VTIPG hosts noted Indian Anthropologist, Soumendra Patnaik, for Roundtable Discussion

October 27, 2009

Noted social anthropologist and President of the Anthropological Association of India, Soumendra Patnaik of the University of Delhi, held a roundtable discussion at the Institute recently for an assembled interdisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students. Professor Patnaik spoke to his recent research concerning the role of tribes in development processes in Orissa in India. The discussion thereafter ranged widely to other research led by Dr. Patnaik and to a more general discussion of the emergent role(s) of NGOs and of civil society organizations in global politics and in development more generally.  Dr. Max Stephenson, Director of VTIPG, suggested that the discussion was both deliberate and provocative.  We were fortunate to have this informal opportunity to sit with Dr. Patnaik and discuss his dynamic research program and the insights flowing from it. We hope to see him again in the not too distant future.  For more information on Dr. Patnaik and is work please see: http://du-in.academia.edu/SoumendraMohanPatnaik