Casteism in Punjab with Professor Ronki Ram
SikhArchive
English - November 17, 2020 11:38 - 56 minutes - 130 MB - ★★★★★ - 13 ratingsHistory Education Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Hi, I’m Sukhraj Singh from Sikh Archive and welcome to the eighth episode in our Podcast series of conversations with historians, authors, academics, journalists and activists on topics related to their areas of expertise on Sikh or Panjabi history.
In this episode we are joined by Professor Ronki Ram who is a leading scholar on the study of Caste with a particular focus on it in Punjab. He is a professor at the Panjab University in Chandigarh and now also more recently has been appointed as a visiting Professor at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK. Some of his publications include
“Ravidass Deras and Social Protest: Making Sense of Dalit Consciousness in Punjab” and also “Beyond Conversion and Sanskritisation: Articulating an Alternative Dalit Agenda in East Punjab”. Both of which I encourage everyone interested in this topic to read.
I came to learn of Professor Ronki Ram’s work in my preparation for the episode with Professor Mark Juergensmeyer on the Ad Dharm movement and the Ravidassia, and I was immediately inspired by his literature and analysis on Casteism in Punjab with reference to British Colonialism, Sikh leadership, the agricultural landscape of Panjab as well as his outlook on Dalit consciousness in Panjab.
I would like to take a moment here to especially thank Sarvpriya Raj for her help in establishing communications with Professor Ronki Ram as well as her commitment and collaboration in helping to prepare for this episode. I am very grateful and we are working now on another episode for part 2 of this discussion with Professor Meena Dhanda to see how Caste manifests in the diaspora and why it remains prevalent beyond borders.