CDH213 | Doing History With Ambedkar

In the quest of imagining and working for a society based on the ideals of justice and fraternity (or Buddhist metta), Babasaheb Ambedkar took many intellectual pursuits, one being his deep and consistent engagement with the past(s). In this course we would assess his readings of the past(s). Which themes he picked to historicise? and Why? How did he do that? Was there a method in his engagements with the past? Can we name and learn from that method to do history in our times? Does he propose a unique philosophy of history?/span>

With the above questions in mind we will read some key historical texts written by Ambedkar in a comparative framework. Along with Ambedkar’s texts we will read ‘mainstream’ histories popular in academia on the same theme. This course moves beyond the biographical Ambedkar and aims at two things. Firstly to critically examine Ambedkar’s frame of thinking in general and on the past in particular. Secondly, it is also ahistory course investigating social institutions (caste, class, gender, and religion).