Open Letter to the University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor on Rohith Vemula

Open Letter to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad
We of the global scholarly community make an urgent appeal that justice be done in the most recent case of caste discrimination in Indian higher education, that of the University of Hyderabad’s prejudicial suspension of five young Dalit men pursuing PhDs. It was ordered under political pressure, without even allowing the young men in question to speak in their own defense. It directly contravened an earlier decision made by the University administration itself, which had exonerated them of any charges of wrongdoing—charges which had been trumped up by political rivals opposed to the activism of these young men.
This prejudice has now exacted a terrible price. One of the five, a scholar of great promise, Rohith Vemula, committed suicide on January 17. Unable to bear the despair of having his one chance at a future snatched from him, of his value being reduced, in his own eloquent parting words, to nothing but “a vote” and “an immediate identity,” he took his own life (see https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/letter-should-shake-our-world-dalit-scholar-suicide-triggers-outrage ). As scholars we know that individual actions are never just that. This suicide is not an individual act. It is the failure of higher educational institutions in democratic India to meet their most basic obligation: to foster the intellectual and personal growth of India’s most vulnerable young people. Instead, Rohith now joins a long list of victims of prejudice at premier institutions in the country, where pervasive discrimination drives so many Dalit students to depression and suicide, when not simply forcing them to quietly drop out.
As international scholars of South Asia, we ask the authorities at the University of Hyderabad to immediately reinstate Mr. Vemula’s four peers, to provide support to his family, and to launch a police investigation into his passing. But that is not enough. The University of Hyderabad must ensure not only that justice be done now, but that further injustice be rigorously prevented. It is vital to the life of any academic institution to actively nurture students exactly like Rohith, whose contribution to civic life and healthy political debate made the university the place of learning and personal transformation it should be. Measures must be implemented to ensure that such students are supported and allowed to thrive when they enter what is all too often the hostile, casteist environment of higher education in India. A university where students turn away from life with the regularity they have at the University of Hyderabad requires urgent and massive rehauling.
The involvement of political leaders in buttressing caste discrimination in Indian universities, and the double standards applied by university administrations to anti-caste student activity, directly contribute to the negative reputation India is earning among scholars worldwide. We urge the University of Hyderabad to restore our confidence by living up to its obligation to end institutionalized discrimination, to educate all students in a climate of respect and empathy, and to resist political pressures to do otherwise. We are all watching.
- Rupa Viswanath, Professor of Indian Religions, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Joel Lee, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Williams College, USA
- Dwaipayan Sen, Assistant Professor of History, Amherst College, USA
- Nathaniel Roberts, Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany
- Gajendran Ayyathurai, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Göttingen, Germany
- David Mosse, Professor, SOAS University of London, UK.
- Karthikeyan Damodaran, PhD Scholar, University of Edinburg, UK.
- Hugo Gorringe, Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, UK.
- T. Dharmaraj, Visiting Professor, Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Ania Loomba, Professor, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
- Lalit Vachani, Research Fellow, Center for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Srirupa Roy, Professor of State and Democracy, Center for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Christophe Jaffrelot, Dr., CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris, France
- Suvir Kaul, A. M. Rosenthal Professor, University of Pennsylvania, USA
- Frank J. Korom, Professor of Religion and Anthropology, Boston University, USA
- John Harriss, Professor, Simon Fraser University, Canada
- Dilip Menon, Professor and Director, Centre for Indian Studies, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
- Raka Ray, Professor of Sociology and South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
- Jonathan Spencer, Regius Professor of South Asian Language, Culture and Society, University of Edinburgh, UK
- Constantine Nakassis, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago, USA
- Sankaran Krishna, Professor of Political Science, University of Hawaii-Manoa, USA
- Chandra Mallampalli, Professor of History, Westmont College, USA
- Timothy Lubin, Professor, Washington and Lee University, USA
- Linda Hess, Senior Lecturer, Stanford University, USA
- Auritro Majumder, Assistant Professor, University of Houston, USA
- P. Bagavandoss, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, USA.
- Shirin Rai, Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, UK.
- Indira Arumugam, Assistant Professor of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
- Michele Friedner, Assistant Professor, Stony Brook University, New York, USA
- Dibyesh Anand, Associate Professor, University of Westminster, UK
- Ravinder Kaur, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
- James Caron, Lecturer in Islamicate South Asia, SOAS, University of London, UK.
- Francis Cody, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada.
- Christopher Taylor, Assistant Professor of English, University of Chicago, USA
- Alpa Shah, Associate Professor (Reader) of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
- Bishnupriya Ghosh, Professor of English, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Gloria Goodwin Raheja, Professor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, USA
- Anjali Arondekar, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
- Nosheen Ali, Habib University, Karachi, Pakistan
- Vazira Zamindar, Associate Professor of History, Brown University, USA
- Kavita Philip, Professor of History, University of California at Irvine, USA
- Bhavani Raman, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, Canada.
- Subir Sinha, Development Studies, SOAS, London, UK.
- Francesca Orsini, Professor, SOAS, London, UK.
- Gilbert Achcar, Professor, SOAS, London, UK.
- Nilanjan Sarkar, Deputy Director, South Asia Center, LSE, UK.
- Jon Wilson, Senior Lecturer in History, King’s College, London, UK.
- Peter van der Veer, Director and Professor at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany.
- Tam Ngo, Researcher, Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany
- Shakuntala Banaji, Lecturer, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- Meena Dhanda, Reader in Philosophy and Cultural Politics, University of Wolverhampton, UK
- Goldie Osuri, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK.
- Shana Sippy, Visiting Scholar, Carleton College, USA
- Sarah Hodges, Associate Professor, University of Warwick, UK
- Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director, South Asia Centre, London School of Economics, UK
- Paula Chakravartty, Associate Professor, MCC and Galatin, New York University, USA
- Narendra Subramanian, Professor of Political Science, McGill University, Canada, and Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany.
- Gurminder K Bhambra, Professor, University of Warwick
- Rashmi Varma, Associate Professor, University of Warwick, UK
- Uday Chandra, Assistant Professor of Government, Georgetown University, Qatar
- Anupama Rao, Associate Professor of History, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA
- Neena Mahadev, Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany.
- Nusrat S. Chowdhury, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Amherst College, USA
- Kavin Paulraj, Lecturer, Saint Mary’s College of California, USA
- Asiya Alam, History Department, Louisiana State University, USA
- Ananya Chakravarti, Assistant Professor of History, Georgetown University
- Jesse Knutson, Assistant Professor of Sanskrit, University of Hawaii Manoa
- Gopal Balakrishnan, Professor, History of Consciousness, University of California Santa Cruz, USA
- Geir Heierstad, Research Director, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, Norway
- Kenneth Bo Nielsen, Coordinator, Norwegian Network for Asian Studies, Norway.
- Andrew Liu, Assistant Professor of History, Villanova University, USA
- Toussaint Losier, Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.
- Pinky Hota, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Smith College, Northampton MA
- Madhumita Lahiri, Assistant Professor of English, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
- Juned Shaikh, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of California, Santa Cruz
- Neilesh Bose, Canada Research Chair in Global and Comparative History University of Victoria
- Lawrence Cohen, Professor and Director, Institute of South Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- John Holmwood, Professor of Sociology, University of Nottingham, UK.
- Balmurli Natrajan, Associate Professor, William Paterson University of New Jersey, USA.
- Richard Alexander, Lecturer in Financial Law, SOAS University of London, UK.
- Eleanor Newbigin, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London
- Chinnaiah Jangam, Assistant Professor of History, Carleton University, Canada.
- Matthew J Nelson, Reader in Politics, SOAS, University of London.
- Sîan Hawthorne,Lecturer in Critical Theory & the Study of Religions, SOAS, London, UK.
- Amrita Shodhan, SOAS, University of London, UK.
- Michael Hutt Professor and Director, SOAS South Asia Institute, University of London, UK
- Jonathan Goodhand, Professor in Conflict and Development Studies, SOAS, University of London, UK
- Nitasha Kaul, Author and academic, University of Westminster, London.
- Deepankar Basu, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- Somak Biswas, Doctoral Candidate, Department of History, University of Warwick, UK
- Michael Levien, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University, USA
- Nilisha Vashist, M.Phil/PhD student, University College London, UK
- Rama Mantena, Associate Professor of History, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Sohini Kar, Assistant Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- Dr. Jacob Copeman, Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh.
- Dr. Priyamvada Gopal, Cambridge University, UK.
- Carole Spary, Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham, UK.
- James Putzel, Professor of Development Studies, LSE, UK.
- Romola Sanyal, Assistant Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- Dr Barnita Bagchi, Literary Studies, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
- Dag Erik Berg, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany.
- Dr Kalpana Wilson, London School of Economics, UK
- Chetan Bhatt, Professor, Department of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- Rahul Rao, Senior Lecturer in Politics, SOAS, University of London, UK
- Dr Alan Bullion, The Open University, UK
- Katharine Adeney, Professor and Director of the Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies, University of Nottingham, UK
- Dr. Mara Matta, Modern Literatures of the Indian Subcontinent, SAPIENZA Università di Roma, Italy
- Pritam Singh, Professor of Economics, Oxford Brookes University, UK.
- Dr. Sunil Kumar, Lecturer, London School of Economics, UK
- Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- Richa Nagar, Professor, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA
- Mary Kaldor, Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- David Lewis, Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
- Dr. Suthaharan Nadarajah, Lecturer, SOAS, University of London
- Dr. Navtej Purewal, SOAS, University of London, UK
- Shruti Sinha, Toulouse School of Economics, France.
- Robert Cassen, Professor
- Apurba Kundu, Deputy Dean, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
- Rachel McDermott, Associate Professor of Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA.
- Dr. Clarinda Still, Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme, University of Oxford, UK
- Chad M. Bauman, Associate Professor of Religion, Butler University, USA.
- Nandini Bhattacharya, Lecturer in History, University of Dundee, UK
- Vijay Prashad, Professor, Trinity College, USA and Chief Editor, LeftWord Books.
- Lucinda Ramberg, Assistant Professor, Cornell University, USA.
- Pippa Virdee, Senior Lecturer in Modern South Asian History, De Montfort University, UK.
- Andrew J. Nicholson, Associate Professor, State University of New York, Stony Brook
- Dr. Teena Purohit, Department of Religion, Boston University.
- Sahana Bajpaie, Instructor in Bengali, SOAS, University of London, UK.
- M. V. Ramana, Physicist, Princeton University, USA
- Andrew Sartori, Professor of History, New York University, USA
- Shailaja Paik, Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati, USA.
- Jayadev Athreya, Associate Professor of Mathematics, University of Washington, USA.
- Ajantha Subramanian, Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies, Harvard University
- Sumeet Mhaskar, Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany.
- Whitney Cox, Associate Professor, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, USA.
- Nandini Deo, Associate Professor of Political Science, Lehigh University, USA.
- Dia Da Costa, Associate Professor, University of Alberta, Canada.
- Debjani Bhattacharyya, Assistant. Professor, Drexel University, USA
- Yogesh Chandrani, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Colorado College, USA
- Projit Mukherjee, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
- Tejaswini Ganti, Associate Professor, Anthropology, New York University
- Amit R. Baishya, Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma, USA.
- Tsitsi Jaji, Associate Professor, Duke University, USA.
- Pulikesi C. Rajangam, Faculty Assistant, Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
- Sharika Thiranagama, Assistant Professor of Anthropology , Stanford University
- Benjamin Siegel, Assistant Professor of History, Boston University, USA.
- Shefali Chandra, Associate Professor of South Asian History, Washington University in St. Louis, USA.
- Prathim-Maya Dora-Laskey, Assistant Professor, Alma College, USA.
- Kasturi Ray, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University, USA
- Nandita Sharma, Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
- Malarvizhi Jayant, PhD Student, University of Chicago, USA
- Martha Ann Selby, Professor of South Asian Studies and Chair of Department of Asian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
- Dr Sumeet Jain, Lecturer in Social Work, University of Edinburgh, UK
- Nandita Sharma, Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
- Sanjukta Das Gupta, Associate Professor, Department of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
- Priyanka Srivastava, Assistant Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA
- Sujani Reddy, Associate Professor of American Studies, State University of New York Old Westbury, USA
- J A Hernández Carrillo, Associate Professor of History, The University of Houston, USA
- Carmel Christy, Fulbright-Nehru visiting scholar, Department of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
- Johan Mathew, Departments of History and Economics, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA
- Rukmini Barua, PhD Candidate, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Romina Robles Ruvalcaba, Lecturer, California State University, Long Beach
- Aditya Sarkar, Assistant Professor, History Department, Warwick University, UK
- Chandak Sengoopta, Professor of History, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
- Tarini Bedi, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Urmitapa Dutta, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA
- Shweta Moorthy, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Northern Illinois University, USA
- Daniel Rudin, Reserch Scholar, Film and Digital Media, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
- Indrajit Roy ESRC Research Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK.
- Jacob Kovalio, Professor of Japanese/Chinese/Asian History/Studies
Carleton University, Canada
- Mayur Suresh, Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK.
- Divya Cherian, Postdoctoral Fellow, Rutgers University, USA.
- Dr Jayeeta Sharma, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, Canada
- Kalyani Devaki Menon, Associate Professor, DePaul University, USA
- Renisa Mawani, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Ajay Parasram, Doctoral Candidate and Lecturer Department of Political Science, Carleton University, Canada
- Raza Mir, Professor of Management, William Paterson University, USA
- Deborah Nurse, PhD Candidate, Carleton University, USA.
- Pratik Chakrabarti, Professor of History of Science and Medicine, University of Manchester, UK
- Ambarien Alqadar, Assistant Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
- Kajri Jain, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, Canada
- Praseeda Gopinath, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA
- Prof. Shubhra Gururani, Associate Professor, Anthropology, York University, Canada.
- Sourit Bhattacharya, Doctoral candidate and seminar tutor, English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick, UK
- Dr Satoshi Miyamura, Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK
- Shrikant Botre, PhD student, University of Warwick, UK.
- Deepa Kurup, MPhil candidate, Oxford University, UK.
- Sarah Pierce Taylor, Visiting Instructor of Religion, Mount Holyoke College, USA.
- Clement Bayetti, PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, UK.
- Gayatri Reddy, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, UK
- Nancy Rose Hunt, Professor of History, University of Michigan, USA.
- Manuel Capella, PhD student, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, UK
- Nicole D’souza, PhD Candidate, Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill Unviersity, Canada
- Luisa Molino, MSc – Research Associate, Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Canada
- Janet Hoy, PhD, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA
- Dr Sophia Koukoui, PsyD/PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Postdoctoral Fellow of Psychiatry, McGill University, Canada.
- Himani Bannerji, Professor Emeritas, Department of Sociology, York University, Canada.
- Ram Mahalingam, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
- Raza Mir, Professor of Management, William Paterson University
- Cosimo Zene, Reader in the Dept of Religions and Philosophies, SOAS, University of London, UK
- Dr. Amrita Ibrahim, Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Georgetown University, USA.
- Livia Ottisova, MSc, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, King’s College London, UK
- Jyoti Puri, Professor of Sociology, Simmons college, USA.
- Sangeeta Kamat Associate Professor, College of Education, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
- Biju Mathew Associate Professor, College of Business Administration, Rider University, New Jersey
- Sahana Udupa, Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany
- Barbara Whitaker, Psychologist, Consultation for Victims of Torture and War
Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland. - Suman Fernando, Visiting Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, London Metropolitan University, UK and Professorial Fellow, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK
- David Ingleby, Emeritus Professor of Intercultural Psychology, University of Utrecht and Researcher,, Centre for Social Science and Global Health, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Emine Kale, Advisor/ Clinical psychologist, Norwegian Centre for Minority Health Research (NAKMI), Norway
- Madhavi Murty, Assistant Professor, Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.
- Dr Sunita Abraham, Lancaster University, UK
- Dr. James Rodger, Honorary Associate Research Fellow, University of Exeter, UK
- Mary Hanlon, PhD Scholar, University of Edinburgh.
215. James Manor, Emeritus Professor of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. - Poulomi Saha, Assistant Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Dr Rochana Bajpai, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK.
- Dr Shabnum Tejani, Senior Lecturer in the History of Modern South Asia, SOAS, University of London, UK.
- Kannan Srinivasan, Independent Scholar, Wertheim Study New York Public Library, USA.
- Dina Siddiqi, ESS BRAC University, Bangladesh.
- Tanoj Meshram, PhD Scholar, Social Policy, Brandeis University, USA
- Varuni Bhatia, Assistant Professor, Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
- Saadia Toor, Associate Professor, Sociology, College of Staten Island, USA
- Madiha Tahir, PhD candidate, Columbia University
- Jaspreet Mahal, MA-Sustainable International Development, Brandeis University, USA
- Vasuki Nesiah, The Gallatin School, New York University, USA
- Lalit Batra, PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota, USA
- Jinee Lokaneeta, Drew University, Madison, NJ, USA
- Sahar Romani, Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University, USA
- Sonali Perera, Associate Professor, Hunter College of the City University of New York, USA
- Tapoja Chaudhuri, Affiliate Faculty, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington; USA
- Sangay Mishra, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Drew University, Madison, NJ, USA.
- Tejasvi Nagaraja, PhD candidate, New York University, USA
- Anand Venkatkrishnan, Junior Research Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford, UK
- Maliha Safri, Associate Professor, Drew University, USA
- Debashree Mukherjee, Assistant Professor, Columbia University, USA.
- Meena Alexander, Distinguished Professor of English, Graduate Center/ Hunter College, City University of New York, USA
- Swapna Banerjee, Associate Professor of History, Brooklyn College City University of NewYork, USA
- Layli Uddin, Graduate Student, Department of History, University of London, UK
- Samina Luthfa, Graduate Student, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, UK
- Jana Tschurenev, Research fellow, Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen, Germany
- Praveen K. Chaudhury, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, USA
- Alva Bonaker, PhD Candidate, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Achintya Prahlad, Graduate Student, Neurosciences, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Atreyi Dasgupta, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Hematology and Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine, USA
- Stephanie Leder, Ph.D. Student, Center for Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cologne, Germany
- Harshit Rathi, Graduate Student, University of Minnesota, USA
- Ishita Pande, Associate Professor of History, Queen’s University
- Usha Iyer, Assistant Professor of Screen Studies, Clark University, USA
- Ritika Prasad, Assistant Professor of History, UNC Charlotte, USA
- Leah Koskimaki, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa
- Aswin Punathambekar, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, USA
- Swati Birla, Graduate Student, Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA
- Madhusree Mukherjee, Historian and writer, Germany
- Dharashree Das, Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, Canada
- Ritty Lukose, Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin, USA
- Anupama Kapse, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, Queens College CUNY, USA
- Regina Hansda, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK
- Arindam Basu, Professor of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, UK
- Mary Louise Adams, Professor of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, USA
- Jyotsna Kapur, Professor of Cinema and Photography, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA
- Shaheen Rana, Research Associate, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
- Patton Burchett, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, College of William and Mary, USA
- Tyler Williams, Assistant Professor of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago, USA.
- Uwe Skoda, Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
- Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Ananya Chatterjea, Professor, University of Minnesota, USA
- Vedita Cowaloosur, Postdoctoral Fellow, English Department, Stellenbosch University, South Africa