A two day national conference on ‘Tribal Identity and Tribal Integration: Issues of Nation Building’ hosted by the Department of Anthropology, UoH, in honour of Prof. N. Sudhakar Rao, concluded on 1 August 2018. The conference was organized by the Department of Anthropology in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal and Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata.
There were a total of 36 papers presented in six technical sessions spread across two days. Three sessions were held on each day. The second day had sessions on themes ranging from tribal movements, voluntary displacement and policy interventions; tribes in the northeast; and tribal and non-tribal interaction, tribal diaspora, and migrations. This was followed by the valedictory session. Prof P. Venkata Rao, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Prof Vinay Kumar Srivastava, Director, Anthropological survey of India, Prof. N. Sudhakar Rao, Prof. B. V. Sharma and Prof. M. Romesh Singh, Department of Anthropology were the dignitaries present Also, the family members of Prof Sudhakar Rao were present on the occasion of his super annuation. The summary of academic sessions of the conference was presented by the rapporteurs of the respective sessions.
Prof N. Sudhakar Rao delivered a lecture on ‘Nation, Integration and culture’. He emphasized the role of emotional and cultural integration alongside economic integration and political integration. He said, “Origins of culture lie in the individual” as cultural elements first manifest in the mind of the individual and then transcend into society through symbolic interactionism and institutionalization. Prof. Vinay Srivastava, in his valedictory address also seconded Prof N. Sudhakar Rao that individuals are harbingers of change and that discipline needs to focus on individuals as creators of culture. He remarked that individual’s creative and emotive responses are anti structures within structures.
The conference came to a conclusion with a vote of thanks proposed by Mr. Maria Kumar. He thanked the collaborators of the conference, IGRMS (Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya) and Anthropological Survey of India; faculty, chief guests of the inaugural and valedictory occasion, volunteers, delegates from across the country for making this conference a great success. The Department of Anthropology acknowledges Prof. N. Sudhakar Rao as a person whose legacy will remain in the hearts of all who have known and interacted with him.