these perspectives.
The lecture ended with the Centre for Women’s Studies felicitating Prof V Geetha.
About Prof V Geetha:
V. Geetha is a scholar, social historian and feminist activist, known for her longstanding and incisive engagement with contemporary and historical articulations of caste and gender. She has worked as professor and director, Research Centre for Women’s Studies, at the SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. Some of her notable publications are: Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar, co-authored with S.V. Rajadurai, and Religious Faith, Ideology, Citizenship: The View from Below co-authored with Nalini Rajan. Genderby Geetha, a book popular among students and teachers alike, demonstrates how gender identities mesh with those constituted by caste, class, religion and sexual preferences. Geetha is also the editorial director of Tara Books, a fiercely original and globally acclaimed publishing house that creates illustrated books for adults and children.
By Swati Pant and Monika Tiwari
M.A Communications