Thenmozhi Soundararajan To Receive 2025 Vaikom Award
PICTURE CREDIT- DALITDIVA.COM
India-West News Desk
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The Tamil Nadu government announced on October 22 that the 2025 Vaikom Award will be conferred on California-based activist and author Thenmozhi Soundararajan.
The award, which carries a cash prize of ₹5 lakh, a citation, and a gold-plated medallion, will be presented by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, it said.
Soundararajan, whose parents are from Madurai, is the founder and executive director of Equality Labs, a U.S.-based civil rights organization that advocates for the rights of marginalized communities globally. She is the author of The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing and Abolition, which earned her the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and the South Asian Literary Association Award for scholarship in South Asian studies.
Her work spans activism, research, education, and digital security, focusing on issues of caste, racial, and gender equity. Through Equality Labs, Soundararajan has mobilized the South Asian American community to confront caste-based discrimination and related social inequities. She previously co-founded Third World Majority, a media training collective for marginalized communities.
She is a fellow at the Stanford Center for South Asian Studies.
Her work continues to address issues of caste, gender, racial equity, and interfaith dialogue, aiming to expand the understanding of South Asian identity and to create inclusive spaces for marginalized communities.
