Narrative inquiry focuses on “life as it is lived, assuming a dynamic, living past, a past open to interpretation and reinterpretation, to meaning-making in the present” -Hatch and Wisniewski, 1995

I am Dayamudra Dennehy, an ESL educator teaching at CCSF and collaborating with grassroots Dalit educators in India. I am Founder and Creative Director of Jai Bhim International and an EDD candidate at SFSU. Our leadership academy in Kerala serves caste-oppressed communities. Blossom Projects, our 10-month educational residence, serves Dalit and Adivasi students who have dropped out of school.

In this webinar I will be interviewing two of the grassroots educators featured in my dissertation, Nabiya Ethiraj Kumari and Arun Boudh.

"I am Arun Boudh, Director and Co-Founder of Lokuttara Leadership Academy and our educational residence, Blossom Projects. I have a BA in Malayalam literature from BM College in Mavelikara and a diploma in Buddhism and Social Work from Nagarjuna Training Institute in Nagpur. Earlier in my career, I launched The Ambedkar Education and Cultural Center, which evolved into a democratic public space for the learners and artists. I have translated 3 works of Dr. Ambedkar into Malayalam. I am a Buddhist Dhammamitra practicing in Triratna Bouddha Maghasangha."

"I am Nabiya Ethiraj Kumari, a mental health professional and educator serving caste-oppressed families. I have an M.A. from Tata Institute. I have presented at international conferences in Thailand and Kenya and trained with Dr. Joy DeGruy on intergenerational trauma in Black communities. I launched the Healthy Dharavi project during COVID-19 with my husband, bringing food, supplies and long-term emotional support to vulnerable communities in the Mumbai slums."

The 3 of us have been collaborating on grassroots educational projects in the Dalit community for more than 10 years. They have been with me on this EDD journey and so I'd like to showcase their voices in this webinar. This webinar is an opportunity for me to connect two of my educational communities, including Nabiya and Arun in this global community of scholars. Rather than tell their story, they can tell their own story, as students, as educational, leaders, and now as scholars.

The deconstruction of caste has been described by Dalit activists as “a decolonization of the mind” -Aloysius, 2004

The community that identifies as Dalit, those formerly considered Untouchable, has faced violent oppression for centuries, viewed as inferior, at the very bottom of the Vedic/Hindu caste system. Although Untouchability was legally abolished more than a half century ago, atrocities against Dalit citizens continue, and are even on the rise. However, there is also a vibrant Dalit social change movement that has been led for more than 70 years by young activists, which most people outside of India have never heard of. The community leaders who carry on this tradition of activism have been inspired by Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy, and they consider themselves Ambedkarites.

Our team has been collaborating for 10+ years, inspired by Dr. Ambedkar's vision.

“My final words of advice to you are to educate, agitate, and organize; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy… It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality.” -Ambedkar’s address at the All-India Depressed Classes Conference, July 18-19, 1942, Nagpur

• Dalits make up 17% of India’s population and have historically suffered from exclusion and severe discrimination socially, economically, politically, and culturally, based on their caste status (Paik, 2014).
• Ambedkar described caste as all-pervasive in Indian society, with everything in Indian society organized on the basis of caste (Ambedkar, 2018).
• He wrote that the caste system is unscientific, anti-social, and undemocratic, keeping Dalits in a state of ignorance and illiteracy (Sangharakshita, 1989).
• Ambedkar described caste stratification as a system of “graded inequality”, stunting the growth of individuals and deliberately denying democracy.

There are Dalit scholars who regard castelessness as a truly indigenous aspiration, based on social equality, personal responsibility, and democratic principles (Aloyisus, 2004).

• Schools reflect the systemic caste injustice of Indian society, in the forms of caste intolerance, prejudice, harassment, neglect, and abuse (Neelakandan & Patil, 2012).
• This systemic educational discrimination and abuse have resulted in high illiteracy and drop-out rates among students from the Dalit community (International Dalit Solidarity Network, 2014).
• Specifically, the drop-out percentages of Dalit students up to 5th grade are 41.47 percent, up to 8th grade 59.93% and up to 10th grade 71.92% (Neelakandan & Patil, 2012).
• In higher education across India, there is a prevalence of caste intolerance, prejudice, and harassment practiced by senior upper-caste students, faculty members, and administrative staff (International Dalit Solidarity Network, 2014).
• All of these social conditions create an environment of segregation and marginalization for students from communities who are viewed to be at the bottom of the caste system.

With his slogan ‘Educate, Organize, Agitate’ Ambedkar stressed that education would be a primary factor in achieving Dalit emancipation. Ambedkar imagined Dalits as having agency to think as individuals, make choices, and organize collectively. He imagined empowered students transforming their worlds and designing their own futures in surprising and spontaneous ways, and then working for greater social change. He wrote of his vision of students experiencing cultural joy (Paik, 2014).

In this webinar I will be asking Nabiya and Arun about these 3 key words that have guided our work together: EDUCATE. AGITATE. ORGANIZE, centering their experience in this current moment.

EDUCATE: What has education meant to them personally? What is the impact of education on their community?

AGITATE: What has the impact of the Black Lives Matter protests been on them personally? How do they connect the BLM movement to their own experience as grassroots Dalit educators?

I am interested in how grassroots educational leaders from marginalized communities are finding their voice, becoming part of a global conversation. Further, I am curious about how marginalized communities can inspire and motivate one another in social change and justice. A transnational perspective can provide exposure to the innovations and resourcefulness beyond this continent. Ideas flow beyond borders.

Bruner and Bruner propose that narrative inquiry is “co-authored”; a joint production, where stories of a life are told by one person to another.

Grumet (1995) recommends that researchers devise “a method of receiving stories that mediates the space between the self that tells, the self that told, and the self that listens” According to Goodson, “stories provide a starting point for active collaboration.”

“We are in the middle of our stories and we cannot be sure how they will end.” - Polkinghorne