Dr. K.Kalyani (Azim Premji University, Bangalore) will present her upcoming book Cultural counter-publics: Music, caste and dissent in North India (Cambridge University Press, 2026) which explores how oppressed caste communities use everyday music and performance as a form of political resistance and social dissent. The talk will also feature music clips illustrating the material and is followed by a Q&A. 

About the Speaker

K Kalyani is a sociologist whose research focuses on different dimensions of social inequalities, gender, intersectionality, cultures of caste, sociology of music, and subaltern studies. She has 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 and has also served as lecturer at Delhi University. She has contributed her research in several journals and edited volumes. This includes Social Change (Sage), Contemporary Voice of Dalit (Sage), Journal of Social Inclusion Studies (Sage), J‑Caste (Brandeis University), Local Development and Society (Taylor&Francis) to mention a select few. The edited volumes she has contributed to are Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Springer publication to mention a select few.  She is awarded with the CRASSH Summer fellowship (Centre for Research in Arts, Social Science and Humanities), at University of Cambridge, 2024. 

A believer in social justice, she also occasionally writes in the media and other public forums