Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The article examines how Indian universities face the dual pressure of neoliberal policies and Brahminical Hindutva, a form of religious nationalism grounded in caste-supremacist political ideologies. The article connects caste oppression, neoliberal capitalism, and state repression, illustrating how carcerality extends beyond prisons to social, political, and epistemic exclusion. It unpacks some of the systemic manifestations of the carceral state, the repercussions of which are faced by scholars, students, journalists, lawyers, and civil liberties activists, particularly from minority backgrounds. Beyond an analysis of a landscape of repression, the article foregrounds the voices and deeds of some of these incarcerated scholars and civic activists, showcasing their critiques and transformative visions for justice and underscoring the critical role of education in carceral spaces. The article conceptualises the prison not just as a space of physical confinement but also as a broader system of governance that relies on carceral methods for controlling the most marginalised sections of its population. It proposes an expanded understanding of what it means to be a political prisoner. At the same time, the article highlights how prisons can also serve as spaces of intellectual resistance, knowledge production and solidarity-building.
Authors: Sruti Bala, Laila Kadiwal, Ashok Kumbamu, Aninthitha Nath
Institutions: University of Amsterdam, University College London, Mayo Clinic
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409341886