Race Consciousness, Caste Consciousness, and the Limits of Castelessness

The workshop will explore Professor Baudh's forthcoming book chapter, which exposes how seemingly progressive feminist concepts like being "unlimited" carry an implicit presumption of castelessness that burdens Dalit subjects.

Professor Baudh's forthcoming chapter for the Edward Elgar handbook on Race, Gender and Law, co-edited by Sarouche Razi and Sam Morgan, and which builds on the argument from the essay "Who Gets To Be 'Unlimited'? Feminism, Caste, And The Politics Of Limit-Breaking" (Feminism in India, 2 March 2026). Professor Baudh argues that power operates through words that appear neutral, reasonable and even progressive while carrying older hierarchies beneath them. The English word "limit" works as a proxy for aukaat, or assigned social stature, and allows caste and gender subordination to persist without being named. Feminist reclamations of being "unlimited" invert the disciplinary insult into empowerment. Professor Baudh, however, argues that the capacity to break limits is unevenly distributed across caste and that the feminist reclamation carries an implicit presumption of castelessness, in which caste-unmarked elites claim neutrality while Dalit subjects remain caste-marked and an epistemic asymmetry follows. The chapter places this argument alongside debates on race consciousness, and the workshop explore the following questions:

• what the presumption of castelessness does in feminist and legal discourse, and on whom its burden falls.
• how far the debates on race consciousness and colour-blindness in anti-discrimination law travel to caste, and where they do not.
• how caste-unmarkedness produces epistemic asymmetry in research, advocacy and adjudication.
• how intersectional and feminist jurisprudence ought or ought not to account for the uneven distribution of the capacity to be "unlimited".

The comparison between race consciousness and caste consciousness will be of use to scholars of anti-discrimination law, feminist jurisprudence and critical caste and race studies.

Format, programme and pre-circulated reading

The essay will be circulated to registered participants one week in advance, so that the session can proceed on the basis that the audience has read it.

Image Credits: Feminism in India [https://feminisminindia.com/2026/03/02/who-gets-to-be-unlimited-feminism-caste-and-the-politics-of-limit-breaking/]