Meena Dhanda

Dr. Meena Dhanda is an Indian philosopher and writer, based in the United Kingdom. She is a Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Politics at the University of Wolverhampton, and is internationally recognised as a leading academic in the development of diaspora dalit studies.^[1] She conducts philosophy with a 'practical intent',^[2] and her work has confirmed existence of caste discrimination in Britain in areas covered by the Equality Act 2010,^[3] and pushed for more legal protections against caste-based discrimination.^[4]

Meena Dhanda
Occupation	Philosopher
Known for	Anti-racism and anti-castism

Biography

Meena Dhanda arrived in the UK from Punjab, India in 1987 with an award of the Commonwealth Scholarship for her doctoral work in Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford University. She was a Rhodes Junior Research Fellow at St Hilda's College, Oxford, before taking up a full-time lecturing position at the University of Wolverhampton in 1992, progressing to a Readership (Associate Professorship) in 2010.^[5] She was promoted Professor on September 17, 2018.

Dhanda has written about problems of racism within the field of philosophy, calling for more diversity within the field,^[6] and has spoken of the importance for her of doing "socially engaged philosophy."^[7]

She has been an active member of the UK branch of the Society for Women in Philosophy for more than 25 years,^[8] and as of 2017, sits on the society's Funding Committee.^[9]

Main works

From September 2013 to February 2014 Dhanda led a project on 'Caste in Britain' for the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), through which she produced two research reports – "Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review",^[10] and "Caste in Britain: Experts' Seminar and Stakeholders' Workshop."^[11]

She has published numerous transdisciplinary papers on topics of caste and race, including 'Punjabi Dalit Youth: Social Dynamics of Transitions in Identity', (Contemporary South Asia, 2009); 'Runaway Marriages: A Silent Revolution?', (Economic and Political Weekly, 2012); 'Certain Allegiances, Uncertain Identities: The Fraught Struggles of Dalits in Britain' (Tracing the New Indian Diaspora, 2014); 'Do only South Asians reclaim honour'? ('Honour' and Women's Rights, 2014); 'Anti-Castism and Misplaced Nativism' (Radical Philosophy, 2015).^[12]

She has published two books: a monograph, The Negotiation of Personal Identity^[13] (Saarbrüken: VDM Verlag, 2008) and Reservations for Women^[14] (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2008).

Awards and honours

She was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for a primary research project 'Caste Aside: Dalit Punjabi Identity and Experience' concluded in 2012.^[15]

Bibliography

Journal articles and reports

• Dhanda, M. (2009) 'Punjabi Dalit Youth: Social Dynamics of Transitions in Identity', Contemporary South Asia, 17, 1: 47-64.
• Dhanda, M. (2013) 'Caste and International Migration, India to the UK', in I. Ness (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. Wiley Blackwell.
• Dhanda, M. (2013) 'Certain Allegiances, Uncertain Identities: The Fraught Struggles of Dalits in Britain', in O.P. Dwivedi (ed.), The New Indian Diaspora. New York: Editions Rodopi, 99-119.
• Dhanda, M. (2015) 'Anti-Castism and Misplaced Nativism: Mapping caste as an aspect of race' Radical Philosophy, 192, July-Aug, pp. 33–43.
• Dhanda, M., Mosse, D., Waughray, A., Keane, D., Green, R., Iafrati, S. and Mundy, J.K. (2014) Caste in Britain: Experts' Seminar and Stakeholders' Workshop. Equality and Human Rights Commission Research Report no. 92. Manchester: Equality and Human Rights Commission.
• Dhanda, M., Waughray, A., Keane, D., Mosse, D., Green, R. and Whittle, S. (2014) Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review. Equality and Human Rights Commission Research Report no. 91. Manchester: Equality and Human Rights Commission.
• Dhanda, M. (2020) Philosophical Foundations of Anti-Casteism. [1]. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 120, 1: 71–96.

References

1. "Dr Meena Dhanda - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
2. "Dr Meena Dhanda - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
3. "Reports and Media - Caste in the UK". Caste in the UK. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
4. "Enacting legal protection against Caste-discrimination: Why the delay?". philevents.org. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
5. "Dr Meena Dhanda - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
6. Ratcliffe, Rebecca; Shaw, Claire (5 January 2015). "Philosophy is for posh, white boys with trust funds' – why are there so few women?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
7. "Featured Philosopher: Meena Dhanda". Philosopher. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
8. "Featured Philosopher: Meena Dhanda". Philosopher. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
9. "SWIP UK: Executive Committee". www.swipuk.org. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
10. "Research report 91: Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review | Equality and Human Rights Commission". www.equalityhumanrights.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
11. "Research report 92 : Caste in Britain - Experts' Seminar and Stakeholders' Workshop | Equality and Human Rights Commission". www.equalityhumanrights.com. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
12. "Featured Philosopher: Meena Dhanda". Philosopher. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
13. Dhanda, Meena (2008). The negotiation of personal identity. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller. ISBN 978-3639029314.
14. Dhanda, Meena (2008). Reservations for Women. Women Unlimited, Kali for Women. ISBN 9788188965410.
15. "December 2010 - Prestigious fellowship awarded to University philosopher - University of Wolverhampton". www.wlv.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.