Speakers
Dil Bishkarma (DB Sagar)
Advocating for Dalit Rights
A civil justice and human rights activist, DB Sagar is the president and founder of ICDR International. Before joining ICDR he was president at the Dalit NGO Federation of Nepal. He has devoted his entire career to advancing diversity, equality, and inclusion, and has co-authored several policies, including the Reservation Policy for Dalits in Nepal, Dalit Rights Global Declaration 2015 and Policy Memoranda to the EEOC and DOJ, to recognize and enforce “Caste” as a protected classification under the Title VII, Civil Rights Law as caste is a form of ancestry or national origin and racial discrimination.
Jeet Bahadur Biswokarma
Principle versus Practice: A Critical Analysis of Dalit Representation in Federal Nepal
Jeet Bahadur Bisworkarma is a well-known researcher, writer, and editor in Nepal. He is currently leading the organization, Dignity Initiative, and working as Civil Society Faculty for International Honors Program (IHP) run by the U.S.-based School for International Training (SIT). He wrote “Dalit in Nepali Media: Contents and Participation.”
Prakash BK
Caste and Contemporary Anthropological Teaching in Nepal
Prakash BK is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. He holds an M.A. Degree in Society and Politics from the University of Lancaster, and a postgraduate diploma in Social Sciences from Nepā School of Social Sciences and Humanities. His research interest includes caste, mental health, and social inclusion.
Kevin Brown
Long Term Implications off Caste as Race in the Legal Code
Kevin Brown is a Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina. For over 35 years his research has focused been focused areas of race, law and education and the global impact of the African-American struggle.
Laura Brueck
Engaged Scholarship: The Challenges and Opportunities of Critical Caste Studies
Laura Brueck is the Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Northwestern University and an Associate Professor of South Asian Literature and Culture. Her research focuses on caste and race, comparative and world literature, South Asian cinema and media studies, as well as theory and practice of translation. Her first book analyzed the vernacular discursive sphere of contemporary Hindi Dalit literature.
Steve Folmar
Wellbeing Among Dalit People
Steve Folmar has served as a founding Board member of the ICDR since 2009 and also Served as a CFI Expert. He is currently Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Anthropology at Wake Forest University. Since 2001, he has committed his research to issues affecting Dalits. He has written several articles and done extensive research on Dalit identity, rights, and mental health. He also conducts workshops in Nepal for Dalit scholars.
Surinder Jodhka
Caste
Surinder Jodhka is a Professor of Sociology and Chair at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A globally recognized author and advocate, he specializes in social stratification, development studies, and social identities including caste and religious minorities.
Purvi Mehta
Transnationalism and Global Movement for Dalit Rights
Purvi Mehta is a Board Member of ICDR International as well as an Associate Professor at Colorado College in Asian Studies and History. Her research focuses on caste, gender, and human rights in India. She has also been studying Dalit activism and the internationalization of caste-based discrimination.
Shailaja Paik
Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India
Shailaja Paik is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati where she teaches Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) as well as South Asian Studies. Her research focuses on the intersections between Modern South Asia, Dalit Studies, social and political movements, human rights and humanitarianism, and WGSS. She specializes in social, intellectual, and cultural history of Modern India.
Prem Pariyar
Caste Equity as a Social Justice Issue
Prem Pariyar is a Nepali grass root community organizer, Caste Equity organizer in Equality Labs and an alum at Cal State East Bay. Belonging to the caste oppressed community, he is passionate about serving marginalized caste oppressed communities and educating people about caste apartheid. He is one of the student leaders adding caste as the protected category at CSU system. He was a recipient of the SOLAR Award-2021 (Outstanding Student Leader) at Cal State East bay.
Gaurav Pathania
Caste in Higher Education
Gaurav Pathania is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Peacebuilding in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. His current research focuses on socio-political activism of South Asian diaspora in the United States. He also runs a Global Initiative for Equity and Justice, collaborating with anti-caste, race and feminist scholars working on social justice and higher education.
Raisur Rahman
19th Century Intellectual History and Caste
Raisur Rahman is an Associate Professor at Wake Forest University as well as the Interim Chair for the Department of History. He is a historian of South Asia focused on the social and cultural history of India and South Asian Muslims.
Jose Villalba
Welcoming Remarks
Jose Villalba is a Professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University where he is also the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion and the Chief Diversity Officer. His research is focused on health disparities in Latino adolescents, college access for Latino adolescents and their families, as well as multicultural considerations on counseling diverse populations.