Department of Anthropology  


ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

 

The department was established in the year 1959. This is one of the oldest departments in South India, and the first in the Karnataka State offering Post-Graduate Education leading to Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Anthropology. It continues to provide courses in Higher Education and Research in the field of Anthropology since its inception.

It began as Department of Social Anthropology offering Masters Degree in Social Anthropology. In 1962, the department was entrusted with the responsibility of running a P.G. Course in Social Work also. This arrangement existed till 1971. In 1973 the Department was renamed as the Department of Anthropology. In the same year in addition to the existing Social-Cultural Anthropology Specialization, full pledged Specialization of Physical/Biological Anthropology was introduced with the establishment of Physical/Biological Anthropology laboratory. During 1990s the Department was entrusted with the responsibility of starting and running a multi-disciplinary Post-Graduate Diploma Course in Women Studies. The Department shouldered this responsibility for about a decade.

Since the department provides for an inter-disciplinary base, the Master’s Courses and Doctoral Programme are open to the eligible candidates from the disciplines in the Faculties of Science, Social Science and Humanities. In Anthropology intensive supervised fieldwork followed by the dissertation is the mandatory feature for the fulfillment of the Master’s and Doctoral Programme. Anthropology as a discipline strives to understand the tremendous human diversity existing in its Social-Cultural, Biological and Linguistic dimensions. To have an in-depth understanding of these dimensions, it is essential to stay with people, establish rapport with them and study their total life through such techniques as Participant Observation, Interview and of use of Key Informants and Genealogical Methods. Therefore, field-work forms an integral part of Anthropological training.

Eminent anthropologist Dr. K. Ishwaran founded the Department, subsequently; the Department grew further in stature under the leadership of noted Anthropologists namely Dr. L. K. Mahapatra, Dr. K. G. Gurumurthy, Dr. B. G. Halbar and Dr. (Mrs) P. V. Mahale, Dr. C. G. Hussain Khan, Dr. P. B. Gai, Dr. S. V. Hittalmani and Dr. K. C. Tarachand.

The Department finds special mention in the Handbook of Indian Universities, 1964 for its excellent work. The Department has secured First prize among the exhibitions organized as part of the Karnatak University Golden Jubilee Celebrations held during February, 2000.

The distinguished visitors to the Department include Prof. N. K. Bose, Personal Assistant to Mahatma Gandhi and Former Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Dr. K. S. Singh the then Director General of Anthropological Survey of India, New Delhi, Mrs. Iravati Karve, Dr. L. P. Vidharthi, Prof. B. N. Srivastava, Dr. B. C. Agarwal, Dr. B. K. Roy Burman, Dr. A. C. Sinha, Mr. Murkot Rammunny IAS, Former Administrator NEFA, Prof. Koeing (USA), Prof. Nels Anderson, Prof. Frans Willekens (The Netherlands), Prof. Allan Beals (USA), Prof. T. Jenkins (South Africa), Prof. Srinivasa Verma, Dr. Manorama Thomas, Dr. Lalji Singh, Director, Centre for CCMB, Hyderabad, Dr. Inge Hutter, University of Groningen, (The Netherlands) and Dr. William Barnett, Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan State, USA.

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