STUDIES IN SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Students of anthropology ask myriad questions about humans, their evolution and cultural development from the past to the present day. Knowing something about the life in the past and how the people in other parts of the world live, makes most of us curious. This is the appeal of anthropology. In this book, in order to capitalize on the student’s curiosity, we present a wide range of topics authored by experts in physical and social anthropology.

The first section of the book presents significant palaeoanthropological perspective on important stages in human evolution. Exhaustive studies of the femur, neck and shaft angles in modern humans indicate variations related to geographic locale and environment. A recent restudy of the Saldanha endocranial cast does not reveal any non-human features. The purpose of teaching and research in the field of physical anthropology in India has been thoroughly discussed. The importance of the human genome in tackling diseases is another topic covered in this section.

In the second section, besides an interesting global debate on the need to save the core features and values of the institution of family, some methodological issues in the study of Indian diaspora, hangover of colonialism in India today, and the role of bureaucracy as a legacy of British raj in modern India have been dealt with.

Both teachers and students of anthropology will find this book useful.

Gopala Sarana began teaching in Lucknow University and also taught in Punjab University before moving to Harvard University for his doctoral research. He also taught in California University, Santa Barbara. After his return from USA, he joined Karnatak University and remained there as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology until he moved in the same position to his alma mater, Lucknow University, where he retired. He was the recipient of Asiatic Society, Calcutta medal and was conferred the honour of Sikshak Sri Samman by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, in 2008. Scores of research publications in national and international journals and half a dozen books bear the imprints of his scholarly contribution to anthropology.

R.P. Srivastava also started teaching in Lucknow University. Later, he founded the Department of Anthropology at Dibrugarh University in Assam. Besides two books, he has published several research papers in reputed journals of both national and international stature. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Anthropology at Karnatak University, Dharwad and Pune University, where he retired in 1997.