Difference between revisions of "D.N. Majumdar"

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'''D.N. Majumdar'''
 
 
{{Infobox rai-fellow
 
{{Infobox rai-fellow
 
| first_name        = D.N.
 
| first_name        = D.N.
 
| name              = Majumdar
 
| name              = Majumdar
−
| honorific_prefix  =  
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| honorific_prefix  = Dr
−
| honorific_suffix  = PhD
+
| honorific_suffix  = MA PhD PRS
 
| image              = File:Majumdar,_D.N..jpg
 
| image              = File:Majumdar,_D.N..jpg
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| birth_date        =  
+
| birth_date        = 1903
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| death_date        =  
+
| death_date        = 1961
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| address            = Lucknow University, Lucknow, India
+
| address            = Lucknow University [census]
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| occupation        = anthropologist
+
| occupation        = academic
 
| elected_ESL        =  
 
| elected_ESL        =  
 
| elected_ASL        =  
 
| elected_ASL        =  
−
| elected_AI        = 1935.06.18
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| elected_AI        = 1927.06.28
 +
1940.01.23
 
| elected_APS        =  
 
| elected_APS        =  
 
| elected_LAS        =  
 
| elected_LAS        =  
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| left              =  
 
| left              =  
 
| clubs              =  
 
| clubs              =  
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| societies          =  
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| societies          = Indian Anthropological Institute<br />Indian Science Congress Association
 
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== Notes ==
 
== Notes ==
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=== House Notes ===
 
=== House Notes ===
−
1935.06.18 nominated and elected forthwith (D.N. Majumdar) (P.N. in printed lists)
+
1927.06.28 nominated and elected forthwith<br />A63 has Majumbder, Datta-N. does this mean notes below do not refer?
 
=== Notes From Elsewhere ===
 
=== Notes From Elsewhere ===
−
D. N. Majumdar (1903–1960) was born of Bengali parents. He obtained a first-class master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Calcutta in 1924. The training that he received there was in both cultural and physical anthropology, and to the end of his life he retained a broad interest in both the physical and the cultural aspects of the science of man. A large number of his papers and two of his books deal with anthropometric and serological studies among the tribes and castes of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bengal.<br /><br />“General anthropology” was not a mere slogan for Majumdar; it reflected his firm conviction that a unified science of man is not only desirable but also possible. Thus, in his analyses of social stratification in India, he emphasized the need to examine racial factors, Earlier H. H. Risley, in The Tribes and Castes of Bengal (189lα 1891b) and The People of India (1908), had asserted a relationship between race and social groups in India; Majumdar gave further support to this view by his own extensive investigations. He showed that in Uttar Pradesh those castes which constitute “clusters,” being close to each other in the hierarchy of castes, also fall within a narrow range of biometric variation (1949). Similarly, in his unpublished studies of growth among the school-children of Uttar Pradesh, he included a sociocultural factor as a significant variable.<br />The greater part of Majumdar’s published work is ethnographic in nature and consists of accounts of the Ho (Bihar), the Khasa, the Korwa, the Tharu, and the so-called criminal tribes (all of Uttar Pradesh), the Gond (Madhya Pradesh), and the Bhil (Gujarat). He published monographic studies of both the Ho (1937) and the Khasa (1962). He knew the Khasa best and spent 22 summers doing field work among them.<br /><br />Majumdar considered these studies to be contributions to cultural anthropology; he regarded social anthropology as a subdiscipline within cultural anthropology and not as an alternative frame of reference for the study of human social behavior. His approach to the study of culture was that of a functionalist. He went to England in 1933 to work for his doctorate at Cambridge, and he was awarded his degree in 1935. While in England he attended Malinowski’s seminar at the London School of Economics and came under his abiding influence. Majumdar was also much influenced by the writings of Ruth Benedict (e.g., Majumdar 1944α). He stressed the integrated character of culture and maintained that cultural stresses and strains are the outcome of a disturbance in a culture’s “base.” The “base” of a culture, he wrote (1937), is a function of four variables, namely, man, area, resources, and cooperation. If the disturbance is not of too fundamental a nature, a culture has a tendency to absorb the shock and revert to its original character; if otherwise, it changes to attain a new equilibrium (1958). His view of culture was thus essentially “integrationist,” though not static.<br /><br />Majumdar was the first formally trained Indian anthropologist to study the impact of nontribal cultures upon the ways of life of Indian tribes. This early interest in cultural change led him, in the 1950s, to welcome the emergence in India of rural anthropology. He played a notable part in this new field of research and produced one of the first book-length village studies in India (1958).<br /><br />He also pleaded for the application of the findings of social science to the task of national reconstruction. As a member of the Research Programmes Committee of the National Planning Commission, he emphasized the help which anthropologists and sociologists could give to the administration by studying the problems of backward communities and by assessing the impact of government-sponsored projects of community development. His posthumous book on the Khasa (1962) contains a detailed discussion of the community development program in Jaunsar-Bawar (Uttar Pradesh).<br /><br />Report Advertisement<br />Home  Social sciences  Applied and social sciences magazines  Majumdar, D. N.<br />Majumdar, D. N.<br />International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences <br />COPYRIGHT 2008 Thomson Gale<br />Majumdar, D. N.<br />WORKS BY MAJUMDAR<br /><br />SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY<br /><br />Recipe Indian - View the Healthiest Recipe<br />Get Instant Access to 1000's of Delicious Step-by-Step Recipes. Completely Free.<br />viewfreerecipes.com/recipes/free | Sponsored▼<br />D. N. Majumdar (1903–1960) was born of Bengali parents. He obtained a first-class master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Calcutta in 1924. The training that he received there was in both cultural and physical anthropology, and to the end of his life he retained a broad interest in both the physical and the cultural aspects of the science of man. A large number of his papers and two of his books deal with anthropometric and serological studies among the tribes and castes of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bengal.<br /><br />“General anthropology” was not a mere slogan for Majumdar; it reflected his firm conviction that a unified science of man is not only desirable but also possible. Thus, in his analyses of social stratification in India, he emphasized the need to examine racial factors, Earlier H. H. Risley, in The Tribes and Castes of Bengal (189lα 1891b) and The People of India (1908), had asserted a relationship between race and social groups in India; Majumdar gave further support to this view by his own extensive investigations. He showed that in Uttar Pradesh those castes which constitute “clusters,” being close to each other in the hierarchy of castes, also fall within a narrow range of biometric variation (1949). Similarly, in his unpublished studies of growth among the school-children of Uttar Pradesh, he included a sociocultural factor as a significant variable.<br /><br />Hopi - Up To 70% Savings<br />Compare Prices Before You Buy Hopi<br />idealprice.co.uk/shopping/hopi | Sponsored▼<br /><br />Report Advertisement<br />The greater part of Majumdar’s published work is ethnographic in nature and consists of accounts of the Ho (Bihar), the Khasa, the Korwa, the Tharu, and the so-called criminal tribes (all of Uttar Pradesh), the Gond (Madhya Pradesh), and the Bhil (Gujarat). He published monographic studies of both the Ho (1937) and the Khasa (1962). He knew the Khasa best and spent 22 summers doing field work among them.<br /><br />Majumdar considered these studies to be contributions to cultural anthropology; he regarded social anthropology as a subdiscipline within cultural anthropology and not as an alternative frame of reference for the study of human social behavior. His approach to the study of culture was that of a functionalist. He went to England in 1933 to work for his doctorate at Cambridge, and he was awarded his degree in 1935. While in England he attended Malinowski’s seminar at the London School of Economics and came under his abiding influence. Majumdar was also much influenced by the writings of Ruth Benedict (e.g., Majumdar 1944α). He stressed the integrated character of culture and maintained that cultural stresses and strains are the outcome of a disturbance in a culture’s “base.” The “base” of a culture, he wrote (1937), is a function of four variables, namely, man, area, resources, and cooperation. If the disturbance is not of too fundamental a nature, a culture has a tendency to absorb the shock and revert to its original character; if otherwise, it changes to attain a new equilibrium (1958). His view of culture was thus essentially “integrationist,” though not static.<br /><br />Majumdar was the first formally trained Indian anthropologist to study the impact of nontribal cultures upon the ways of life of Indian tribes. This early interest in cultural change led him, in the 1950s, to welcome the emergence in India of rural anthropology. He played a notable part in this new field of research and produced one of the first book-length village studies in India (1958).<br /><br />He also pleaded for the application of the findings of social science to the task of national reconstruction. As a member of the Research Programmes Committee of the National Planning Commission, he emphasized the help which anthropologists and sociologists could give to the administration by studying the problems of backward communities and by assessing the impact of government-sponsored projects of community development. His posthumous book on the Khasa (1962) contains a detailed discussion of the community development program in Jaunsar-Bawar (Uttar Pradesh).<br /><br />It was Majumdar’s deep belief in the utility of applied sociological research which made him undertake, in 1954, a survey of the industrial city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh (1960a). In this, as in many other personal and academic attitudes, he reflected the strong influence of Western social science. Although he did not visit the United States until 1952–1953, when he attended a WennerGren Foundation symposium on anthropology and lectured at Cornell University, from quite early in his life he was receptive to ideas emanating from American universities. Thus, in his very first book (1937) he underscored the importance of studying the psychological dimension of human behavior, particularly in the acceptance and rejection of innovations.<br /><br />Majumdar’s ethnographic works are characterized by a richness and precision of detail, but they lack theoretical sophistication. This is probably due to the fact that almost the whole of his work in physical as well as in cultural anthropology was of a pioneering nature. More than any other individual of his generation, he endeavored to place anthropological studies in India on a scientific footing. The success he achieved, considering the circumstances, was considerable.<br /><br />At the time of his death, Majumdar was professor of anthropology and dean of the faculty of arts at the University of Lucknow. When he died, a book on polyandry among the Khasa was about to be published; at least one more (a village study) was ready for the publisher; and a research project on growth among schoolchildren in Uttar Pradesh was in progress. He was editor of the Eastern Anthropologist, a journal he founded in 1947. All these activities bear testimony to the breadth of his academic interests.<br /><br />T. N. Madan
+
Dhirendra Nath Majuradar was born in Patna in 1903. He received his early education in West Bengal and became graduated from the Arts Faculty of the University of Calcutta in 1922. He also did his M.A. (1924) in Anthropology from the same University where he was placed in first division and secured the first rank among the successful candidates. <br />He conducted first fieldwork in Bihar among the Hos of Kolhan. At this time he got the company of the veteran Indian Ethnographer, Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Roy. University of Calcutta awarded him with Premchand Roychand Scholarship in 1926 for the merit of his original research. <br />D.N. Majumdar was one of the earliest students of anthropology who received their Master’s degree from the University of Calcutta, after the establishment of this discipline in 1920. In 1928, Prof. Radhakamal Mukherjee selected him as a lecturer in Primitive Economics in the Department of Economics and Sociology at the University of Lucknow. <br />Among the Indian scholars of that time Sri Majumdar had an in-depth knowledge and abiding interest in Anthropology. His contribution to anthropology was many and various. University of Calcutta again awarded him Mouat Gold Medal in 1929. In 1933 he went to Cambridge There he studied social anthropology with Prof T.C. Hodson and physical anthropology with Prof G.M. Morant. In 1935, he received Ph.D. degree from Cambridge. The subject of his dissertation was cultural change among the Hos. <br />In 1936, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1939, he presided over the Anthropology and Archaeology Section of the 26th Session of the Indian Science Congress held at Lahore. He was a good conversationalist and optimist with firm faith in his vocation. <br />In 1945, Prof Majumdar founded the Ethnographic and Folk-culture Society of U.P. The principal aim of this Society was to collect ethnographic data on folk cultures of Uttar Pradesh. Two years later, the Society brought out the reputed journal. ‘The Eastern Anthropologist’ and D.N. Majumdar became the Editor. From the beginning of his anthropological career, he combined anthropometric surveys with ethnographic investigations. He tried to coordinate between the cultural anthropology and physical anthropology. Although he was not engaged in any investigations in prehistoric site, he kept himself concerned with the major developments in archaeological anthropology and occasionally he lectured on this subject. <br />In the field of anthropology, Majumdar’s vast contribution came mainly in the form of extensive anthropometric and serological surveys, which was carried out among the tribes and castes of Bihar, M.P., U.P., Gujarat and Bengal. He emphasized statistical techniques in the analysis of anthropometric and serological data. This particular method was designated as biometrics method in anthropology.<br /><br /><br />
 
== Publications ==
 
== Publications ==
 
=== External Publications ===
 
=== External Publications ===
−
 
+
An Introduction to Social Anthropology, by DN Majumdar and TN Madan<br />
 
=== House Publications ===
 
=== House Publications ===
  
 
== Related Material Details ==
 
== Related Material Details ==
 
=== RAI Material ===
 
=== RAI Material ===
−
 
+
census
 
=== Other Material ===
 
=== Other Material ===

Revision as of 09:52, 22 January 2021

Dr
D.N. Majumdar
MA PhD PRS
File:Majumdar, D.N..jpg
Born 1903
Died 1961
Residence Lucknow University [census]
Occupation academic
Society Membership
membership ordinary fellow
elected_AI

1927.06.28

1940.01.23
societies Indian Anthropological Institute
Indian Science Congress Association




Notes

Office Notes

House Notes

1927.06.28 nominated and elected forthwith
A63 has Majumbder, Datta-N. does this mean notes below do not refer?

Notes From Elsewhere

Dhirendra Nath Majuradar was born in Patna in 1903. He received his early education in West Bengal and became graduated from the Arts Faculty of the University of Calcutta in 1922. He also did his M.A. (1924) in Anthropology from the same University where he was placed in first division and secured the first rank among the successful candidates.
He conducted first fieldwork in Bihar among the Hos of Kolhan. At this time he got the company of the veteran Indian Ethnographer, Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Roy. University of Calcutta awarded him with Premchand Roychand Scholarship in 1926 for the merit of his original research.
D.N. Majumdar was one of the earliest students of anthropology who received their Master’s degree from the University of Calcutta, after the establishment of this discipline in 1920. In 1928, Prof. Radhakamal Mukherjee selected him as a lecturer in Primitive Economics in the Department of Economics and Sociology at the University of Lucknow.
Among the Indian scholars of that time Sri Majumdar had an in-depth knowledge and abiding interest in Anthropology. His contribution to anthropology was many and various. University of Calcutta again awarded him Mouat Gold Medal in 1929. In 1933 he went to Cambridge There he studied social anthropology with Prof T.C. Hodson and physical anthropology with Prof G.M. Morant. In 1935, he received Ph.D. degree from Cambridge. The subject of his dissertation was cultural change among the Hos.
In 1936, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1939, he presided over the Anthropology and Archaeology Section of the 26th Session of the Indian Science Congress held at Lahore. He was a good conversationalist and optimist with firm faith in his vocation.
In 1945, Prof Majumdar founded the Ethnographic and Folk-culture Society of U.P. The principal aim of this Society was to collect ethnographic data on folk cultures of Uttar Pradesh. Two years later, the Society brought out the reputed journal. ‘The Eastern Anthropologist’ and D.N. Majumdar became the Editor. From the beginning of his anthropological career, he combined anthropometric surveys with ethnographic investigations. He tried to coordinate between the cultural anthropology and physical anthropology. Although he was not engaged in any investigations in prehistoric site, he kept himself concerned with the major developments in archaeological anthropology and occasionally he lectured on this subject.
In the field of anthropology, Majumdar’s vast contribution came mainly in the form of extensive anthropometric and serological surveys, which was carried out among the tribes and castes of Bihar, M.P., U.P., Gujarat and Bengal. He emphasized statistical techniques in the analysis of anthropometric and serological data. This particular method was designated as biometrics method in anthropology.


Publications

External Publications

An Introduction to Social Anthropology, by DN Majumdar and TN Madan

House Publications

Related Material Details

RAI Material

census

Other Material

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