Beyond Diaspora: Ambedkarism, Multiculturalism and Caste in the UK

Abstract

Based on the accounts of Dalit immigrants from Punjab who settled in the UK in the 1960s, this essay sheds light on the UK Ambedkarite movement’s political trajectory. How did the Anticaste philosophy of political emancipation retain its significance in the context of migration? Beyond the diasporic model of engagement that views the immigrants’ political interests as necessarily oriented towards the homeland, Ambedkarism negotiated and transgressed the boundaries of UK multiculturalism, as a differential, ethnic and religious-based model of political incorporation of South Asian immigrants. After initially supporting the RPI agitations in Punjab, Ambedkarites started gaining autonomy by working towards the official recognition of Ambedkar in the UK. More recently, while some of them worked towards a Buddhist revival in Punjab, others launched a campaign against caste discrimination in British Indian localities. Thanks to the latter, UK Ambedkarism emerged as a critical voice in the public debate on Multiculturalism, distinguishing itself from Dalit sectarian movements whose religious assertion in the multicultural context proved unable to check the rise of casteism in these localities. I therefore argue that although speaking from the margins, Ambedkarism managed to make a place for itself in the British public debate as a distinctive and significant political voice.