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Suraj Yengde

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Suraj Yengde
Yengde in 2023
Born1988 (age 36–37)
Nanded, Maharashtra, India
Occupations
  • Scholar
  • Author
  • Activist
Awards
  • Dr. Ambedkar Social Justice Award (2019)
  • Rohith Vemula Memorial Scholar Award (2018)
Academic background
Education
  • LLM
  • PhD
Alma mater
ThesisSouth-south migration: an ethnographic study of an Indian business district in Johannesburg (2016)
Doctoral advisor
Faisal Devji (Oxford)[1]
Dilip Menon (Witwatersrand)[2]
Academic work
DisciplineSocial Sciences
InstitutionsHarvard University
Notable works
Websitewww.surajyengde.com

Suraj Milind Yengde (born 1988) is an Indian scholar and activist known for his work on caste and race. He is a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow at Harvard University and a research associate in the Department of African and African American Studies.[3] He was named as one of the "25 Most Influential Young Indians of 2021" by GQ India.

Early life

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Yengde was born in 1988 in Nanded, Maharashtra, to a Dalit Buddhist family. He earned a BSL and LLB from Nanded Law College between 2005 and 2010.[4]

Education and career

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(L to R) Suraj Yengde, Pa. Ranjith, Niharika Singh, and Nagraj Manjule taking a selfie at the Dalit Film Festival in New York City in 2019.

Yengde earned an LLM from Birmingham City University, England (2011–2012) and interned at the United Nations Secretariat.[5] He completed a PhD in Anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, in 2016, with a thesis on Indian business districts in Johannesburg.[6] He pursued further studies at the University of Oxford, focusing on caste and race.[7] In May 2025, he received his DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy) from the University of Oxford for his thesis titled Dalit-Black Worlds: An Intellectual History of Race and Caste.[8][9]

Yengde has been a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University and a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.[10] He has published in Economic and Political Weekly and contributes to Art Review and Hindustan Times.[11][12][13] He appeared as himself in the 2023 biographical drama film Origin.[14][15]

Books and writings

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In 2018, Yengde co-edited The Radical in Ambedkar: Critical Reflections with Anand Teltumbde.[16] In 2019, he authored Caste Matters, a book listed in The Hindu’s "Best Non-Fiction Books of the Decade".[17][18] The book is published in several Indian languages with the Kerala translation winning a state award for translation.[19] His new book Caste: A Global Story was published in May 2025.[20][21]

Awards and recognitions

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  • Dr. Ambedkar Social Justice Award, Canada (2019)[22]
  • Rohith Vemula Memorial Scholar Award (2018)[23]
  • Finalist, Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar[24]
  • Featured as Most Influential Young Dalit by zee[25]
  • Named among "25 Most Influential Young Indians of 2021" by GQ[26]
  • Featured as himself in the American biographical drama film Origin (2023)[27][28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Professor Faisal Devji". University of Oxford. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  2. ^ "Dalit is the New Political and Epistemic Horizon: An Interview with Suraj Yengde". Borderlines. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  3. ^ "Suraj Yengde". Pulitzer Center. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Suraj Yengde: Trying to leave his caste behind him to pursue his education". World Education Blog. 22 May 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  5. ^ "About". scholar.harvard.edu. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  6. ^ Yengde, Suraj (2016). "South-south migration: an ethnographic study of an Indian business district in Johannesburg". Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  7. ^ "Professor Faisal Devji". University of Oxford. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  8. ^ "Dr. Suraj Milind Yengde".
  9. ^ Yengde, S. M. (2024). Dalit-black thought: An intellectual history of caste & race (Thesis). University of Oxford.
  10. ^ "Suraj Yengde". The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  11. ^ Yengde, Suraj (11 September 2015). "Caste among the Indian Diaspora in Africa". Economic and Political Weekly. 50 (37): 65–68. JSTOR 24482375. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  12. ^ "Suraj Yengde". Art Review. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  13. ^ "Suraj Yengde". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  14. ^ Sun, Rebecca (5 January 2024). "The Making of 'Origin'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  15. ^ "B.R. Ambedkar Makes His Hollywood Debut in 'Origin' Which Explores Global Connections of Caste". The Wire. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  16. ^ "Radical Ambedkar: Analysing divergent personas of the leader". Financial Express. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Best non-fiction books of the decade". The Hindu. 28 December 2019. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  18. ^ Sampath, G. (21 September 2019). "G. Sampath reviews Caste Matters by Suraj Yengde". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Suraj Yengde". Harvard University. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  20. ^ "Caste: A Global Story".
  21. ^ Yengde, Suraj Milind. Caste: A Global Story. C. Hurst (Publishers) Limited. ISBN 978-1-80526-289-3.
  22. ^ "HOME - Chetna". www.chetna.ca. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  23. ^ "Hafta 287: Dalit identity and Indian politics". Newslaundry. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  24. ^ "Sahitya Akademi Awards" (PDF). Sahitya Akademi. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  25. ^ "Suraj Milind Yengde". HURST. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  26. ^ Sethi, Shikha (11 February 2021). "Innovators, entertainers, disruptors, game changers: Meet GQ's Most Influential Young Indians". GQ India. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
  27. ^ Sun, Rebecca (5 January 2024). ""A Story That Broke All of Our Hearts": The Making of 'Origin'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  28. ^ "B.R. Ambedkar Makes His Hollywood Debut in 'Origin' Which Explores Global Connections of Caste". thewire.in. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
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