An Introduction to Caste with Sammitha Sreevathsa
In this show, we focus on the caste system in India. SWANA Region Radio Collective members Ankine Antaram and Soraya Zarook are joined by our guest, Sammitha Sreevathsa, to learn some basics: what exactly is caste, and how does it work? What is its importance in India? And why should those of us situated in the global North care about it? This Sunday's show will be the first in an ongoing series covering caste. We end this show with Ankine Antaram's reading of Refaat Alareer's poem, "If I die," in tribute to the beloved Palestinian poet, writer, and academic who was killed this Friday by an Israeli air strike in Gaza, along with his brother, sister, and her four children.
To join us as we learn about caste, you can engage some of the many resources on caste and movements to abolish caste, shared by our guest:
The Equality Labs website has introductory material on the caste system and why it is a relevant issue in the global north.
Books published by Panthers Paw publication, founded by writer Yogesh Maitreya
The book “Annihilation of Caste” by B.R. Ambedkar, called the father of the Indian constitution. He played a crucial role in awakening the anti-caste spirit among the caste oppressed masses in India.
Many marginalized caste artists on social media educate people about key anti-caste figures, anti-caste history and so on with their brilliant art. Some of them are Siddhesh Gautam, Priyanka Paul, Shrujana Niranjani Shridhar, The big fat bao
Sammitha Sreevathsa is a third year PhD student in the Critical Dance Studies program at UC Riverside. In her research, she is interested in interrogating how the politics of upper caste hetero-patriarchal domestic space have come to structure the contemporary ecosystems of classical dance in India.
This show is co-hosted and co-produced by SWANA collective members Ankine Antaram and Soraya Zarook. You can follow our updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. SWANA Region Radio is run entirely by the volunteer efforts of our collective: Ankine Antaram, Nyma Ardalan, Inara Khankashi, David Lloyd, Hamoud Salhi, Rana Sharif, and Soraya Zarook. We appreciate any amplification of our work. Thanks for listening and for sharing!
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