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UPCOMING LECTURE
ABOUT THE LECTURE
Prof Vijoy Sahay, Editor of The Oriental Anthropologist and Former Head, Department of Anthropology, University of Allahabad, will deliver the 5th L K Mahapatra Memorial Lecture at Utkal University on 14th November 2025.
PROF VIJOY SAHAY
Prof. Vijoy S Sahay is the Editor-in-Chief of the internationally renowned anthropological research journal, The Oriental Anthropologist, published by SAGE. He is Former Emeritus Professor and Former Head, Department of Anthropology, Allahabad University.
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He studied at Ranchi University, where he was awarded PhD for his exceptional research work on the Nicobar Archipelago. Professor Sahay has been member of two important committees constituted by the Government of India for the protection and preservation of the dwindling tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. His latest book Experiencing Anthropology in the Nicobar Archipelago has been published by Routledge.
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Professor Sahay’s main areas of interest in Anthropology have been teaching anthropological theories and conducting field research among the most particularly vulnerable tribal groups of the country. Professor Sahay His forthcoming book is on Anthropological Thought: From Evolutionism to Postmodernism and After.
PAST LECTURES
1st Memorial Lecture -
delivered online by Prof P C Joshi
1st Memorial Lecture delivered on 29 October 2021 in an online mode by Prof P C Joshi, Pro-Vice Chancellor and eminent Professor of Anthropology, Delhi University. Drawing on Professor Mahapatra's pioneering work on South-East Asia particularly Indonesia, Prof Joshi talked about India's cultural influence on South-East Asia and Indonesia in particular.
2nd Memorial Lecture -
delivered by Prof Geetika Ranjan
The 2nd L K Mahapatra Memorial Lecture titled, “Historical Wrongs and the Aftermath: Journey of a Tribe" was delivered by Professor Geetika Ranjan, one of India’s most eminent contemporary anthropologists, based at the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.
In her lecture, Prof Ranjan discussed the case of the Bhoksa, a PVTG (particularly vulnerable tribal group) from the state of Uttarakhand. Despite plans and schemes for improving its state, the tribe continued to remain weak and vulnerable, she stated. She argued that certain historical wrongs in policy making and implementation have left deep ineradicable scars, which render the later amelioration plans less effective. She discussed the reasons which make it very difficult to undo the wrong already done.
3rd Memorial Lecture
delivered by Prof Bhaskar Chakrabarti
The 3rd L K Mahapatra Memorial Lecture was delivered by Prof Bhaskar Chakrabarti, an anthropologist by training and currently Dean, Academics and Professor of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.
In his interesting lecture titled, “Good Memories, Bad Memories: How Political Organisations Remember and Forget”, Prof Chakrabarti explores how political organisations remember and forget, by empirically highlighting how and why village panchayats recollect or forget. In doing so, he discussed the role of local politics in organisational memory, including memory loss in organisations. With the example of panchayats, the talk showed that as a consequence of "memory decay" and "failure to capture", organisations involuntarily lose past knowledge and critical sources of expertise.
4th Memorial Lecture -
delivered by Dr Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty
The 4th L K Mahapatra Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, an eminent action anthropologist and art historian, who served as an IAS officer and was Chancellor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) and Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi among many other roles.
In his thought provoking lecture titled, “Mission L K Mahapatra: Decolonizing Development”, Dr Chakravarty said it was high time that administrators and academics followed the intellectual path laid down by Prof L K Mahapatra. He recalled Prof Mahapatra’s seminal work in shaping the development discourse in India and the World.
Dr. Chakravarty discussed the continuing local and global relevance of Dr L K Mahapatra's mission of decolonizing community knowledge and development. He described Dr Mahapatra's focus on liberating the developmental theory and practice of the State in independent India from colonial inhibitions in natural and human resource management, by rereading Dr Mahapatra's work on forestry, agriculture and governance in Odisha in the Indian and Asian context.
