Ambedkar in London

Dr Bhimrao R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) was one of India’s greatest intellectuals and social reformers;
his political ideas continue to inspire and mobilise some of the world’s poorest and most socially
disadvantaged, in India and the global Indian diaspora. Ambedkar’s thought on labour, legal rights,
women’s rights, education, caste, political representation and the economy are international in
importance.

This book explores his lesser-known period of London-based study and publication during the
early 1920s, presenting that experience as a lens for thinking about Ambedkar’s global intellectual
significance. Some of his later canon on caste, and Dalit rights and representation, was rooted in
and shaped by his earlier work around the economy, governance, labour, and representation during
his time as a law student and as a doctoral candidate at the London School of Economics.
The Indian diaspora in the UK is the country’s single largest national minority. This volume connects
Ambedkar’s influence during his lifetime, and his legacy today, to this early phase of his career and
intellectual life in London, and its immediate aftermath. It contains new material on the establishment
of the city’s Ambedkar Museum, explores Britain’s Ambedkarite movement, and charts the campaign
to outlaw caste discrimination in the UK.