Ambedkar as Anthropologist: Mobilising Anthropology to Decolonize or pricking a thorn with a needle

Abstract (English)

Can a Western suit be a sign of decolonial thought? For the syllabus collective at Brandeis, I focused on B.R. Ambedkar, a key figure on anti-caste thought who is only marginally recognized as central to anthropological thought. B.R. Ambedkar, an anti-caste and anti-imperial Indian independence leader, lawyer, economist, and philosopher is memorialized in statues where he wears a blue suit. In addition to his other accomplishments, Ambedkar was also trained with anthropologists. This paper argues that just as he mobilized a Western attire to challenge British imperialism and the internal colonialism of the Indian caste system, his training in anthropology aided him in navigating anthropology’s colonial history while using it towards decolonizing caste. This paper draws on archival work that explores Ambedkar’s training in anthropology at Columbia University in the 1910s to show how anthropology offered toolkits to chart an anti-colonial and anti-caste intellectual tradition. In its spirit, the paper draws from a Tamil saying ‘mulla mullalathaan edukkanum’ (we can pierce a thorn from the flesh with another thorn) in suggesting possibilities to mobilize anthropology towards decolonial futures.