About this episode

Rahul Sonpimple discusses the material aspects of caste and the need for a consolidated Dalit politics.

This episode featured a conversation with Rahul Sonpimple, founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. Our conversation began with Rahul’s conception of Indian history and the place of anti-caste struggle within it. We delved further into Rahul’s own understanding of “anti-caste” as deeply rooted in Ambedkar’s own argument about the necessity of force in emancipatory social transformation. Rahul was especially forthright about the political cost of elevating meekness as a moral condition, a choice that he associates with the rise of a Dalit middle class focused primarily on securing its own representational authority. This took us to a discussion of the need for an independent and consolidated Dalit politics rooted in the lives of the Dalit poor with sufficient leverage to negotiate terms with the state. The last part of the episode focused on Rahul’s critique of both Ambedkarites and Indian Marxists for their disregard of caste as a material question. He spoke at particular length about the failure of Indian Marxists to advance a materalist critique of caste and how their analytical separation of caste and class has played into the hands of the Hindu…

People in this episode

Guest: Rahul Sonpimple

Topics covered

• Caste
• Anti-caste struggle
• Dalit politics
• Material critique of caste
• Ambedkarism
• Social transformation

Keywords

• Caste
• Dalit
• Ambedkar
• Anti-caste
• Marxism
• Social justice
• Political struggle

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association, Hindu Right

More episodes of New Books in Anthropology

• Elana Resnick, "Refusing Sustainability: Race and Environmentalism in a Changing Europe" (Stanford UP, 2025) · July 19, 2026 · 41 min
• Recall This Book x The Caste Pod: a Crossover episode with Ajantha Subramanian · July 16, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Cécile Bishop, "Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World" (Duke UP, 2026) · July 11, 2026 · 55 min
• Meena Khandelwal, "Cookstove Chronicles: Social Life of a Women's Technology in India" (U Arizona Press, 2026) · July 8, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Jay Szpilka, "BDSM Practices in Contemporary Poland: Barbed Wire Floggings, Rope Orgasms, and the Problem with Desire" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) · July 7, 2026 · 1h 9m
• Arpan Roy, "Relative Strangers: Romani Kinship and Palestinian Difference" (U Toronto Press, 2025) · July 1, 2026 · 55 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the New Books in Anthropology podcast page.