I am a Dalit feminist ethnographer and sociologist. My work grows from my lived experiences, ethnographic research, and the intellectual traditions of Savitribai Phule and B. R. Ambedkar. I completed my PhD in Education at the University of Sydney. My doctoral research, Experiences, Challenges and Resistance: A Study of Dalit Women’s Experiences in Higher Educational Institutions in Odisha, India, examined how caste, gender, and education intersect in the lives of Dalit women in Indian higher education. Through ethnographic research, I traced the experiences and acts of resistance of Dalit women students, revealing both deep inequalities and their struggles for dignity and rights.

This website brings research and reflection together. Here I share articles, essays, field notes, and resources that engage with caste, gender, education, and society. Being a Dalit woman shapes what I study and how I study. I work with care, refusal, and a commitment to epistemic justice. I see knowledge-making as a collective act of survival and resistance. Researchers, students, activists, and readers are welcome here. I invite you to read, reflect, and engage as we learn, unlearn, and work toward an anti-caste Dalit feminist future.

Books that Shape My Thinking

  • B.R. Ambedkar: Annihilation of Caste: A foundational text that exposes caste as a system of graded inequality and calls for its complete annihilation.

  • B.R. Ambedkar: The Buddha and His Dhamma: Reinterprets Buddhism as a path of equality, rationality, and social transformation.

  • Sharmila Rege: Writing Caste, Writing Gender: Centres Dalit women’s voices and shows why feminism must engage with caste.

  • Anandita Pan: Mapping Dalit Feminism: Towards an Intersectional Standpoint: Explores the intellectual and political foundations of Dalit feminist thought.

  • bell hooks: Teaching to Transgress: This influential work reimagines education as a practice of freedom, encouraging critical pedagogy that challenges domination and nurtures transformative learning.

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Contact
swati@saraswatisuna.com

I recognise the long histories of resistance and the continuing struggles of Adivasi, Dalit, and other marginalised communities, and I approach them as producers of knowledge and agents of social transformation. I also recognise the central role of gender in shaping these realities, as women and other gender-marginalised persons face layered and intersectional oppression. Caste and patriarchy operate together to structure everyday life. These struggles ground the ethical commitments of my work.

 

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© Saraswati Suna 2026