In a world saturated with fragmented information, biographies offer coherence, connecting personal trajectories to collective destinies. They make the abstract relatable and allow individuals, especially students and researchers, to witness how transformative change is possible even within rigid socio-political structures. Biographies cultivate critical empathy, inspire social imagination, and act as pedagogical tools to unpack complex ideas of justice, identity, and resistance. For marginalized voices, especially, biographies function as an act of reclamation, restoring their rightful place in the collective memory of a nation.

The decision to centre this conference on the biography of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar stems from a deep recognition of the intellectual depth and lived experiences embedded in his life story. Ambedkar's biography is not just a record of personal resilience; it is a vital text of modern Indian history, politics, and social reform. His life intersects with the most pressing questions of our times: caste- based exclusion, unequal access to education, rights-based citizenship, and the construction of knowledge itself.

In the contemporary context, where caste and inequality continue to shape everyday realities, Ambedkar's biography provides an invaluable lens through which to interrogate structural injustice and explore emancipatory futures. His lived experience as a student battling systemic discrimination, a constitutionalist shaping the framework of Indian democracy, and a thinker reimagining religion, identity, and liberation is a curriculum in itself. Through this conference, we aim to examine how Ambedkar's life can be understood not as a distant historical subject but as a dynamic force that inspires social change, primarily through interdisciplinary engagement.

Choosing Ambedkar's biography also acknowledges the renewed scholarly and popular interest in his work among younger generations. It reflects a commitment to engage with knowledge production from the margins and reframe Indian education around justice, dignity, and inclusion.

Among modern historical figures, few biographies offer the transformative depth of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. His life was not only an individual pursuit of knowledge and justice but a revolutionary roadmap for the oppressed to reclaim their dignity and rights. Born into systemic caste-based discrimination, Ambedkar's relentless commitment to education, legal reform, social equity, and constitutional morality turned his struggle into a universal movement for human rights.

Ambedkar's biography is not static; it evolves with every generation that reads him anew. From being a symbol of dignity, self-respect and legal intellect, he is now increasingly recognised as a global thinker whose ideas transcend temporal and national boundaries. His biography offers a multifaceted lens, encompassing legal, philosophical, political, spiritual, and emotional perspectives, through which students and scholars can explore India's contradictions, complexities, and potential. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's experiences of systemic humiliation, exclusion, and resistance were not just personal; they became the foundation of his intellectual clarity.

Recent literature on Ambedkar reflects a shift in tone and texture. Contemporary writers are not merely recounting events but reinterpreting Ambedkar through a fresh lens, incorporating aesthetics, global thought, and intersectionality. Aakash Singh Rathore's "Becoming Babasaheb" focuses on the emotional and intellectual evolution of Ambedkar, portraying him not just as a legal or political genius but as a human being shaped by trauma, conviction, and global influences. Similarly, Suraj Yengde's works urge us to move beyond the narrow identity prism and read Ambedkar as a radical democrat and international figure.

In A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B. R. Ambedkar, Ashok Gopal investigates how Ambedkar's caste-based exclusion served as the foundation for his radical vision of justice. Moving beyond personal narrative, the biography portrays Ambedkar's intellectual and emotional development as a response to institutional oppression, providing a compelling lens through which to examine power, resistance, and the politics of dignity in contemporary India. Anand Teltumbde's Iconoclast portrays Ambedkar as a thinker shaped by the fundamental inequalities of his time, demonstrating how his personal experience with caste prejudice informed his challenge to entrenched hierarchies. The book critically examines Ambedkar's ideas on power, identity, and resistance, providing a framework for understanding systemic injustice and collective struggle. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's Waiting for a Visa remains one of the most significant autobiographical texts in Indian literature, not only for its recollections but for its function as a powerful critique of systemic caste oppression. The text continues to inspire layered academic readings, particularly within the framework of Dalit literature and testimonial narratives. Saket Moon, in his chapter "The Dalit Autobiography as a Critical Genre," situates Waiting for a Visa within the broader tradition of Marathi Dalit autobiographical writings. He highlights how Ambedkar's work, written decades earlier, set a precedent for the self-reflective 'self-reportings' that became prominent during the New Dalit Movement of the 1970s, primarily through the influence of the Dalit Panthers. These autobiographies, rooted in lived experience, serve as potent acts of resistance and reclamation of Dalit identity. Rucha Brahmbhatt, in her analysis titled "Waiting for a Visa: Reminiscences or Remedy?", interprets the text as more than just a memoir; it is a therapeutic intervention that transforms personal trauma into collective testimony. Ambedkar's narrative transcends the individual to give voice to the untouchable community of pre-independence India, blending personal suffering with public memory. In doing so, he challenges the norms of conventional autobiography by asserting Dalit humanity and identity in the face of systemic erasure. The V. Geetha’s book ‘ Bhimrao Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India’ explore his socialist ideas and its relation to caste syste, untouchability and social issues that hampering the humanistic ethos. Adding another dimension, Pratik Dalwadi's chapter "Language and Indian Social Discourse in Waiting for a Visa" examines how Ambedkar deploys language as a deliberate tool of critique. Dalwadi emphasises that the text does not merely recount experiences but actively deconstructs the prevailing social discourse that legitimises caste hierarchies. He analyses Ambedkar's strategic use of language to expose the distortions embedded in societal norms, challenging misinterpreted beliefs and cultural practices that uphold untouchability and exclusion. Together, these critical readings reinforce Waiting for a Visa as a foundational document of Dalit resistance and literary innovation. They showcase how Ambedkar's autobiographical writing transcends its form, becoming a political act, a narrative of dignity, and a method for confronting and dismantling institutionalised caste discrimination.

This new wave of biographical exploration foregrounds previously underexplored themes: Ambedkar's depression and isolation, his engagement with Buddhist compassion, his aesthetic sensitivity, and his dialogic engagements with thinkers like John Dewey, Marx, and the Buddha. It makes Ambedkar more accessible to younger generations and more relevant in conversations on mental health, intersectionality, digital activism, and epistemic justice.

Such biographies are not just scholarly texts but also cultural interventions, appearing in various forms, including podcasts, graphic novels, films, murals, and classrooms. They ask us to read Ambedkar not only as history but also as a methodology.