The Ravidassia movement could help to bring about the end of the caste system in India, says Kathryn Lum
Kathryn Lum guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 May 2009
Each year thousands of pilgrims from all over India as well as abroad converge on the city of Varanasi, site of the holy Ganges river. However, this is no ordinary pilgrimage. What distinguishes these pilgrims from the hundreds of thousands that regularly embark on a yatra (pilgrimage) in India is their low caste, and the fact that they worship a formerly untouchable guru (Guru Ravidass Ji), who dared to challenge caste oppression and prejudice in the 14th century, at a time when low-caste slavery was at its height. Although untouchability has since been formally outlawed and laws passed to counteract centuries of discrimination, the social stigma attached to being low caste has not been erased.
Read full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/may/08/kathryn-lum-face-to-faith
Call for papers – World Religions and Disability: Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Edited by: Darla Schumm and Michael Stoltzfus
Deadline for abstract submissions: July 1, 2009
The editors of World Religions and Disability: Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives invite contributions for an inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural collection of essays that critically examine how the religions of the world represent, understand, theologize, theorize and respond to disability and/or chronic illness. Religious teachings and practices help to establish cultural standards for what is deemed “normal” human physical and mental behavior and in establishing a moral order for the fit and healthy body and mind. Religion plays an important role in determining how disability is understood and how persons with disabilities are treated or mistreated in a given historical-cultural context.
Abstracts not to exceed 600 words are due by July 1, 2009 and should be sent to: dschumm@hollins.edu and mjstoltz@valdosta.edu. Please note that acceptance of an abstract does not guarantee inclusion in the collection; editors will review and make final decisions upon receipt of the completed essays.
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:
Asian religions and disability
Disability and inter-religious comparison, contrast, and dialogue
Religious and/or sacred texts and disability
Religion, prejudice, ethics and disability
Religious/philosophical conceptions of the body or self and disability
Founders of religions (i.e. Mohammad, Buddha, Jesus, etc.) and their encounters with disability
The shaping of identity, religion, and disability
Religious rituals and the inclusion or exclusion of persons with disabilities
RETHINKING MIGRATION. NEW GLANCES ON MIGRATION/S – CALL FOR PAPERS
Research-Workshop, Sept, 29th and 30th 2009, Graz/Austria
The Research-group Migration at the Centre for Cultural Studies (University of Graz, Austria) invites you to submit an abstract (3000 char. incl. space) for the Research Workshop “Rethinking Migration. New glances on Migration/s” in September 2009.
Proposals from Research-groups, PhD-Students (especially teams) as well as Post-Doc-Researchers (for presentations as well as for posters) are welcome to be submitted to stefan.benedik-karner@uni-graz.at,
The following focusses are to be followed (among others):
-Cultural representation of migration/s (imagination/narrative invention of “migrants” and their communties, (gendered) discourses, visualisation, processes of negotiation and functions of migration discourses)
-Social practices (plural self-ascriptions, labour and migration, “global division of labour”, gendered scopes of action) -Participation and Empowerment, bureaucratical treatment of migration/s
Deadline: June, 10th, 2009
For full details: Research-group Migration at the Centre for Cultural Studies (University of Graz, Austria) http://www.uni-graz.at/rethinkingmigration/
Ancient but deadly: the return of shastar vidiya
Banned by the Raj, the world’s original martial art is being revived by British Asians. Jerome Taylor reports for The Independent
In a fluorescent-lit sports gymnasium at a sprawling sixth-form college in Hounslow, west London, three turbaned Sikh warriors are frantically battling each other with razor-sharp swords. Draped in flowing blue robes and sporting chest-length beards, the three men cavort, twist and counter-attack each other in a blur of clashing blades and skilled confusion.
Watched by scores of eagle-eyed students, the two younger combatants use elegant curved swords and small circular shields to attack a taller and older man who is armed with a long double-edged blade and a simple dagger. Each time his opponents bring their weapons down, the lone warrior nimbly dodges the blow by sidestepping away or deflecting it back on to one of his opponents.
Read full article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/ancient-but-deadly-the-return-of-shastar-vidiya-1679002.html
The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue
The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ is a forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. Published online, it is designed to increase both the quality and frequency of interchanges between religious groups and their leaders and scholars. By fostering communication, the Journal hopes to contribute to a more tolerant, pluralistic society.
The Journal works to maintain the highest level of academic integrity. Managed and edited by a multifaith team of seminary students and scholars, all articles undergo a double-blind peer review by the academics, theologians, and non-profit leaders who serve on its Board of Scholars and Practitioners. The Journal’s very operation demonstrates that, while significant differences do indeed exist between religious communities, they need not preclude collaborative efforts and general good will.
Starting the Conversation
The inaugural edition of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ is dedicated to the dynamics of dialogue itself. With articles from students, scholars, and leaders around the world, it aims to enrich discourse about the benefits and challenges of interacting, both as individuals and communities, with different religious traditions. We invite you to take part in this conversation and to share your personal perspectives and experiences as a person of faith, or no faith at all, living in a multi-religious world. http://irdialogue.org/
Understanding Change in the Lives of Dalits of East Punjab since 1947
By Harish K. Puri. Retired as Professor of Political Science and Chairman Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Chair, Guru Nanak Dev University.
Not many are aware that the Scheduled Castes (SCs) constituted a very substantial segment of population in Punjab state – 28.9 per cent, as per Census 2001. This is the highest level of concentration in any one state of India. The present study is related to the nature of change in the lives of the Dalits (Scheduled Castes) of Punjab since the Independence of India and the Partition of Punjab in 1947. It covers the change in the external conditions of their living i.e. demographic, economic, political and social and the also the change in the subjective dimension or their perception. The subjective dimension referred to the way persons belonging to the Scheduled Caste communities viewed themselves and the manner in which they were viewed and treated by the others at the two ends of this time span i.e. at the beginning of the 1950s and at present.
Read full article: understanding-change-in-the-lives-of-dalits
Life and Ideas of Revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his Associates
Do have a look at this blog which is run by Bhagat Singhs’ nephew, Jagmohan Singh.
http://revolutionarybhagatsingh.blogspot.com/2009/04/note-book-of-revolutionary-bhagat-singh.html
It makes available authenticated life events, photos and ideas of revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his compatriots.
There is also a supplementary website on Bhagat Singh: http://www.shahidbhagatsingh.org/
Kanwal Dhaliwal – painter and sculpter
Do have a look at the Kanwal Dhaliwal’s website http://www.art-d-kanwal.com/
He is a contemporary Indian artist living in London and draws on many themes including the co-existence of multiple identities which creates both diversity and conflict.
Punjab Research Group 
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