The Bluestone Rising Scholars for 2023 are:

Sephora Jose for a paper titled When Fists Write (of) the Past: Conceptualising Dalit Historiography through the Cultural Productions of Dravida Varga Aikya Munnani. Sephora is a PhD student and Senior Research Fellow, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

Sandhya Balasaheb Gawali for a paper titled Narratives from the Margin: Sexual Harassment and Strategies of Resistance. Sandhya is a PhD candidate, Centre for Women’s Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

The award ceremony will also include the two Bluestone Rising Scholars from 2021 whose recognition was delayed due to the pandemic. They are:

Anurag Bhaskar for a paper titled Ambedkar’s Constitution. Anurag is Assistant Professor, O.P. Jindal Global University, India.

Indulata Prasad for a paper titled Caste-in Space: Mapping Dynamics of Untouchability in Rural Bihar, India. Indulata is Assistant Professor, Women & Gender Studies, School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

In addition, two 2023 papers were awarded Honorable Mention. They are:

Jatin for a paper titled Utilizing Dalit Autobiographies in History. Jatin is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History, University of Toronto, Canada.

Saroj Gorakh Shinde for a paper titled “Our poverty has no Shame; the Stomach has no Shame, so we Migrate Seasonally”: Women Sugarcane Cutters from Maharashtra. Saroj received a Ph.D. in Public Health from the School of Health System Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.

The award ceremony will be held during the Sixth International Conference on the Unfinished Legacy of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar to take place at Brandeis on October 20 through 22, 2023. The theme of the conference is Law, Caste, and the Pursuit of Justice, and the keynote address will be delivered by The Hon’ble Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, The Chief Justice of India.

The purposes of the Bluestone Rising Scholar competition are to encourage early career scholars to pursue caste studies and to disseminate excellent contributions to academic centers around the world. We wish to thank all authors who submitted their papers for consideration and hope that they will continue in the pursuit of scholarship of caste and social exclusions.

The Editors