A two-day Indian Anthropology Congress (IAC), jointly organised by the Department of Anthropology of the Utkal University and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI) of the State, would begin from February 22 in the university campus here. This was informed by Utkal University Vice-Chancellor Prof Asoka Kumar Das at a Press conference here on Wednesday. The event is being organised for the first time in the State with active support of the Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists (INCAA) and the lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, he added.
Prof Das said the congress would focus on a topic ‘Tribal Transformations in Contemporary India: Issues and Challenges’. “With 62 scheduled tribe groups including 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), Odisha presents a diversity of tribal cultures in terms of subsistence, settlement, arts and crafts and rites of passage,” he said, adding, “So, the focal theme chosen for the IAC is quite relevant.”
IAC convener Prof Kishor K Basa said the congress is expected to identify research priorities in Anthropology for coming years and to come up with a few recommendations having policy implications for sustainable tribal development. Head of the Anthropology Department of the university Prof Sabita Acharya said that around 400 anthropologists from across the country would attend the congress, which would be inaugurated by Governor Dr SC Jamir. Former Head of the Anthropology Department of the university Prof lK Mohapatra, a renowned anthropologist of the country, would be felicitated in the congress, she added.