The Other Modernity and the Forgotten Tradition: The Resurfacing of Dalit Cultural Heritage in Contemporary India

AMT, IIAS, LIAS, Modern South Asia Seminar Lecture by Professor Ronki Ram

Professor Ronki Ram will talk about the lost cultural heritage world of an extremely marginalized community in India, popularly known as Dalits. Dalits are engaged in developing their own civil society and are in the process of building their separate exclusive centers of cultural heritage at the grass-roots and national levels. Consequently, this has led to a perennial conflict between the hitherto dominant communities and the surging Dalits. Addressing issues of power in the construction of heritage, Professor Ram's talk will allow students and other academics to inquire into how tradition and modernity coalesce in contemporary India.

Ronki Ram is a Professor of Political Science at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and the first incumbent of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Chair for the Study of Contemporary India at Leiden University.

The ICCR Chair is jointly hosted by LIAS and IIAS, with two-year incumbencies starting in September every other year. Incumbents will conduct research and teach.

Professor Ronki Ram will work at LIAS and IIAS through the summer of 2013.

Professor Ram's major area of research falls in the fast emerging field of critical Dalit studies. He has published widely in peer reviewed research journals such as  Modern Asian Studies, Journal of Asian Studies, Asian Survey, and Contributions to Indian Sociology. Ronki Ram has also published extensively in the Punjabi language, especially on the theme of emerging Dalit Identity  in East Punjab in northern India. He was conferred the Dr. Ambedkar Award during the International Dalit Conference held in Vancouver in 2003; Yug Purush Dr. B.R. Award in 2009 instituted by Dr. Ambedkar Mission Employees’ Federation Ludhiana, Punjab, and Bharat Rattan Dr. Ambedkar State Award by Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya Akademi in Punjab in 2007.

For more information on Professor Ronki Ram's work, please vist his personal website at Leiden University.