Hidden Truths: The Anti-Colonial, Anti-Casteist Vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar

TueNov15
Virtual event

The Co-Lab @ RWU is pleased to present Roger Williams University's third annual Hidden Truths: Stories of Race and Place lecture series. This series features the research and policy work of RWU faculty and staff that resurfaces untold histories and complicates received knowledge and understandings of our collective pasts. The series engages the campus community and the public in deeper understandings and informed dialogues around how past inequities continue to impact societal and cultural realities and disparities today.

Join us Tuesday, November 15, for Outsider at Home: The Anti-Colonial, Anti-Casteist Vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar, a lecture presented by Anjali Ram, Professor of Communication and Media Studies.

The Western world is familiar with Mahatma Gandhi, the freedom fighter who led the overthrow of colonialism in India by mobilizing non-violent protests. Lesser known, but as influential in challenging colonialism and providing a powerful social justice framework for the modern, independent Indian state is Babasaheb Ambedkar. Ambedkar was born in a poor family of the Mahar caste and suffered the indignities and brutalities of being an “untouchable,” in colonial India. Overcoming the injustices of his social circumstances, Ambedkar rose to become a social reformer, a human rights lawyer, an economist, a social justice advocate, and a leader who called for radical ideas of equality and freedom. As a key founder of the Indian Republic, Ambedkar was a social change agent for millions of Dalits and an inspiration to many Black and indigenous scholars and activists fighting for racial equality globally.

Anjali Ram is a professor of Communication and Media Studies at Roger Williams University. She primarily teaches in the areas of Intercultural Communication, Gender and Media, Qualitative Research Methods, and Bollywood cinema. Her teaching and scholarship is grounded in the critical-cultural studies tradition and centers ethics of inclusion, equity, and social justice.  Dr. Ram is actively engaged in conversations related to inclusive pedagogy on the campus through her role as co-facilitator in the Diversity and Inclusion Faculty Fellowship and was awarded the  Excellence in Teaching Award in 2021.

Outsider at Home: The Anti-Colonial, Anti-Casteist Vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar
Tuesday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m.
Link to view on Zoom: https://rwu.zoom.us/j/95910506878#success

Roger Williams University year-long series, Hidden Truths: Stories of Race and Place, aims to engage the campus community in a deeper understanding and informed dialogue around racial justice and equity issues within local and global histories. The series is sponsored by the Office of the President and the Provost’s Office.
 
All lectures will take place virtually and will be available for later viewing, making the presentations modular and accessible to work into courses. To view past presentations in the series, visit RWU’s YouTube channel.

All members of the campus community and the general public are welcome to attend these virtual conversations.