- This event is over. However, time travel possible through our Audio & Video! See upcoming events
Steel Nibs Are Sprouting
A Tribute to Ambedkarite Cultural Movements and Literature
Speakers
The speakers on this panel have been actively involved in caste and cultural politics in the contemporary. Yogesh Maiterya is publishing his memoir, ‘Water from a Broken Pot,’ due to release on 17th of April. Lakshman’s play continues to travel across towns and villages of Karnataka. VL Narasimhmurthy has a keen eye in observing developments in the Dalit cultural movements in Karnataka over the years and actively contributes through critical writings published in public domain.
Learning from marginalised contexts, this conversation is a way to open refreshing ways of thinking around caste, language, storytelling and cultural politics, to unlearn censored history and to search for anti-discriminatory environments.
In Karnataka, we have seen the rise of the DSS movement and the different shapes and forms it has taken and the affects of its residues on the next generation; where as in Maharashtra, there is a young Ambedkarite movement alive in different forms, with young writers, poets and academics challenging the status quo. We hope these conversation will shed more light on the similarities and differences between the movements in both states.
We invite you to imagine a liberating, imaginative and hopeful future in the field of art and culture.
In collaboration with Maraa, a Media & Arts Collective
Speakers
Lakshman KP
VL Narasimhamurthy
VL Narasimhamurthy has been actively following the movement of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti and worked on a study on the Dalit movement in Karnataka and writings of Ambedkar. His comparitive criticism and writings provides for crucial reflection for young artists and writers in Karnataka. He is a passionate writer on cinema, theatre and cultural politics. He currently is the English professor in National College, Basvanagudi.
Yogesh Maitreya
Yogesh Maitreya is a writer, poet, translator and publisher. He is the founder and editor of Panther’s Paw Publication that is dedicated to publishing literature by Dalit-Bahujan writers (in English and as translations from other Indian languages). He is the author of Flowers on the Grave of Caste (2019), a collection of short stories, Singing/Thinking Anti Caste (2021), a book of essays on music and memories, and Ambedkar 2021 (2022), a book of prose poetry.
Ekta Mittal
Ekta Mittal co-founded Maraa, a media and arts collective in Bangalore (www.maraa.in) in 2008. She works there as a practitioner, researcher, curator and facilitator around issues of gender, labour & caste in rural and urban contexts. She also works with creative practices in public space, through independent production and collaborations with other artists. She has been making films around labour, migration and cities since 2009. Her recent film ‘Birha’ is about separation and longing in the context of migration.
