A. R. Vasavi

Email: arvasavi@gmail.com

PhD (Michigan State, USA)
Former Professor, School of Social Sciences

Prof A R Vasavi was with NIAS during 1st May 1997 and 30th April 2011

Most significant research contribution: Has conducted work on rural and agrarian issues and on the sociology of Indian education drawing on field-based projects and engagements with the state.

Dr AR Vasavi has a doctorate in social anthropology from Michigan State University . Her academic interests are in social anthropology of India , agrarian studies, and sociology of education. She taught at Tufts University, Indian Institute of Management (Kozhikode) and at several other institutions in India . She has conducted field research in various parts of India and her publications include, Harbingers of Rain: Land and Life in South India (Oxford University Press, 1999), and two edited volumes, In an Outpost of the Global Economy:Work and Workers in India’s Information Technology Industries (with Carol Upadhya; Routledge, 2008) and The Inner Mirror: Translations of Kannada Writings on Society and Culture (The Book Review Press, 2009). Her current work are the following: (i) ‘Four Emblematic Figures and the Making of a new India’: The work draws on data from various projects and seeks to provide a sociological commentary on India between the periods 1997-2007. Currently only an outline of the book is completed. (ii) ‘Suicide and the Predicament of Rural India’:  This is an extension of the arguments made in the essay, ‘Suicides and the Making of Agrarian Distress in India’. The book is in draft form and has been submitted to a reviewer. Publisher Three Essays Collective, New Delhi. (iii) Review of Data from Vidyankura or Chamarajnagar Project: Based on data from the period 2002-2007, a critical review of the project, its potential and problems. Translations of basic essays from Kannada to English. To be made into a co-edited volume.

Completed Programmes

» Vidyankura - District Quality Education Project

Continuing Work

» Sociology and Social Anthropology

» Education Portfolio/Programme

Lectures

• 2010, March 7th,  ‘The Constitution and Marginal Communities’, National Law School, Bangalore.
• 2010, March 13th, ‘Facing the Challenges of a Differentiated Education System’, St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore.
• 2010, July 1st, ‘Suicides and the Predicament of Rural India’, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.
• 2010, September, 16th, “Approaches to addressing the Challenges of Education Among Adivasis’, Introduction to the National Seminar on ‘Education Among Adivasis: Trends, Issues and Challenges”, NIAS.
• 2010, October, 19th, “Emerging Trends in Rural and Agrarian Studies” Introduction to the National Conference on ‘Agrarian and Rural Studies: Trends, Texts, Pedagogies and Collaborations” held on October 19th and 20th at NIAS.
• 2010, October 23rd. “Social Issues in Conservation Education: State of Rural India . Lecture cum discussion at the 2nd Conservation Education Network, held at Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu.
• 2010, December 9th,  “ Creating ‘Opportunities for Being'" Inaugural Lecture at the opening of the Equal Opportunities Centre, Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, Kozhikode, Kerala.

Publications

1. 'THE UNANSWERED LAND QUESTION: The Nation as Real Estate’, electronic essay, INDIA IN TRANSITION,  Center for Advanced Studies of India, University of Pennsylvani. February 2010  (http:/casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/vasavi).
2. “Academics as Missing Intellectual”, Summerhill, IIAS Review, Spring. 2010.
3. “What’s Love Got to Do With It?’,  SEMINAR.
4. “Contextualising the Agrarian Suicides”, in Agrarian Crisis and Farmer Suicides (eds, R.S. Deshpande and Saroj Arora). Sage Publications: New Delhi.

Courses Offered

1. Completed three modules for the Foundation on Social Sciences, NIAS.
2. Sociology of India (a seminar course to be offered with Carol Upadhya, Jan to March 2011), NIAS.