‘Woke’ is an ambivalent term that carries both progressive and conservative connotations on the left and right ends of the political spectrum. Understandings of what constitutes ‘wokeness’ have shifted significantly from the collective organizing by politically oppressed groups at the dawn of the current century, to a more contested—and even derogatory—term proliferated on social media in the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. The public discourse surrounding wokeness in recent years has begun to shape a future characterized by further entrenchment of power and separatist ideals through accusatory logics. 

In this keynote,Yengde revisits the Ambedkarite movement, an anti-caste movement led by politician and economist B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), to explore possible means of responding to the political abstruseness of our times conjured by the discourse surrounding wokeness. The lecture examines some of the methods used by Ambedkar, including ways to practice social equality and to reinterpret religious beliefs to build social consciousness.  In so doing, Yengde considers potential strategies that can be employed in today’s increasingly polarized political landscape.