SASI is hosting an afternoon panel and dialogue on November 17 at 1 pm at UFV’s Abbotsford campus in F Building, room F-125, on the critically important topic of caste and anti-casteism.

The issue of caste discrimination has received critical attention at post secondary institutions in the US in the recent past and has become an area of discrimination recognized by Universities in the US, UK and beyond.

Guest speakers are Balbir Madhopuri, an award winning, widely acclaimed poet/author and a 2021 Dhahan Prize Finalist. Madhopuri writings are primarily focused on the issues related to the oppressed and depressed classes, especially Dalits. Balbir Madhopuri is a Punjabi poet with three collections of poetry. It is a great honour to have him come and speak.

Arvinder Kaur Dhaliwal is also an acclaimed author and poet and a 2022 Dhahan Prize Finalist. Dhaliwal has been honoured with the ‘Gurdial Singh Phull Yaadgari Sabha’ and ‘Principal Sujan Singh Yadgari Utshahvardhak Sanman 2020’. In 2021 the Jhanjaran Wale Paer short story collection was conferred the Dalbir Chetan Yadgari Purskar Award.

Look forward to seeing you all at the event.