On the occasion of North East Cultural Utsav organised to commemorate the 43nd foundation day of the IGRMS, five Women scholars- Charishma K Lepcha, Vijaylakshmi Brara, Sandhya Thapa and Visakhonu Hibo presented research papers on the second day of the national symposium on ‘Women of Northeast India: Contributions and Concerns’. The session was headed by Prof Subhadra Mitra Channa (Professor, Dept of Social Anthropology in University of Delhi).
In this seminar, Karishma presenting her paper regarding various communities and villages where women control the house economies with a special mention of the culture of homestays in Dzongu village in Sikkim. Vijaylaxmi Brara from Manipur University titled ‘Women of Manipur: Past Legacy and Recent Legacy’ where she methodically destroys misnomers and fallacies related to Manipuri women. Sandhya Thapa titled ‘Women and Education: Sikkim Scenario’ wherein she focused on the statistics of education in Sikkim when it comes to women and the differences or disparity that exists.
Padmini Balaram presented a refreshing paper on ‘Textile Traditions of North-East and the Woman’s Contribution’ which focused on the natural dyes used by the tribes like natural indigo and their declining trends. Vishakha who extensively discussed about the Naga Women’s Organization and the contribution of their efforts in keeping peace in their community.
Prof Deepak Kumar Behera (Vice Chancellor of Sambalpur University) delivered the 15th IGRMS annual eganaramous lecture on the topic “Children and Childhood” an emerging sub- Discipline in Anthropology. At the outset, Prof Sarit Kumar Chauduri, Director Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal gave welcome speech and introduce the Lecture Prof TB Subba among Museum Staffs and other Guests and he said that Professor DK Behera was the recipient of prestigious Sarat Chandra Roy Memorial Gold Medal by Asiatic Society, Kolkata (the oldest educational institution in Asia) for his outstanding contribution in the field of cultural anthropology in India for the year 2016 (Award received in 2017). Professor Behera has visited more than 25 countries through 43 overseas tours in different academic connections.
He has to his credit twenty-two volumes authored/edited by him and more than 100 research publications in reputed journals and edited volumes. Most of his publications are in the fields of ‘tribal studies’ and children and childhood”.
The programme was chaired by former Director of IGRMS Prof KK Chakraarty, who told that the most examples in this study of child anthropology is taken from tribal areas and we should focus on urban areas too. He also says we should follow and make our own theories and not follow European theories, because children play an important role in biocultural democracy.
