The editors and international advisors to CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion, or J-CASTE, Brandeis’ journal that assesses “systems in South Asia and beyond and considers the marginalization and inter-generational oppression of religious, racial and cultural minorities throughout the world,” according to its website, recognized three people for their work researching caste systems on Tuesday in The Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
Vivek V. Narayan, Ph.D. from Stanford University, and Maya Pramod, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Calicut, India were each awarded the Rising Scholar Award. Philip Martin from WGBH Boston was also awarded the Special J-CASTE Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.
Pramod won for her paper titled “As a Dalit woman: My life in a caste-ghetto of Kerala.” Narayan won for his paper titled “Mirrors of the Soul: Performative egalitarianisms and genealogies of the human in colonial-era Travancore, 1854-1927.”
The journal received 70 papers by authors in seven countries, according to its August announcement of the prize recipients. The honorable mentions were Unaina Arya, “Dalit or brahmanical patriarchy? Rethinking Indian feminism;” Mark Edward Balmforth, “In Nāki’s Wake: Slavery and Caste Supremacy in the American Ceylon Mission;” Mohan Dharavath, “Can the Adivasi Speak? Politics of Representation in India;” Subro Saha, “Caste, Materiality and Embodiment: Questioning the Idealism/Materialism Debate” and Sanober Umar, “The Identity of Language and The Language of Erasure: The Indian State’s Construction of the Foreign and Casteless ‘Backward Musalmaan.’”
J-CASTE aims to “advance peer-reviewed scholarship across disciplines; provide opportunity for young scholars to publish along with established senior researchers; present themed issues with guest editors; offer curated materials and discussion, including video interviews with J-CASTE authors,” according to its website.
The Dalai Lama congratulated J-CASTE in February for its launch.
“At the fundamental level we are the same, whether rich or poor, easterner or westerner. We all share the same potential for positive and negative emotions,” said the Dalai Lama in a letter. “I am therefore pleased to know that this journal, CASTE: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion, of Brandeis University is being launched to advance the study of caste and social policies. The caste system, from what I know of its prevalence in any place is really outdated; I feel it is a vestige of feudalism. Through education, as your journal aspires to do, we can promote a sense of the oneness of the seven billion human beings.”
Speakers at the event included Brandeis Provost Lisa Lynch, University Librarian Matthew Sheehy and J-CASTE Editors-in-Chief Laurence Simon and Sukhadeo Thorat.
