Conference Schedule

This welcome will kickstart the conference and set the stage for the rest of the conference. This workshop will also offer an introduction to caste and caste discrimination, exploring its roots and manifestations.

A panel conversation on how caste exists in academic spaces. This workshop will have student, staff, and faculty leaders from across the nation who will speak to their experiences on caste and the importance of caste protections.

This thorough workshop will provide the tools necessary for university professionals, especially legal councils, to legally justify and argue for the addition of caste as a protected category. Led by legal scholars, this workshop will explore how caste protections go beyond title 9 and provide resources to help navigate the legality of caste protections.

This panel will feature students, staff, faculty, and administrator leaders from across the nation who have been leading the caste protections work in college and university settings. The panelists will share their experiences with activism and institutionalization of caste protections, as well as how they were successful in having their educational institution recognize caste as a protected category.

In this session, attendees will get a chance to learn more about the ways in which gender and caste present themselves as axes of oppression for (indigenous and caste-oppressed) Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi, and Vimukta women, queer and trans folks. Our panelists will share their experiences and insight on organizing against gender-based violence rooted in caste, engaging in community-led research, and what the process of annihilation of these systems on the path Dalit queer and trans futures can look like.

The keynote address will feature a historic discussion between civil rights leaders, Dr. Cornel West and Thenmozhi Soundararajan.

This session will provide the much necessary insight and examples of work that others have done to begin to remedy the systemic exclusion of Dalit and caste oppressed knowledge production in academia. With a focus on addressing the gaps in curriculum when it comes to caste, we are bringing together panelists who are challenging caste hegemonies in and outside of academia.

This panel will feature union organizers who have successfully negotiated caste protections as a part of their collective bargaining agreements. The panelists will speak to how caste is a labor issue and the power they have built to push towards caste equitable policies.

This session will hold space for the final remarks of this inaugural conference.