Veena Das,
FBA (born 1945) is the Krieger-Eisenhower
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of
Anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
at the
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
. Her areas of theoretical specialisation include the anthropology of violence, social suffering, and the state. Das has received multiple international awards including the Ander Retzius Gold Medal, delivered the prestigious
Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture and was named a foreign honorary member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
.
Education
Das studied at the
Indraprastha College for Women
Indraprastha College for Women, also known as Indraprastha College or IP College ( hi, इंद्रप्रस्थ महिला महाविद्यालय), is the oldest women's college in Delhi. Established in 1924, it is a con ...
and the
Delhi School of Economics
Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as "D School", is a Higher Educational Institution within the University of Delhi. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establ ...
at the University of Delhi and taught there from 1967 to 2000. She completed her
PhD in 1970 under the supervision of
M. N. Srinivas
Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas (1916–1999) was an Indian sociologist and social anthropologist. He is mostly known for his work on caste and caste systems, social stratification, Sanskritisation and Westernisation in southern India and th ...
from the Delhi School of Economics. She was professor of anthropology at the
New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
from 1997-2000, before moving to
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
, where she served as chair of the Department of Anthropology between 2001 and 2008.
Books
Her first book ''Structure and Cognition: Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual'' (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1977) brought the textual practices of 13th to 17th century in relation to self representation of caste groups in focus. Her identification of the structure of Hindu thought in terms of the tripartite division between priesthood, kinship and renunciation proved to be an extremely important structuralist interpretation of the important poles within which innovations and claims to new status by caste groups took place.
Veena Das's most recent book is ''Life and Words: Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary'' (California University Press, 2006). As the title implies, Das sees violence not as an interruption of ordinary life but as something that is implicated in the ordinary. The philosopher
Stanley Cavell
Stanley Louis Cavell (; September 1, 1926 – June 19, 2018) was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, an ...
has written a memorable foreword to the book in which he says that one way of reading it is as a companion to
Wittgenstein's ''
Philosophical Investigations
''Philosophical Investigations'' (german: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953.
''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgens ...
''. One of the chapters in the book deals with the state of abducted women in the post-independence time period and has been the interest of various legal historians.
Life and Words is heavily influenced by Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell, but it also deals with particular moments in history such as the
Partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
and the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.
The book 'narrates the lives of particular persons and communities who were deeply embedded in these events, and it describes the way that the event attaches itself with its tentacles into everyday life and folds itself into the recesses of the ordinary.'
Research
Since the eighties she became engrossed in the study of violence and social suffering. Her edited book, ''Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia'' published by Oxford University Press in 1990 was one of the first to bring issues of violence within anthropology of South Asia. A trilogy on these subjects that she edited with
Arthur Kleinman
Arthur Michael Kleinman (born March 11, 1941) is an American psychiatrist, psychiatric anthropologist and a professor of medical anthropology and cross-cultural psychiatry at Harvard University. He is well known for his work on mental illness ...
and others in the late nineties and early twenties gave a new direction to these fields. The volumes are titled ''Social Suffering;'' ''Violence and Subjectivity;'' and ''Remaking a World.''
Awards
She received the Anders Retzius Gold Medal from the
Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography
The Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG; sv, Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi) is a scientific learned society founded in December 1877. It was established after a rearrangement of various sections of the Anthropo ...
in 1995, and an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
in 2000. She is a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the
Third World Academy of Sciences
The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...
. In 2007, Das delivered the Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture at the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
, considered by many to be the most important annual lecture series in the field of Anthropology. Prof. Das was elected as Fellow to the British Academy in 2019.
Further reading
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Veena
Johns Hopkins University faculty
Indian women social scientists
1945 births
Living people
Delhi School of Economics alumni
Delhi University faculty
Indian anthropologists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Social anthropologists
20th-century Indian educators
20th-century Indian women scientists
20th-century Indian social scientists
Indian social sciences writers
20th-century Indian non-fiction writers
20th-century Indian women writers
21st-century Indian social scientists
21st-century Indian women scientists
21st-century Indian women writers
21st-century Indian writers
Indian women anthropologists
20th-century women educators
Indraprastha College for Women alumni