This book offers a reading of Bhimrao Ambedkar's engagement with the idea and practice of socialism in India by linking it to his lifelong political and philosophical concerns: the annihilation of the caste system, untouchability and the moral and philosophical systems that justify either. Rather than view his ideas through a socialist lens, the author suggests that it is important to measure the validity of socialist thought and practice in the Indian context, through his critique of the social totality. The book argues its case by presenting a broad and connected overview of his thought world and the global and local influences that shaped it. The themes that are taken up for discussion include: his understanding of the colonial rule and the colonial state; history and progress; nationalism and the questions he posed the socialists; his radical critique of the caste system and Brahmancal philosophies, and his unusual interpretation of Buddhism.

This book looks at the triadic relations between faith, the state and political actors, and the ideas that move them. It comprises a set of essays on diverse histories and ideas, ranging from Gandhian civic action to radical free thought in colonial India, from liberation theologies, that take their cue from specific and lived experiences of oppression and humiliation, to the universalism promised by an expansive Islam. Deploying gender and caste as the central analytical categories, these essays suggest that equality and justice rest on the strength and vitality of the exchanges between the worlds of the civic, the religious and the state, and not on their strict separation. Going beyond time-honoured dualities - between the secular and the communal (especially in the Indian context), or the secular and the pre-modern - the book joins the lively debates on secularism that have emerged in the 21st century in West, South and South-east Asia.

This book looks at the triadic relations between faith, the state and political actors, and the ideas that move them. It comprises a set of essays on diverse histories and ideas, ranging from Gandhian civic action to radical free thought in colonial India, from liberation theologies, that take their cue from specific and lived experiences of oppression and humiliation, to the universalism promised by an expansive Islam. Deploying gender and caste as the central analytical categories, these essays suggest that equality and justice rest on the strength and vitality of the exchanges between the worlds of the civic, the religious and the state, and not on their strict separation.
Going beyond time-honoured dualities ? between the secular and the communal (especially in the Indian context), or the secular and the pre-modern ? the book joins the lively debates on secularism that have emerged in the 21st century in West, South and South-east Asia.

Acts of sexual violence are often committed with impunity--perpetrators do not consider their actions consequential. Yet throughout history, impunity for sexual violence has been challenged by fearless, just, and compassionate speech--both in courts of justice and outside of them. Those who speak out not only advance a politics of accountability, but also an ethics of recognition, suffering, and hurt. Undoing Impunity explores the contours of the politics and ethics pertaining to sexual violence in contemporary South Asian communities. Using a historical lens, V. Geetha closely examines explicitly feminist responses from the region and, drawing from them, suggests that sexual violence and the impunity it claims for itself are best understood in relation to cultural attitudes towards sexuality. In all, Undoing Impunity is an important and timely look at the social, psychological, and legal conditions that allow perpetrators to act without fear of responsibility or guilt. The book forms part of the Sexual Violence and Impunity in South Asia series, supported by the International Development Research Centre, Canada.

This book offers a reading of Bhimrao Ambedkar's engagement with the idea and practice of socialism in India by linking it to his lifelong political and philosophical concerns: the annihilation of the caste system, untouchability and the moral and philosophical systems that justify either. Rather than view his ideas through a socialist lens, the author suggests that it is important to measure the validity of socialist thought and practice in the Indian context, through his critique of the social totality. The book argues its case by presenting a broad and connected overview of his thought world and the global and local influences that shaped it. The themes that are taken up for discussion include: his understanding of the colonial rule and the colonial state; history and progress; nationalism and the questions he posed the socialists; his radical critique of the caste system and Brahmancal philosophies, and his unusual interpretation of Buddhism.