Articles and Essays
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Zohran Mamdani’s Stunning Upset Redefines New York Politics
An in-depth, on-ground and first-hand reported overview in New Lines Magazine of Zohran Mamdani’s historic Primary Election campaign for New York Mayor; June 26, 2025
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The South Asian Vote May Be Split for Zohran Mamdani in New York City
An extensively reported and researched piece in New Lines Magazine about the significance of the South Asian vote in the New York Mayoral Primary Election; June 17, 2025
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Did Democrat Zohran Mamdani struggle with Black and working-class voters?
A data-analysis report in Al-Jazeera looking into the voter turnout in the NYC Democratic Primary ; July 3, 2025
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Kamala Harris Isn’t Just Black and Indian — She’s Also Brahmin
An in-depth reported essay in The Juggernaut on the caste origins of Kamala Harris in the wake of the 2024 Presidential Election; October 30, 2024
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The Specter of Caste in Silicon Valley
Opinion piece in The New York Times on the Cisco caste discrimination lawsuit by the state of California; July 14, 2020.
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The Oscar Nominated Film That Offers a Masterclass in Journalism
Essay in The Atlantic on Writing with Fire, the Oscar Nominated Documentary on India’s Dalit owned media outlet Khabar Lahariya; February 14, 2022.
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Feeling Like an Outcaste - An Indian Dalit Reading of Isabel Wilkerson’s Bestseller ‘Caste’
Review of Isabel Wilkerson’s ‘Caste’ for Foreign Policy Magazine; September 17, 2020.
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Long Live Comrade Gail
Essay on sociologist and historian Gail Omvedt’s legacy in India’s caste movement for Foreign Policy Magazine; September 12, 2021
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‘Indian Matchmaking’ Exposes the Easy Acceptance of Caste
Essay in The Atlantic on the practice of matchmaking as seen on the hit Netflix show, and caste; August 1, 2020.
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No Country for Good Girls
A book review in Foreign Policy Magazine of author Sonia Faleiro’s nonfiction book No Country for Good Girls; October 1, 2021
Praise for Coming Out as Dalit
“Both a moving personal story and a useful educational examination of persistent discrimination” - Kirkus Reviews
“Dutt exposes the absurdity and terror of a purportedly ‘dead’ caste system by telling her truth in and against a world built on lies” — Robin D.G. Kelly, author of Freedom Dreams
“A deeply felt, eminently readable, eye-opening book” —
Suketu Mehta, author of This Land is Our Land
“An illuminating, searing book… a love letter to oppressed everywhere.. a beautiful memoir of a girlhood, and I press it into the hands of anyone looking to wake up, look around, and change the world” — Sonora Jha, author of The Laughter
Award-winning memoir and nonfiction book on caste, Coming Out as Dalit is now out in the United States and worldwide. Published by Beacon Press in 2024, Coming Out as Dalit includes new chapters and a renewed focus on caste as it operates within South Asian communities in America.
Winner of the Indian National Arts and Letters Literary Award (Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puruskar), 2020
Previous Titles
Coming Out as Dalit -
South Asian edition; Aleph Book Company, 2019
“An ode to defiance.” - Hindu Business Line
“Humane in its assertion, extensive in its research, brilliant in its articulation” - The Wire
“An eye opening contribution to Dalit literature... Required reading” - Caravan Magazine
“Vital and extensively researched commentary on… what it means to be a Dalit today” - Outlook
Yashica Dutt
Yashica Dutt (she/her) is a leading anti-caste expert, journalist and the award-winning author of the non-fiction memoir, Coming Out as Dalit.
Coming Out as Dalit, Dutt’s first book, has been lauded both critically, and embraced by readers. It was recently awarded the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puruskar, 2020 (India’s National Academy of Letters’ Young Writers Award; among the country’s highest literary honors). A meticulously reported memoir that presents a scathing and intimate account of how the caste system brutally affects Dalits in today’s India, Coming Out as Dalit is currently being taught at several universities across the United States.
Yashica Dutt is an emerging figure recognized for highlighting Dalit rights globally and her voice has been instrumental in understanding the realities of caste within the increasingly prominent Indian diaspora. Dutt’s work seeks to expose caste as ‘the invisible arm that turns the gears in nearly every system in India', and highlights why this issue needs urgent attention. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Foreign Policy and The Atlantic and Dutt has been featured on The BBC, The Guardian and PBS Newshour. In 2023, Dutt helped shaped the text of the first-in-nation caste discrimination law in Seattle and in 2024, she traveled to over 16 cities on a widely popular US-book tour for Coming Out as Dalit. Dutt graduated from Columbia Journalism School and lives in New York. She is planning to soon release Coming Out as Dalit worldwide.