Kathryn Lum, European University Institute in Florence, Italy

Kathryn Lum, Research Assistant at the Dept. of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute in Florence, Italy, defended her doctoral dissertation entitled ”How Caste Works: Forging New Identities in a Punjabi Ex-Untouchable Community in Catalonia, Spain” on Monday 10 October 2011. Kathryn has previously completed her MA at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University. Kathryn has previously completed her MA at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University. 
The doctoral thesis is an ethnographic study of an ex-untouchable group from the Punjab region of India known as the Ravidassias. Its aim is twofold: on the one hand to elucidate the mechanisms of caste in social life and in particular, to analyse how ex-untouchables negotiate caste stigma, and on the other, to explore the caste, gender, and youth dimensions of the Ravidassia community in Catalonia, Spain. This study is comparative in nature, discussing caste, the management of caste stigma, and the Ravidassia sociocultural/religious movement in the Punjab, India and Catalonia, Spain. More information.