Meena Dhanda

Last updated

Meena Dhanda
OccupationPhilosopher
Known forAnti-racism and anti-castism

Dr. Meena Dhanda is an Indian philosopher and writer, based in the United Kingdom. She is a Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Politics at the University of Wolverhampton, and is internationally recognised as a leading academic in the development of diaspora dalit studies. [1] She conducts philosophy with a 'practical intent', [2] and her work has confirmed existence of caste discrimination in Britain in areas covered by the Equality Act 2010, [3] and pushed for more legal protections against caste-based discrimination. [4]

Contents

Biography

Meena Dhanda arrived in the UK from Punjab, India in 1987 with an award of the Commonwealth Scholarship for her doctoral work in Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford University. She was a Rhodes Junior Research Fellow at St Hilda's College, Oxford, before taking up a full-time lecturing position at the University of Wolverhampton in 1992, progressing to a Readership (Associate Professorship) in 2010. [5] She was promoted Professor on September 17, 2018.

Dhanda has written about problems of racism within the field of philosophy, calling for more diversity within the field, [6] and has spoken of the importance for her of doing "socially engaged philosophy." [7]

She has been an active member of the UK branch of the Society for Women in Philosophy for more than 25 years, [8] and as of 2017, sits on the society's Funding Committee. [9]

Main works

From September 2013 to February 2014 Dhanda led a project on 'Caste in Britain' for the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), through which she produced two research reports – "Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review", [10] and "Caste in Britain: Experts' Seminar and Stakeholders' Workshop." [11]

She has published numerous transdisciplinary papers on topics of caste and race, including 'Punjabi Dalit Youth: Social Dynamics of Transitions in Identity', (Contemporary South Asia, 2009); 'Runaway Marriages: A Silent Revolution?', (Economic and Political Weekly, 2012); 'Certain Allegiances, Uncertain Identities: The Fraught Struggles of Dalits in Britain' (Tracing the New Indian Diaspora, 2014); 'Do only South Asians reclaim honour'? ('Honour' and Women's Rights, 2014); 'Anti-Castism and Misplaced Nativism' (Radical Philosophy, 2015). [12]

She has published two books: a monograph, The Negotiation of Personal Identity [13] (Saarbrüken: VDM Verlag, 2008) and Reservations for Women [14] (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2008).

Awards and honours

She was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for a primary research project 'Caste Aside: Dalit Punjabi Identity and Experience' concluded in 2012. [15]

Biography

Journal articles and reports

Related Research Articles

Caste Formal and informal social stratification and classification which confers status

Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting to the present time. However, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in eusocial insects such as ants, bees, and termites.

Onora ONeill British philosopher & college principal

Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve is a British philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.

Dalit is a name for people belonging to the lowest stratum castes in India, previously characterised as "untouchable". Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a fifth varna, also known by the name of Panchama. Dalits now profess various religious beliefs, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam and various other belief systems. Scheduled Castes is the official term for Dalits as per the Constitution of India.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Official designations given to various groups of indigenous people in India

The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designated in one or other of the categories. For much of the period of British rule in the Indian subcontinent, they were known as the Depressed Classes.

Kancha Ilaiah

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is an Indian political theorist, prolific writer and a Dalit rights activist. He writes in both English and Telugu languages. His main domain of study and activism is the annihilation of caste.

Chuhra, also known as Bhanghi and Balmiki, is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupation is sweeping, a "polluting" occupation that caused them to be considered untouchables in the Hindu caste system.

Equality and Human Rights Commission Non-departmental public body in England and Wales

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of equality and non-discrimination laws in England, Scotland and Wales. It took over the responsibilities of the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission. The EHRC also has responsibility for other aspects of equality law: age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. A national human rights institution, it seeks to promote and protect human rights in England and Wales.


Ruth Manorama is a Dalit social activist from Bangalore, India who fights for Dalit women's rights, the rights of domestic workers and those in the unorganized labour sector, as well as urban slum dwellers. In 2006, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award.

Equality Act 2010 United Kingdom legislation

The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-discrimination law in mostly England, Scotland and Wales and some sections also apply to Northern Ireland. These consisted, primarily, the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and three major statutory instruments protecting discrimination in employment on grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.

Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights

The People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights is an Indian non-governmental organisation and membership-based movement which work to ensure basic rights for marginalised groups in Indian society, e.g. children, women, Dalits and tribes to establish rule of law through participatory activism against extrajudicial killing, police torture, hunger, bonded labour and injustice by hegemonic masculinity of the caste system and patriarchy. PVCHR ideology is inspired by the father of the Dalit movement and modern nation state, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, and father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, who struggled against patriarchy and the hierarchical caste system.

Meena Kandasamy

Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

The 9th was held at BAFTA(British Academy of Film and Television Arts) on 22 June 2000. The host was Michael Mansfield QC.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan

Thenmozhi Soundararajan is a Dalit rights activist based in the United States of America. She is also a transmedia storyteller, songwriter, hip hop musician and technologist.

Anita Avramides British philosopher

Anita Avramides is a British philosopher whose work focuses on the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of the mind. She is a reader at the University of Oxford, based at St. Hilda's College, where she is Southover Manor Trust Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy. Since 2014, she has served as Vice Chair of the Philosophy Faculty at Oxford.

Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have been developing, with the rights and protection to the transgender community changing over time with reductions and increases over time. These include various laws within the United Kingdom that refer to identity documents, marriage rights, and anti-discrimination measures used by or pertaining to transgender people, in the areas of employment, education, housing and social services, amongst others.

Dalit feminism

Dalit feminism is a feminist perspective that includes questioning caste and gender roles among the Dalit population and within feminism and the larger women's movement. Dalit women primarily live in South Asia, mainly in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Dalit women face different challenges than women in higher castes in these countries. They are more likely to be poor, uneducated and socially marginalized. Dalit feminists advocate and have advocated for equal rights for Dalit women based on gender, caste and other issues. They have addressed conferences, created organizations and helped elect other Dalit women into political office.

Kathleen Stock is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual orientation.

Kiruba Munusamy is a human rights lawyer and Dalit activist. She works on caste discrimination and gender violence cases. She is practising in the Supreme Court of India. She is the founder-executive director of Legal Initiative for Equality.

Keti Chukhrov Russian philosopher

Keti Chukhrov is a Russian poet and academic, art theorist and philosopher. Doktor Nauk in Philosophical Sciences (2013), Candidate of philological sciences (1998), Docent at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

References

  1. ↑ "Dr Meena Dhanda - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "Dr Meena Dhanda - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Reports and Media - Caste in the UK". Caste in the UK. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  4. ↑ "Enacting legal protection against Caste-discrimination: Why the delay?". philevents.org. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  5. ↑ "Dr Meena Dhanda - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  6. ↑ Ratcliffe, Rebecca; Shaw, Claire (5 January 2015). "Philosophy is for posh, white boys with trust funds' – why are there so few women?". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  7. ↑ "Featured Philosopher: Meena Dhanda". Philosopher. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  8. ↑ "Featured Philosopher: Meena Dhanda". Philosopher. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  9. ↑ "SWIP UK: Executive Committee". www.swipuk.org. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  10. ↑ "Research report 91: Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review | Equality and Human Rights Commission". www.equalityhumanrights.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  11. ↑ "Research report 92 : Caste in Britain - Experts' Seminar and Stakeholders' Workshop | Equality and Human Rights Commission". www.equalityhumanrights.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  12. ↑ "Featured Philosopher: Meena Dhanda". Philosopher. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  13. ↑ Dhanda, Meena (2008). The negotiation of personal identity. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller. ISBN   978-3639029314.
  14. ↑ Dhanda, Meena (2008). Reservations for Women. Women Unlimited, Kali for Women. ISBN   9788188965410.
  15. ↑ "December 2010 - Prestigious fellowship awarded to University philosopher - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.