See the Brandeis University news story and interview with the winners.

J-Caste announcement follows:

We are pleased to announce the results of the international competition for the Bluestone Rising Scholar Prize for 2021. The journal received numerous outstanding submissions from South Asia, Europe, and North America. Our jury, consisting of leading academics from South Asia, the UK, and the USA, deliberated together over a period of several weeks.

In the end, the jury awarded Bluestone Rising Scholar Prizes to two authors. They are:

Anurag Bhaskar for his paper titled Ambedkar’s Constitution. Mr. Bhaskar is currently Assistant Professor at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat, Haryana, India.

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

Both Bluestone Rising Scholars will participate in the Award Ceremony at Brandeis University at such time that the pandemic recedes, and we can safely gather.

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

Ankit Kawade, for ‘Clearing of the Ground’: On Ambedkar’s Method of Reading.
Mr. Kawade is an M.Phil. Candidate, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

Subro Saha, for Caste, Reading Habits and the Incomplete Project of Democracy in India.
Mr. Saha is a Ph.D. Fellow (pursuing), Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Utrecht University, Netherlands.

Meena Sawariya, for Caste and Psychology in India: A Dalit Psychologist’s Perspective (working title). Ms. Sawariya is pursuing her PhD in Psychology, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India.

The purpose of the Bluestone Rising Scholar competition is to encourage early career scholars around the world to pursue research into caste and other social exclusions. We hope that all authors who entered the competition will continue in the pursuit of scholarship and that they will not hesitate to submit future papers for possible publication in J-CASTE.

The 3rd Bluestone Rising Scholar competition will be announced in April/May.

Joint Editors-in-Chief
Laurence Simon  and Sukhadeo Thorat