Historical Injustice, Agency, and Resentment
In societies marked by deep and enduring structural inequality—often along lines of caste, race, gender or other forms of identity—how is responsibility for such injustice assigned? How is the agency necessary to overcome historical injustice imagined? These lectures will use Bhim Rao Ambedkar's writings as a starting point to explore the moral psychology of responding to historical injustice.
Lecture by Pratap Bhanu Mehta. Commentary by Jamal Greene and Katharina Pistor.
This is the first of two events in this series. The second event will be held on Thursday, March 31, and feature commentary by David Bromwich (Yale).
About the Lecturer: Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Pratap Bhanu Mehta is Laurence S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University and Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Previously, he was Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University, and President, Centre for Policy Research, and has taught at Harvard University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and has been a member of the Global Faculty at NYU Law School. Mehta has published widely on political theory, constitutional law, and the history of ideas, including his recently co-edited Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution. His policy experience includes being Convener of the Prime Minister of India’s Knowledge Commission and member of the Government of India’s National Security Advisory Board. He is a prolific contributor to many public debates in forums such as the Financial Times and Foreign Affairs, and is Editorial Consultant to the Indian Express. Dr. Mehta holds a BA (first class) in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University and a PhD in Politics University from Princeton. He received the 2010 Malcom S. Adishehshiah Award and the 2011 Infosys Prize for Social Sciences (Political Science). In 2021, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy.
About the Ambedkar Law Lectures
The Ambedkar Law Lectures is an annual community-wide two-lecture series supported by the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar endowment at Columbia Law School. Delivered by prominent scholars of public law and other students of politics, the Lectures aim to further our understanding of justice, democracy, equality, development, and governance from historical, comparative, and philosophical perspectives. The Ambedkar Law Lectures are named in honor of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, an influential Indian political thinker and anti-colonial activist who studied at Columbia University and played a central part in framing the Constitution of independent India.
