Talk:Ramnarayan S Rawat

By Rutvi Dattani

Ramnarayan S Rawat is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Delaware as of August 2023. According to his university profile, his research focuses on the Dalits of India and their engagement with colonialism, nationalism, spatial and social exclusionary regimes, and democratic thought and practice in modern India.

He has published no books, papers, or research pertaining to Hindus, the rights of Hindus, the impact or relationship between Islam and Hinduism / Hindutva, India, the Indian Government in the context of BJP government, the Indus Civilization, the impact or relationship between caste system and Hinduism as of August 2023.

In 2021, he endorsed the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."

In 2016, he signed a letter addressed to the State Board of Education, California Department of Education, dated May 17, 2016. The letter stated the following:

1. "There is no established connection between Hinduism and the Indus Civilization. The Rg Veda contains numerous mentions of horses and chariots but there is no conclusive material or fossil evidence for either at any Indus valley archeological site."
2. "It is inappropriate to remove mention of the connection of caste to Hinduism."
3. "The geographic location of the Indus Civilization lies in what is now contemporary India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The use of "South Asia" to describe this shared civilizational heritage is thus entirely appropriate in some places of the framework, even though South Asia is a modern term, and some source materials use the term ‘Ancient India.' "

Publications related to India

Books

1. Rawat R (2012) South Asian edition of Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalits in North India (Ranikhet (India): Permanent Black, 2012)
2. Rawat R (2011) Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India (Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2012 & Bloomington; Indiana University Press, 2011)

Edited Volumes

1. Rawat R, Satyanarayana K (2016) Editors - Dalit Studies (Durham: Duke University Press, Spring 2016)

Articles and Book Chapters

1. Rawat R, Satyanarayana K (2016), “Introduction,” in Rawat and Satyanarayana, (ed.), Dalit Studies. Duke University Press, Spring 2016.
2. Rawat R (2016) “Colonial Archive versus Colonial Sociology: Writing North Indian Dalit History,” in Rawat and Satyanarayana, (ed.), Dalit Studies. Duke University Press, Spring 2016.
3. Rawat R (2013) “Struggle for Identities: Chamar Histories and Politics,” in Sumit Sarkar & Tanika Sarkar (ed.), Caste Reader(Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2013)
4. Rawat R (2008) “The Making of a Dalit Perspective: The 1940s and the Chamars of Uttar Pradesh”, in Manu Bhagavan and Anne Feldhaus (eds.), Claiming Power from Below: Dalits and the Subaltern Question in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008)
5. Rawat R (2002) “Partition Politics and Achhut Identity: A Study of Scheduled Castes Federation and Dalit politics in U.P. 1946-1948,” in Suvir Kaul, ed., The Partitions of Memory (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2001 and Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2002)
6. Rawat R (2015) “Genealogies of Dalit Political: Transformation of Achhut from ‘Untouched’ to ‘Untouchable’ in early-twentieth century North India,” Indian Economic and Social History Review, vol. 15, 3, 2015
7. Rawat R (2013) “Occupation, Dignity, and Space: The Rise of Dalit Studies,” review essay on Dalit Studies for online peer reviewed journal History Compass
8. Rawat R, Satyanarayana K (2003) “Making Claims for Power: A New Agenda in Dalit Politics of Uttar Pradesh, 1946-48,” Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3, 2003