Tribal Studies and Beyond ― Contributions of D.n. Majumdar to Indian Anthropology

Dhirendra Nath Majumdar was one of the pioneers of anthropological research in India. He joined the Department of Economics & Sociology, University of Lucknow in 1928. In the course of his 32 years of academic work, he created in Lucknow an exceptional center for anthropological studies through the institutions and journals he founded. Trying to relate the basic concepts of anthropology to the general public, he popularized the concept of 'public anthropology,' and was also instrumental in promoting anthropology in Hindi. Author H.S. Saksena, one of his prominent students, analyzes Majumdar's life and works on his contributions to tribal ethnography, covering communities from a wide range of habitat, cultural and economic life, and social organization. The book also considers Majumdar's post-1947 studies of changing caste structure and dynamics seen in Indian villages, rural development programs, urban settlements, composition of the working class, as well as emerging problems, such as unemployment among the educated. In his earlier works on tribal communities, Majumdar's anthropometric and serological surveys of select communities and groups in Bengal, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh, as well as his contributions to other fields of anthropology, are also discussed. Professor T.N. Madan in his foreword describes this study as the "first full length study of the work on an Indian anthropologist." He adds that "to write about a "general" anthropologist such as D.N. Majumdar, in our times of specialization is, needless to emphasize, a daunting task." [Subject: India Studies, Anthropology]