Soziologie

We are pleased to announce that a new book by Prof. Rowena Robinson titled 'Arc of Ambedkar's Fraternity: Law, Secularism, Religion' was published by Oxford University Press. Prof. Robinson has been a Visiting Humboldt Foundation Scholar at the Faculty of Sociology since the beginning of this year. The final touches for the new book were perfected during her time in Bielefeld, and her presence similarly has enriched our Faculty. We congratulate Prof. Robinson and wish her all the best in her future endeavours!

Abstract:

The book focuses on the idea of fraternity in Ambedkar, considering the recent global interest in both solidarity and fraternity. It locates his understanding of fraternity in the context of contemporary Anglo-European scholarship and in relation to some important figures of his generation. It examines deliberations from the Indian Constituent Assembly in connection with democracy, nation and secularism, and the divisions of caste, class, and religion. It looks at the sphere of law including Supreme Court judgments, which gradually interpreted Ambedkar’s fraternity to frame state obligations and the socio-economic rights of individuals and groups towards each other. It did so by connecting the preamble with fundamental rights such as those in Articles 15, 17, 23, and 24 as well as certain Directive Principles of State Policy, but it stops short of moving towards a full elaboration of the idea of horizontal rights. While the Court’s incipient moves stimulated discussion around fraternity in legal scholarship, the concept has been largely absent in Indian social science, where the key category was secularism. The book discusses these two literatures and considers in what way the social sciences could engage with the legal research. Finally, it explores another strand in Ambedkar’s thought, which located fraternity in religion, specifically his own version of Buddhism, and diverged from pragmatic reckoning by questioning whether democratic constitutionalism or secular law could create it. This perspective is read in the light of Derrida, who similarly indicated the paradox of fraternity in modern democracy.

Reference:

Robinson, Rowena, Arc of Ambedkar's Fraternity: Law, Secularism, Religion (Oxford, 2026; online edn, Oxford Academic, 17 Sept. 2026), https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197908150.001.0001.