Aparna Rao

Aparna Rao (February 3, 1950 – June 28, 2005) was a German anthropologist[2] who performed studies on social groups in Afghanistan, France, and some regions of India.[3]

Aparna Rao
Born(1950-02-03)February 3, 1950[1]
New Delhi, India
DiedJune 28, 2005(2005-06-28) (aged 55)
CitizenshipGermany
Spouse(s)Michael Casimir
AwardsChoice
Academic background
EducationDoctor of Philosophy
Alma materUniversity of Strasbourg (M.A.)
Paris-Sorbonne University (Ph.D.)
ThesisLes Sinté du pays Rhénan. Essai d'une monographie d'un sous–groupe Tsigane. (M.A.)
Les Ghorbat d'Afghanistan. Aspects economiques d'un groupe itinerant 'Jat'. (Ph.D.)[1]
Doctoral advisorXavier de Planhol[1]
Academic work
DisciplineAnthropology
Sub-disciplineEthnology
InstitutionsFormer co-chairperson, Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences

Born in New Delhi, India, she received an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Strasbourg and a Ph.D. in ethnology from the Paris-Sorbonne University. Rao taught anthropology at the University of Cologne, serving for a brief time as chair of the Department of Ethnology at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University, Germany.

Her research was generally positively reviewed, although some criticized her incoherence and her heavy reliance on previous field studies.

Early life and family

Rao was born in New Delhi, India to Oxford–educated and parents who were political activists. Her parents showing her the socioeconomic conditions in India and a sense of "personal responsibility" and "social conscience" served as her prime inspiration for becoming an academic.[4]

In 1980, she married Michael Casimir,[1] who is a professor emeritus from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Cologne, Germany.[5]

Education

Rao studied French literature, linguistics, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, sociology,[1] and ethnology at the University of Strasbourg.[6] She also did her M.A. in anthropology from the University of Strasbourg[1] in 1974, and later in 1980, completed her Ph.D. in ethnology from the Paris-Sorbonne University. She studied anthropogeography, ethnology, and Islamic studies during her doctorate studies.[6]

She spoke the Bengali, English, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Romanes, and Urdu languages.[1]

Career

Rao taught anthropology as an associate professor at the University of Cologne,[7] and from 1993 to 1995, she was chair of the Department of Ethnology at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University, Germany.[6]

From 1995 to 1998, she served as the co-chairperson of the Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences, along with Michael Casimir.[3] She was a member of the Société Asiatique,[6] and had been on the board of directors of the Association of Gypsy Lore Studies. She was also editor-in-chief of the Nomadic Peoples journal.[3]

Between 1995 and 1997, she was invited as a visiting scholar by the Institute of Development Studies at Jaipur, and between 2003 and 2004, by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies at Delhi.[6]

Before her death, she was scheduled to be the research director at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris from June 2006.[8]

Research

Rao had done research on the peripatetic, pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Afghanistan, France, Jammu, Kashmir, and western Rajasthan, and published books and research papers on "various aspects of social and economic organization" within these social groups. She had developed interest in the stream of culture change, conflict studies, and environmental cognition.[3] For a number of years, she executed ethnographic field research on a number of rural and semi-rural social groups in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and western India.[9] Her research works also included the impact of the conflict in Kashmir on the environment and lives of people,[8] and from 1991 to 1994, she did research on the ethnic, religious, and political conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir.[6]

Reception

Rena C. Gropper of the Hunter College notes that Rao was one of the few anthropologists who had carried out research studies in the midst of groups who draw their basic livelihood from other cultural groups. Gropper suggested that there was incoherence in her work while assessing her contributions to The Other Nomads: Peripatetic Minorities in Cross–Cultural Perspective.[10] Ann Grodzins Gold of Syracuse University saw Rao's research on the Bakarwals as a "densely packed examination". While reviewing Culture, Creation, and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice, a book that was co–authored by Rao in 2000, Gold pointed out that a large proportion of its content had been drawn from anthropological field studies concluded or initiated in the 1970s and early 1980s, though simultaneously noting that the authors substantially covered the "geographic and ethnographic contexts" of South Asia.[11]

Vinay Kumar Srivastava, the director of the Anthropological Survey of India,[12] positively reviewed Rao's co–authored book, Nomadism in South Asia, acknowledging the extensive ethnographic investigations done on nomadism by the authors. He further added, "...this is the first volume of its kind that brings together different writings, from different cultural contexts on nomads."[13]

The term "peripatetic peoples", that was coined by her, has become a part of the academic terminologies.[14]

Awards

Rao was given the Choice award for her book "Autonomy: Life Cycle, Gender, and Status among Himalayan Pastoralists".[3]

Death

Rao died of cancer[8] on 28 June 2005.[1]

Works

Some of the books and research papers authored and co–authored by Rao are as follows:

Books
  • Rao, Aparna; Casimir, Michael J. (2008). Rao, Aparna; Casimir, Michael J. (eds.). Nomadism in South Asia. Delhi: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1123839402.
  • Rao, Aparna; Bollig, Michael; Böck, Monika (2007). The Practice of War: Production, Reproduction and Communication of Armed Violence. New York; Oxford: Berghahn Books. OCLC 649912186.
  • Rao, Aparna; Berland, Joseph C. (2004). Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. OCLC 57471746.
  • Böck, Monika; Rao, Aparna (2000). Culture, Creation, and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice. New York: Berghahn Books. OCLC 606480542.
  • Rao, Aparna (1998). Autonomy: Life Cycle, Gender, and Status among Himalayan Pastoralists. New York: Berghahn Books. OCLC 36969651.
  • Michael J. Casimir; Aparna Rao; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde (1992). Mobility and Territoriality: Social and Spatial Boundaries among Foragers, Fishers, Pastoralists, and Peripatetics. New York: Berg. OCLC 24066493.
  • Orywal, Erwin; Rao, Aparna; Bollig, Michael (1996). Krieg und Kampf: die Gewalt in unseren Köpfen [War and Struggle: The violence in our heads] (in German). Berlin: D. Reimer. OCLC 36406067.
  • Rao, Aparna (1987). The Other Nomads: Peripatetic Minorities in Cross–Cultural Perspective. Köln: Böhlau. OCLC 16133085.
  • Rao, Aparna (1979). Note préliminaire sur les Jat d'Afghanistan /cAparna Rao [Preliminary note on the Jat of Afghanistan] (in French) (Reprinted from: Studia iranica, t.8, fasc. 1 ed.). Association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes. OCLC 1039700457.

Select papers
  • Zhang, Yanchun; Thelen, Nina; Rao, Aparna (September 2009). "Social Protection in Fiscal Stimulus Packages: Some Evidence" (PDF). New York: United Nations Development Programme. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Rao, Aparna; Casimir, Michael J.; Casciarri, Barbara (October 1999). "Lo stato del nomadismo in Asia meridionale: Breve nota sugli attuali modelli e contesti di movimento" [The State of Nomadism in South Asia: A Brief Note on the Current Movement Patterns and Contexts]. La Ricerca Folklorica (in Italian). Grafo Spa. pp. 145–148. doi:10.2307/1479778.
  • Casimir, Michael J.; Rao, Aparna (March 1998). "Sustainable Herd Management and the Tragedy of No Man's Land: An Analysis of West Himalayan Pastures Using Remote Sensing Techniques". Human Ecology. Springer Verlag. 26 (1): 113–134. doi:10.1023/A:1018701001793.
  • Casimir, Michael J.; Rao, Aparna (September 1995). "Prestige, Possessions, and Progeny: Cultural Goals and Reproductive Success Among the Bakkarwal". Human Nature. Springer Verlag. 6 (3): 241–272. doi:10.1007/BF02734141.
gollark: And efficiency is *practically* a function of architecture if you can't really buy efficient PowerPC systems, although apparently you can so oops.
gollark: I was not aware of the NXP things, but the IBM POWERx systems are not efficient.
gollark: Why not just include resistors?
gollark: Which are less efficient than ARM.
gollark: The only modern PPC processors I know of are less efficient than contemporary x86 systems.

References
  1. Bollig, Michael (2009). Krätli, Saverio (ed.). "Obituary for Aparna Rao (1950–2005)". Nomadic Peoples. White Horse Press. 13 (1): 1–4. JSTOR 43124142.
  2. Guenther, Mathias (2007). Gächter, Othmar; Piepke, Joachim; Quack, Anton (eds.). "Current Issues and Future Directions in Hunter-Gatherer Studies". Anthropos. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. 102 (2): 377. JSTOR 40389730. They occupy what the German anthropologist Aparna Rao dubs the "peripatetic niche" (1993: 503-509) - and Alan Barnard (1993: 35) refers to as the san in any city.
  3. Berland, Joseph C.; Rao, Aparna, eds. (2004). Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Greenwood. p. 341. ISBN 978-0897897716.
  4. Bollig, Michael (2009). Krätli, Saverio (ed.). "Obituary for Aparna Rao (1950–2005)". Nomadic Peoples. White Horse Press. 13 (1): 2. JSTOR 43124142. Aparna was born on 3 February 1950 in New Delhi as the third child of a historian and an Anglicist. Both her parents had studied at Oxford and both had been engaged in the political struggles of India during their time. Through her parents, Aparna was confronted with the grave socioeconomic problems of India and became acquainted with the role of academia in societal struggles. Although belonging to an elite family, social conscience and personal responsibility were core motivations for her later academic engagements.
  5. "Prof. Dr. Michael J. Casimir – Faculty of Humanities, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Cologne". University of Cologne. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  6. Rössler, Martin; Röttger-Rössler, Birgitt (2008). "Aparna Rao, 1950–2005". Zeitschrift für Ethnologie [Journal of Ethnology] (in German). Dietrich Reimer Verlag GmbH. 133 (1): 3–5. JSTOR 25843125.
  7. Ahmad, Imtiaz; Reifeld, Helmut, eds. (2017). "Contributors". Lived Islam in South Asia: Adaptation, Accommodation and Conflict. Routledge. ISBN 978-1351384322. APARNA RAO (1950-2005)
    The Late Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cologne, Germany
  8. John (]ack) Shrader (2005). Jeff Kwgel. "Memorial: Remembering Aparna Rao 1950-2005" (PDF). Himalaya. 25 (1). Retrieved April 17, 2020 – via Macalester College.
  9. Rao, Aparna; Bollig, Michael; Böck, Monika, eds. (2011). "About the author". The Practice of War: Production, Reproduction and Communication of Armed Violence. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-0857451415. The late Aparna Rao spent many years doing ethnographic fieldwork among numerous rural and semi-rural communities in Afghanistan, Kashmir and in western India, and published several books and papers based on her research.
  10. Gropper, Rena C. (March 1988). "Reviewed Work: The Other Nomads: Peripatetic Minorities in Cross-Cultural Perspective by Aparna Rao". American Anthropologist. New. American Anthropological Association. 90 (1): 228–229. JSTOR 678541.
  11. Gold, Ann Grodzins (2003). Alatas, Syed Farid; Bun, Chan Kwok; Sinha, Vineeta; Kudaisya, Medha; et al. (eds.). "Reviewed Work: Culture, Creation and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice by Monika Böck, Aparna Rao". Asian Journal of Social Science. Brill. 31 (3): 588–590. JSTOR 23654736.
  12. "Director's Profile". Anthropological Survey of India. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  13. Srivastava, Vinay Kumar (2005). Gächter, Othmar; Piepke, Joachim; Quack, Anton (eds.). "Reviewed Work: Nomadism in South Asia by Aparna Rao, Michael J. Casimir". Anthropos. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. 100 (1): 290–292. JSTOR 40466520.
  14. Hayden, Robert M. (December 2005). Bowman, Glenn; De Neve, Geert; Bloom, Maureen (eds.). "Reviewed Work: Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa and Asia by Joseph C. Berland, Aparno Rao". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 11 (4): 847. JSTOR 3804056. The terminology used for this adaptation had not always been consistent in these studies, but the term 'peripatetic peoples' proposed by Rao has now gained general acceptance.
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