Sonic Imaginations of Casteless Utopias

Songs and music are integral to anti-caste movements in India. The songs and sonic imaginations inspired by the radical Indian anti-caste thinker and leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (1891—1956) form the anchor for this conversation with writer and publisher from Nagpur/India, Yogesh Maitreya, and Amsterdam-based scholar of philosophy, Dr. Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach.

The event will dive into the history of anti-caste music, and what it reveals about Dalit struggles for justice and dignity. It will introduce Ambedkar’s proposals for a post-colonial India free from the unyielding shackles of caste and showcase recent publications on the subject.

Yogesh Maitreya is a poet, writer and publisher at Panther’s Paw Publications based in Nagpur, India. He is the author of AMBEDKAR – Sonic Imagination of Casteless Utopia (Panther’s Paw Publications, 2025), a book emerging from his doctoral research that traces the journey of fifteen Dalit-Bahujan musicians in the footsteps of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

Monika Kirlosker-Steinbach is Professor of Philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. She is the author of Freedom to Know: Creating Community with Ambedkar, Du Bois, Iqbal, Ramabai and Tagore (Edinburgh University Press, 2025), which asks how a (world) community can be created to allow structural minorities equitable access to intellectual and material resources.

Moderator: Sruti Bala, Associate Professor in Theatre Studies at the University of Amsterdam