The Centre for Comparative Literature, with the support of the Institute of Eminence, UoH, organized a four-day international conference on “Ambedkar and Community: Minor Figurations and Comparative Mediations” from September 17th to 20th September, 2024.
The conference was convened by Prof. MT Ansari, the Dean of the School of Humanities, and inaugurated by Prof. B.J. Rao, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad.
The conference consisted of a keynote lecture, two plenary lectures, two panel discussions, and thirty-six paper presentations. Scholars from various institutes in India and abroad engaged in discussions on Dr. BR Ambedkar vis-à-vis the idea of community, highlighting the multifarious and, at times, conflictual nature of both.
The discussions expanded beyond Ambedkar’s role in state-building, delving into his many lives and contributions as an activist, author, philosopher, and theologian, emphasising his complex relationship with various communities.
The Keynote address of the conference was delivered by Prof. G. Aloysius on the topic titled: “Constructing Community in Contemporary Times: Forging Community, Forgery of Community, Imagining Community, etc”.
As part of the plenary sessions, Rev. Dr Y.T. Vinayaraj presented his paper “Religion After Ambedkar”, and Prof. Rupa Viswanath presented her paper “Violence & Extraction: Caste & the Welfare Regime in Postcolonial Tamil Nadu, the 1950s-1980s”.
Other prominent speakers and discussants included: Asma Rasheed, Sowmya Dechamma CC, Udaya Kumar, K Satyanarayana, M Parthasarathi, Tanweer Fazal, Thirumal P, and Sherin BS.