Lucinda Ramberg: "'We Were Always Buddhist': Dalit Historiography and the Temporality of Caste"

Abstract:

In 1956 anti-caste philosopher and statesman Dr. B.R. Ambedkar called upon his followers to convert to Buddhism as the equalitarian religion of the original inhabitants of the subcontinent.  Drawing on ethnographic research, I reflect on the relationship present day Ambedkarites have to the history of ancient Buddhism. I elaborate the implications of statements by Ambedkarite Buddhists such as “we are remembering who we are” and we are reclaiming “our forbidden history” for the temporality of caste in relation to the politics of archaeology, gender, and history

Bio:

Lucinda Ramberg is Associate Professor in Anthropology and Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. Her research projects in South India have focused on the body as an artifact of culture and power in relation to questions of caste, sexuality, religiosity, and projects of social transformation. Her current book project, We Were Always Buddhist: Dalit Conversion and Sexual Modernity, investigates the sexual politics of lived Buddhism through an ethnography of religious conversion in contemporary South India. is Associate Professor in Anthropology and Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. Her research projects in South India have focused on the body as an artifact of culture and power in relation to questions of caste, sexuality, religiosity, and projects of social transformation. Her current book project, We Were Always Buddhist: Dalit Conversion and Sexual Modernity, investigates the sexual politics of lived Buddhism through an ethnography of religious conversion in contemporary South India.