Saturday 25 June 2011

Dalit theology and Action Conference at Queen's

The conference was a partnership between the Queen's Foundation and Vincent Manorahan of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDR).

It was a good reminder for me of the work of the Dalit Solidarity Network (DSN) which I subscribed to when it first began nearly twenty years ago but somehow fell away from. David Haslam spoke about the work of the DSN in lobbying for international, Indian, and UK recognition of caste discrimination as akin to class or race discrimination.

It was great to meet Mary Grey but sadly I didn't get a chance to properly chat with her as I rushed away just before the conference ended (long story).

Jacob Devadason called for a theology rooted in Methodology, Manoharan called for a theology that actually meant something to the grass roots. Mukti Barton, tutor in Black and Asian theology reminded us of how deeply rooted in the colonial project caste really is.

I don't think anything new emerged out of the day and that is disappointing. But it was the first of it's kind and was likely to be fairly introductory, if only because so many present were new to the issues.

The number and diversity of delegates was hugely encouraging and I expect that to increase if such events take place in the future. I'm sure they will.

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