K Kalyani
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Social Stratification
- Popular Culture
- Feminist Philosophy and Epistemology
- Subaltern Discourse
- Sonic Practices
- Oral History
- Aesthetics and Culture
Biography
K Kalyani is a sociologist. She was awarded her doctorate degree in Sociology from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.
She has previously been the resource person at Julian J Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School, New York City, US and has served as a guest lecturer at Sri Venkateshwara College, Delhi University. She is also the core collaborator and resource person for the project Just Futures Initiative, Samata Foundation, Nepal.
Her ethnographic research has explored different forms and practices of resistance in popular culture, particularly engaging with the question of caste, gender, culture through a subaltern discourse. Her work has been published in several reputed academic journals.
She also engages with public discourse through her writings in The Print, NewsClick, and others. Kalyani has been a speaker at International forums like Darnal Award for Social Justice, Boston Study Group, Rosa Luxenberg Stiftung (RLS)-IIDS and others.
Kalyani is a believer in social justice through a bottom-up approach.
Courses
The Many Pasts of India’s Present
An inquiry into the 'origin' questions of India: Geological, ecological, cultural and political
Publications
Journal Articles
- Kalyani, K. (Forthcoming). Aesthetics and politics of Dalit women’s writings within Indian pedagogic practices. Contemporary Voice of Dalit.
- Kalyani, K. (Forthcoming). दलित समाज में प्रतिरोध के गीतों का महत्व और सांस्कृतिक चेतना में इसका योगदान, सामाजिकी, 1(3).
- Kalyani, K. (2022). Resistance in popular visuals and iconography: A study of Dalit-Bahujan calendar art in North India. Journal of Social Inclusion Studies, 8(1), 64 – 85. https://doi.org/10.1177/23944811221087489
- Kalyani, K. (2022). Emergence of Dalit Art entrepreneurs: Exploring anti-caste songs as the new-creative industry in North India. Local Development and Society, 2(1), 1 – 15. https://doi.org/10.1080/26883597.2022.2045087
- Kalyani, K. (2020). The Culture-economy of beauty industry in popular magazines. Journal of Sociology, Jadavpur University, 11(11),36 – 54.
- Kalyani, K. (2020). Tathagata Buddha songs: Buddhism as religion and cultural-resistance among Dalit women singers of Uttar Pradesh. Caste: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion (J‑Caste). 1(2), 51 – 62. https://doi.org/10.26812/caste.v1i2.184
- Kalyani, K. (2020). ‘Gaze’ and ‘Bodies’ in Popular Print: Understanding the changing representation of women in visual culture. Journal of Media and Communication, 4(1),47 – 63. http://jmc.cutn.ac.in/docs/JM&C2020JunePaper4_21122020.pdf
- Kalyani, K. (2017). Gender violence, caste identity and their representation in media. The Voice, 4(3), 94 – 108.
- Kalyani, K. (2016). Changing patterns of sexuality in Caribbean: Indian diaspora and popular culture. Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism, 2(8), 5 – 14. https://grfdt.com/PublicationDetails.aspx?Type=Working%20papers&TabId=9088
Chapters in Edited Books
- Kalyani, K., Singh, S. (Forthcoming). From DS4 to contemporary BSP politics: Role of songs in the emergence of Bahujan identity. In S. Pai, D. Babu, & R. Verma (Eds.), Dalits in the New Millennium. Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dalits-in-the-new-millennium/A423EE962D9ABBF8194C2C934C8CBB69
- Pathania, G.J., Kalyani, K. (Forthcoming). Contextualizing the emergence of Dalit studies in Academia. In J. M. Paraskeva (Ed.), On Caste: The Unforgettable Silence Towards a Non-derivative Curriculum Reason. Routledge.
- Kalyani, K. (2020). Popular culture and changing gender roles: A study of Indian diaspora in the Caribbean. In A. Pande (Ed.), Women in the Indian Diaspora: Historical Narratives and Contemporary Challenge (pp. 211 – 225). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978 – 981-15 – 1177-6_15
Magazine article
- Kalyani, K. (2021, December 06). Dalit-Bahujan women in politics and the missing narratives. Outlook. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-up-polls-dalit-bahujan-women-in-politics-and-the-missing-narratives/403528
Online Articles
- Kalyani, K. (2022, April 14). Seeing Ambedkar as Dalit icon is narrow. Understand his feminist vision for Indian women. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/seeing-ambedkar-as-dalit-icon-is-narrow-understand-his-feminist-vision-for-indian-women/915663/
- Kalyani, K. (2022, January 30). Songs of UP elections: Ka ba, sab ba, Mangat ba Akhilesh ke. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/songs-of-up-elections-ka-ba-sab-ba-maangat-ba-akhilesh-ke-and-maya-bahin-ke-jitiyaha/816401/
- Kalyani, K. (2021, December 21). You can’t exclude Dalits when talking feminism. See what bell hooks did for Black Women. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/you-cant-exclude-dalits-when-talking-feminism-see-what-bell-hooks-did-for-black-women/783259/
- Kalyani, K. (2021, November 04). Diwali isn’t what you thought it was- it’s actually Deep Daan Utsav, a Buddhist festival. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/diwali-isnt-what-you-thought-it-was-its-actually-deep-daan-utsav-a-buddhist-festival/761499/
- Kalyani, K. (2021, July 10). Ashok Vijayadashmi to Dhola — National archives, central libraries failed Dalit-Bahujan History. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/ashoka-to-vijayadashami-national-archives-central-libraries-failed-dalit-bahujan-history/693310/
- Kalyani, K. (2021, April 14). New Dalit women autobiographies are opening up private, intimate spaces, rewriting history. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/new-dalit-women-autobiographies-are-opening-up-private-intimate-spaces-rewriting-history/639569/
- Kalyani, K. (2021, March 14). Kanshi Ram’s Bahujan movement was also cultural, not just political. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/kanshi-ram-jayanti-bahujan-movement-cultural-political/621192/
- Kalyani, K. (2021, January 10). Why Dalit-Bahujan icons of Cultural resistance are under Attack. NewsClick. https://www.newsclick.in/why-dalit-bahujan-icons-cultural-resistance-under-attack
- Kalyani, K. (2020, November 25). This is why Dalit women are singing Tathagata Buddha songs in UP. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/this-is-why-dalit-women-are-singing-tathagata-buddha-songs-in-up/550635/
- Kalyani, K., Pariyar, S. (2020, August 27). What is similar between India and Nepal? Dalit Atrocities. NewsClick. https://www.newsclick.in/What-is-Similar-Between-India-and-Nepal-Dalit-Atrocities
- Kalyani, K. (2020, June 19). COVID-19 recession’s impact on women goes bbeyond the lipstick and kajal index. Feminism In India. https://feminisminindia.com/2020/06/19/covid-19-impact-on-women-recession-lipstick-kajal-sales/
- Kalyani, K., Ingole, P. (2020, July 27). Why arguments against reservation are flawed. NewsClick. https://www.newsclick.in/why-arguments-against-reservation-flawed
- Kalyani, K. (2020, June 07). Not just Mayawati, these are the unsung women who led Kanshiram’s Bahujan struggle. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/opinion/not-just-mayawati-these-unsung-women-led-kanshiram-bahujan-struggle/437317/
- Kalyani, K. (2018, July 27). My idea of India as a closed society was like a bedtime story: Kusum. Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT). https://grfdt.com/InterviewDetails.aspx?TabId=2048
Book Review
- Kalyani, K. (2022). Book review: Gaurav J. Pathania, The University as a site of resistance: Identity and student politics. Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Sage. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X211029436
Translation
- Pathania, G.J. (2021). Reflections. Kalyani, K. J‑Caste, 2(2), 379 – 380. https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/288/88