54 Annual Conference Of ‘Indian Anthropological Society’, Held At Amity

Introducing the Conference, Barun Mukhopadhyay, Research Director, The Indian Anthropological Society, Kolkata, stated, “Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behaviour, human biology, cultures, societies and linguistics, in both the present and past. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, while cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values. The Indian Anthropological Society is one of the premier societies in the world, which grew out of the Anthropological Club in 1921 and Sir Asutosh Mukhopadhyay, the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, was the founder president of the Club.”

Delivering the Keynote Address, P.C Joshi, President of the Society for Indian Medical Anthropology, said, “India has already adopted the Global Perspectives in Anthropology as its philosophy, “Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam”, which means one world, one family. If we treat each person as our family, there will be no conflicts in the world. Anthropology understands human beings in totality. A sustainable lifestyle, including healthy eating habits must be adopted in order to achieve sustainability, equity and progress.” 

BV Sharma, Director, Anthropological Survey of India & Director General, Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Kolkata, West Bengal, averred, “Anthropology is extremely popular today and we need to make Anthropology more relevant and include interdisciplinary research, which will have practical implications. Choosing the research areas which are more useful and relevant in policy making, is very crucial for the researchers.”

Uma Nanduri, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi, opined, “Anthropology Researchers should not work in silos but in groups so that there is an exchange of ideas and knowledge. Relevant research on Indian culture and culture of other countries in addition to visits to art museums and parliaments, will add value to the subject. The role of media is tremendous and the public should start appreciating it so that they can bring the correct information to the masses about the evolution of human beings.”

Welcoming the guests during the Inaugural Session, Rumi Deb, Head, Department of Anthropology, Amity Institute of Social Sciences, said, “The conference with its diverse themes will offer insightful sessions on sustainability, equity and progress, since these topics resonate deeply with the University's ethos of fostering social, environmental and economic development. The overwhelming response from the participants and conglomeration of the invited speakers from across the country and abroad will ensure a fruitful outcome.”

During the two-day Conference, Technical Sessions on topics such as “Health Equity & Global Epidemiology”, “Biocultural Perspectives on Sustainable Nutrition and Health”, “Anthropological Perspectives in Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution”, “Global Perspectives on Human Evolutionary Genetics” and “Human Adaptation and Environmental Resilience”, amongst others were also conducted and around 170 Research Papers were presented.