This episode features a conversation with Ravikant Kisana, Dean of the School of Liberal Education and Languages at Galgotias University in India, about his book Meet the Savarnas: Indian Millennials Whose Mediocrity Broke Everything. We discussed the term “savarna” and how his personal experiences as a student and professor in liberal institutions led him to write the book, the performativity and insularity of upper castes, the importance of endogamy to caste social reproduction, and how to understand the recent shift from claims to castelessness to overt assertions of caste pride.

Guest

Ravikant Kisana, Dean, School of Liberal Education and Languages, Galgotias University, India

References:

B.R. Ambedkar, “Castes in India”

Babasaheb: an honorific for B.R. Ambedkar meaning “respected father.”

IIMs: Indian Institutes of Management

Mayawati: first Dalit woman chief minister of India who served in the state of Uttar Pradesh as the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

BSP: Bahujan Samaj Party founded in 1984 and focused on representing the interests of Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and religious minorities.

OBC parties: see above

Veds/Vedas: ancient Sanskrit scriptures

Kayasth: scribal and administrative caste originating in Maharashtra, Bengal, and Odisha.

Marwari: mercantile caste originating in the Marwar region of Rajasthan.

Baniya: mercantile caste originating in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Baniya and Marwari are overlapping categories.

Jat: agricultural caste originating in the regions of Sindh and Punjab.

Noida: a city in the National Capital Region that falls within the state of Uttar Pradesh

Congress: Indian National Congress, one of India’s main national political parties founded in 1885.

MGNREGA: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 is an Indian labor law guaranteeing at least 100 days of paid, unskilled manual work per financial year to rural households.

Read the transcript here

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Upper Caste Liberalism with Ravikant Kisana