Radical Equality
Radical Equality

Author: Aishwary Kumar

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2015-06-17

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 080479426X

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B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of India's constitution, and M.K. Gandhi, the Indian nationalist, two figures whose thought and legacies have most strongly shaped the contours of Indian democracy, are typically considered antagonists who held irreconcilable views on empire, politics, and society. As such, they are rarely studied together. This book reassesses their complex relationship, focusing on their shared commitment to equality and justice, which for them was inseparable from anticolonial struggles for sovereignty. Both men inherited the concept of equality from Western humanism, but their ideas mark a radical turn in humanist conceptions of politics. This study recovers the philosophical foundations of their thought in Indian and Western traditions, religious and secular alike. Attending to moments of difficulty in their conceptions of justice and their languages of nonviolence, it probes the nature of risk that radical democracy's desire for inclusion opens within modern political thought. In excavating Ambedkar and Gandhi's intellectual kinship, Radical Equality allows them to shed light on each other, even as it places them within a global constellation of moral and political visions. The story of their struggle against inequality, violence, and empire thus transcends national boundaries and unfolds within a universal history of citizenship and dissent.

Ambedkar's Political Philosophy
Ambedkar's Political Philosophy

Author: Valerian Rodrigues

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-09-02

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0198925417

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Ambedkar's Political Philosophy is a critical exploration of the political theory of B R Ambedkar, the Indian thinker and leader who championed the cause of the socially oppressed. Rodrigues examines the key concepts that Ambedkar used to envision a new framework of public life that would overcome the problems of marginality, degradation, and domination. This framework is based upon an idea of the human endowed with the attributes of reasoning, moral capacity, self-respect, and a unique dignity that collectively entitles human beings to a distinct consideration as moral equals despite other differences. Ambedkar deployed the idea of the human not merely to contend against the social institutions of caste, untouchability, and other forms of marginalities but also to interrogate texts, traditions, and modes of social dominance. In a democracy, the representational, constitutional, and institutional architecture of state power is geared to sustain and reinforce itself. Such an architecture, however, may prove feeble unless shored up by the moral foundations of societies and backed by religious sanction. In Ambedkar's view, only Buddhism, as a religion, fits the bill. In this book, the author engages with Ambedkar's primary works in both English and Marathi and the debates around them, and situates his ideas in the South Asian context, making it a comprehensive and insightful commentary on his political philosophy and its relevance for contemporary society.

Annihilation of Caste
Annihilation of Caste

Author: B.R. Ambedkar

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 178168832X

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“What the Communist Manifesto is to the capitalist world, Annihilation of Caste is to India.” —Anand Teltumbde, author of The Persistence of Caste The classic work of Indian Dalit politics, reframed with an extensive introduction by Arundathi Roy B.R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste is one of the most important, yet neglected, works of political writing from India. Written in 1936, it is an audacious denunciation of Hinduism and its caste system. Ambedkar – a figure like W.E.B. Du Bois – offers a scholarly critique of Hindu scriptures, scriptures that sanction a rigidly hierarchical and iniquitous social system. The world’s best-known Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi, responded publicly to the provocation. The hatchet was never buried. Arundhati Roy introduces this extensively annotated edition of Annihilation of Caste in “The Doctor and the Saint,” examining the persistence of caste in modern India, and how the conflict between Ambedkar and Gandhi continues to resonate. Roy takes us to the beginning of Gandhi’s political career in South Africa, where his views on race, caste and imperialism were shaped. She tracks Ambedkar’s emergence as a major political figure in the national movement, and shows how his scholarship and intelligence illuminated a political struggle beset by sectarianism and obscurantism. Roy breathes new life into Ambedkar’s anti-caste utopia, and says that without a Dalit revolution, India will continue to be hobbled by systemic inequality.

The Humble Cosmopolitan
The Humble Cosmopolitan

Author: Luis Cabrera

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 019086950X

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Is a strong cosmopolitan stance irretrievably arrogant? Cosmopolitanism, which affirms universal moral principles and grants no fundamental moral significance to the state, has become increasingly central to normative political theory. Yet, it has faced persistent claims that it disdains local attachments and cultures, while also seeking the neo-imperialistic imposition of Western moral views on all persons. The critique is said to apply with even greater force to institutional cosmopolitan approaches, which seek the development of global political institutions capable of promoting global aims for human rights, democracy, etc. This book works to address such objections through developing a novel theory of cosmopolitan political humility. It draws on the work of Indian constitutional architect and social activist B.R. Ambedkar, who cited universal principles of equality and rights in confronting domestic exclusions and the "arrogance" of caste. He sought to advance forms of political humility, or the recognition of equal standing, and openness to input and challenge within political institutions. This book explores how an "institutional global citizenship" approach to cosmopolitanism could similarly promote political humility globally, by supporting the development of democratic input and challenge mechanisms beyond the state. Such developments would challenge an essential political arrogance identified in the current system, where sovereign states are empowered to simply dismiss rights-based challenges from outsiders or their own populations--even as they serve as the designated guarantors of human rights. The book employs an innovative grounded normative theory method, where extensive original field research informs the development of moral claims. Insights are taken from Dalit activists reaching out to United Nations human rights bodies for support in challenging caste discrimination, and from their critics in the governing Bharatiya Janata Party. Further insights are drawn from Turkish protestors confronting a rising domestic authoritarianism, and from UK Independence Party members demanding "Brexit" from the European Union--in part because predominantly Muslim Turkey could eventually join. Overall, it is shown, an institutional global citizenship approach can inform the development of a global framework which would orient fundamentally to political humility rather than arrogance, and which could significantly advance global rights protections.

The Socio-political Ideas of BR Ambedkar
The Socio-political Ideas of BR Ambedkar

Author: Bidyut Chakrabarty

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-03

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1351124420

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Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956), popularly known as Babasaheb stands out for his relentless battle against caste discrimination. He was a voice for the marginalized of India’s demography that remained peripheral due to well-entrenched socio-economic and political prejudices. This book is an analytical account of how Ambedkar’s socio-political ideas evolved as part of his wider politico-ideological challenge against self-motivated designs for exploitation of human beings by human beings. The author contends that it was an ideological discourse that he built in a context when dominant nationalist viewpoints seem to have hardly left space for any other discourse to grow. The book argues that Ambedkar’s socio-political ideas were an outcome of his personal experiences of social atrocities which were justified as integral to the caste system. The book comprises six substantial chapters which delve into the socio-political ideas of BR Ambedkar, concentrating on those sets of ideas through which he established his claim as an original thinker in opposition to the dominant nationalist discourse. Unlike the most conventional studies of Ambedkar’s thoughts and ideas, the book provides a new methodological tool to decipher their conceptual roots. It is therefore argued that Babasaheb’s unique conceptualization of social justice was not just an outcome of his existential existence of being a Dalit, but an offshoot of his own understanding of liberalism as a mode of emancipating human beings from shackles of authority, power and domination. Examining Ambedkar’s ideas, the book charts and examines the growth and consolidation of constitutional democracy in India since it was inaugurated with the acceptance of the 1950 Constitution. It will be of interest to scholars in the fields of Indian political theory, South Asian politics and history.

B.R. Ambedkar and Social Transformation
B.R. Ambedkar and Social Transformation

Author: Jagannatham Begari

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2021-09-30

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1000461815

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This book revisits the philosophy of B.R Ambedkar in the context of the present socio-economic-political realities of India. It examines the philosophical and theoretical interventions of Ambedkar, as well as his egalitarian principles of equality, liberty, fraternity and morality. Noting the current shift in state policy from welfarism to neoliberalism, the book argues that the measures, interventions and recommendations that Ambedkar made are highly appropriate and concrete to face challenges and can be considered as practical solutions to existing problems. It studies various themes that form a part of his oeuvre such as Buddhism, federalism, justice, social exclusion, representation, anti-caste system, women’s equality, among others. It also discusses his impact on literature, visual arts, and literary, democratic and cultural movements throughout history. The volume positions Ambedkar as a theoretician, social reformer, and a real visionary of social justice and democratization. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of social exclusion, politics, especially Indian political thought, sociology and South Asian studies.

The Political Philosophies of Antonio Gramsci and B. R. Ambedkar
The Political Philosophies of Antonio Gramsci and B. R. Ambedkar

Author: Cosimo Zene

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-23

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1134494017

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Bridging two generations of scholarship on social inequality and modern political forms, this book examines the political philosophies of inclusion of subalterns/Dalits in Gramsci and Ambedkar’s political philosophies. It highlights the full range of Gramsci’s ‘philosophy of praxis’ and presents a more critical appreciation of his thought in the study of South Asian societies. Equally, Ambedkar’s thought and philosophy is put to the forefront and acquires a prominence in the international context. Overcoming geographical, cultural and disciplinary boundaries, the book gives relevance to the subalterns. Following the lead of Gramsci and Ambedkar, the contributors are committed, apart from underscoring the historical roots of subalternity, to uncovering the subalterns’ presence in social, economic, cultural, educational, literary, legal and religious grounds. The book offers a renewed critical approach to Gramsci and Ambedkar and expands on their findings in order to offer a present-day political focus into one of the most crucial themes of contemporary society. This book is of interest to an interdisciplinary audience, including political theory, post-colonial studies, subaltern studies, comparative political philosophy, Dalit studies, cultural studies, South Asian studies and the study of religions.

Philosophy of Hinduism
Philosophy of Hinduism

Author: Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2018-09-20

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 9781723866852

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Ambedkar was a prolific student, earning doctorates in economics from both Columbia University and the London School of Economics, and gained a reputation as a scholar for his research in law, economics and political science.[11] In his early career he was an economist, professor, and lawyer. His later life was marked by his political activities; he became involved in campaigning and negotiations for India's independence, publishing journals, advocating political rights and social freedom for Dalits, and contributing significantly to the establishment of the state of India. In 1956 he converted to Buddhism, initiating mass conversions of Dalits.