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.

About the Speakers

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.

The event is organised under the aegis of the RPA Decolonial Futures  and generously hosted by the Fort van Sjakoo bookstore.