KIIT and KISS are set to host the 19th International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) World Congress-2023, which will be a meeting ground for the exchange of art, culture and literature between India and other countries
Achyuta Samanta, founder of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) recently held an interaction on World Congress of Anthropology. The panelists included the VC of Sambalpur University, Deepak Behera, VC of Utkal University, Manoj Behera and Ishwar Nayak.
KISS is the first ever tribal university of the world and is the largest anthropological laboratory to hold 50,000 indigenous children. It is set to host the 19th International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) World Congress-2023.
Achyuta opened the interaction by saying that he is grateful that India will finally host the event after 45 years. He said, “We tried bringing it to the country in 2014 but lost to Brazil in the process. This time, we almost lost to Croatia as well but we were lucky as we won by almost 1,500 votes. Nonetheless, KISS is very fortunate to hold the event, along with Utkal University, Sambalpur University and IUAES, Delhi. The event will take place from January 15-19, 2023, in Bhubaneswar, which will be attended by 10,000 delegates from more than 120 countries, out of which several delegates will be from India.”
According to him, it takes place around the world every five years and is being held in India after 45 years. It would also showcase Odisha’s beauty and charm and bring a lot of visibility to make it the perfect centre for tourism. He also mentions that several big events have come to the state because of KISS and KIIT’s continuous efforts.
He also said that this is a global win for Indian academics. He added, “It includes integration between academicians from different countries. It will provide a good exchange of art, culture and literature between India and other countries.”
This was followed by Soumendra Patnaik, president, Indian Anthropological Association, who listed three reasons for the event to be a historic one for the country. “Anthropology is a plurality of disciplines that is a result of an amalgamation of Political Sciences, Mass Communication, Economics, Journalism, Rural Development and Gender studies. This discipline creates bridges rather than boundaries. The theme will be public sphere, global peace and development.” When asked about the significance of the event, he said, “In terms of global peace and solidarity, professor Achyuta has done a wonderful job by bringing tribal and indigenous people to the mainstream of Indian society, culture and social life. Senior academicians and people who have contributed to the understanding of tribal people will be a part of this event.”
Deepak added to this by saying, “The hallmark of anthropology India is tribal studies. With the help of this event, scholars from India will be the ambassadors of our rich Indian culture and heritage and showcase our culture to scholars from other countries.” He said that the youth or ‘netizens’ played an important part by telling the world about the efforts done by KISS and KIIT through social media. He concluded by saying “This India’s event not just Achyuta’s event but the media also plays a big role by letting people know about it and grow.”
When asked about the difference between ethnology and anthropology, both Mohan Patnaik and Deepak answered by saying that it was still called ‘Ethnology’ in Europe and ‘Anthropology’ in the US. Achyuta added to it by saying, “Both had the same meaning but were different associations and were hence called ethnology and anthropology.”
Achyuta also highlighted that the “world-class” infrastructure needs to be noticed internationally and “of course, there are still a few challenges that we need to overcome in those lines. But we have time till 2023 and Odisha will develop even more by then. We will happily hold as many delegates as there are for the event.”