The First Nepali Dalit Writers

Details

23 November 2025/७ मंसिर २०८२ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Research Seminar Series
The First Nepali Dalit Writers
Michael Hutt, Emeritus Professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies, SOAS, University of London

Abstract
All published accounts of the emergence and development of Dalit Literature in the Nepali language present Jawahar Roka and TR Bishwakarma as its first writers. In my presentation I will explore the circumstances in which they were able to acquire this status; ask whether ‘Dalit Literature’ should be taken to begin only with the publication of conventional written texts; and consider the position of the Dalit intellectual under the early Panchayat regime.

About the Speaker
Michael Hutt is an Emeritus Professor at SOAS, University of London, where he taught Nepali and Himalayan Studies from 1987 to 2020. His most recent books are the co-edited book Epicentre to Aftermath: Rebuilding and Remembering in the Wake of Nepal’s Earthquakes (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and his English translation of Buddhisagar’s novel Karnali Blues (Penguin Random House, 2021). He is currently working on a book-length study/anthology of Nepali Dalit literature, funded from 2025 to 2027 by a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. His personal research website is at https://michaelhutt.co.uk.