Research Interests:
 

New Horizons of Human Development and Social Transformations: Dialogues, Dignity and Responsibility; Ethics and Aesthetics of Development; Social Theory and Social Movements: Criticism, Creativity and the Contemporary Dialectics of Transformations; Creative Transformations in Education, Philosophy and Literature.  

Current Work: 

Associate Professor

Madras Institute Development Studies

79, Second Main Road, Gandhi Nagar

Adyar, Chennai‑600 020, India.

Tel: 0091-44-24412589; Fax: 0091-44-24910872

Emails: ananta@mids.ac.in / aumkrishna@yahoo.com/                                        

Website: http://www.mids.ac.in/ananta.htm

Education:

M.A. in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India with a Gold Medal (1986);

M.A. in Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, U.S.A. in 1989 with concentration on: Anthropology of Post‑industrial Societies, Ethnographic Perspectives on American Culture and Comparative Social Movements; and

Ph.D in Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University in October 1994 on the ecumenical movement in the U.S. called Habitat for Humanity.  The title of my thesis is, In the Margins of Shacks: The Vision and Practice of Habitat for Humanity.

Research, Teaching and Work Experience:

Research on the Chipko Movement in the summer of 1987 under the auspices of The Program in Atlantic History, Culture and Society of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore;
 

Fifteen months of fieldwork on Habitat for Humanity in  Georgia, Florida, Andhra and Kerala (spread over September, 1989 to July, 1991);
 

Four months of research (both fieldwork and documentary  study) on the People's Science Movement of India sponsored by National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi;
 

Four months of fieldwork among the managers and management educators of India understanding their discourse of managerial values and business ethics, January 1994 to April 1994; 
 

Lecturer in Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi from January, 1992 to April 1992;

Lecturer in Anthropology, G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Jhusi, Allahabad from May 1992 to July 1993;

Visiting Professor, Ravi Matthai Center for Educational Innovations, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad from August 1993 to July 1994;

Assistant Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Jan. 1995 to April 2001 and Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, April 2001 till date;

Visiting Scholar, Dept. of Cultural Anthropology and  Non-Western Sociology, Free University, Amsterdam, Sept.-Oct. 1999;

Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow, International Social Science Institute, The University of Edinburgh, November-Dec., 1999;

Fellow, Indo-French Academic Exchange Program, MSH, Paris, January 2000;

Visiting Fellow, International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, Netherlands, June-August 2001; March-May 2002;

Visiting Fellow, Center for Social Studies, The Jacob-Blaustein Institute of Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University at Negev, Israel, June-July 2002;

Rockefeller Humanities Fellow, Appalachian Center for Social Theory, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, August-December 2002;

Visiting Scholar, Korea Foundation and Seoul National University, March 2003;

Visiting Scholar, Department of Education, Lund University, Sweden, October 2003;

Visiting Associate Professor, Research Center on Development and International Relations, Aalborg University, Denmark, March 2004-Feb.2005;

Fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Institute of Sociology, Albert Ludwig Universitat, Freiburg, May 2006-Feb 2008;

University Visiting Scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, September-October 2008.

Awards, Honors and Membership of Professional Bodies:
 

National Scholarships from High School to M.A.;
 

Swami Vivekananda Memorial Scholarship from Delhi Young Entrepreneur's Association, Delhi, 1984‑1986;

Gold Medal from University of Delhi, 1986;

Doctoral dissertation grant for the project on Habitat for Humanity from National Science Foundation, USA 1989;

Life Member, Institute of Oriya Studies, Cuttack, India;

Life Member, Indian Sociological Society, New Delhi, India;

Life Member, TRANSCEND—A Peace and Development Organization for Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means (www.transcend.org);

Associate Editor, Asian Journal of Social Sciences    published by Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore in association with E.J. Brill, Leiden;

Associate Editor, Journal of Research Practice: Innovations and Challenges in Multiple Domains (http://www.ximb.ac.in/~dpdash/JRP.htm);

Member, Editorial Board, Resistance Studies Magazine: Studies in the Theory and Practice of Contemporary Resistance;

Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Diaspora, Indigenous and Minority Education: An International Journal Researching Cultural Education-Cultural Sensibility;

Presented the First Freedom Fighter Satyamurthi Endowment Lectures on “New Horizons of Social Theory and Human Development,” Annamalai University, March 24, 05;

Received Humboldt Fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany to work on “Building a Post-Colonial Cosmopolis and the Calling of a New Critical Theory: Self-Development, Inclusion of the Other and Planetary Realizations.” Award declared July 2004;

Presented R. Sathianathier Endowment Lectures for 2005-2006, Dept. of Political Science, Annamalai University on “New Horizons of Political Theory: Transforming Power and Freedom,” Feb. 18, 2006 ;

Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, Punjab University, Chandigarh, August 2006.

Series Editor of the book series, Creative Multiverse, Shipra Publications, Delhi

Books and Monographs
 

(a) In English:
 

Global Transformations: Postmodernity and Beyond.  Jaipur and Delhi: Rawat Publications, 1998;

Values, Ethics and Business: Challenges for Education and Management.  Rawat Publications, 1998;

Building in the Margins of Shacks: The Vision and Projects of Habitat for  Humanity.  Foreword by Professor Alain Touraine. Delhi: Orient Longman  2002;

Conversations and Transformations: Towards a New Ethics of Self and Society. Introduction by Professor Fred R. Dallmayr. Maryland, USA: Lexington Books and Rowman & Littlefield, 2002;

(edited) Rethinking Social Transformation: Criticism and Creativity at the Turn of the Millennium.  Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2001;

(co-edited with Dr. Philip Quarles van Ufford of Free University, Amsterdam) A Moral Critique of Development: In Search of Global Responsibilities (London: Routledge, 2003; Translated into Bhasa Indonesia as Kritik Moral Pembangunan. Yogyaykarta, Indonesia: Penerbit Kanisius, 2003);

Reflections and Mobilizations: Dialogues with Movements and Voluntary Organizations. Foreword by Professor C.T. Kurien. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004;

(edited) Creative Social Research: Rethinking Theories and Methods. Foreword by S.N. Eisenstadt. Lexington Books, USA and Sage, New Delhi: 2004;

(co-edited) The Development of Religion, The Religion of Development. Deltef, The Netherlands: Eburon Publishers, 2004;

Self-Development and Social Transformations? The Vision and Experiments of the Socio-Spiritual Mobilization of Swadhyaya. With a Foreword by Arjun Appadurai.  Jaipur: Rawat and Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008.

(edited) The Modern Prince and the Modern Sage: Transforming Power and Freedom.  With a Foreword by Johan Galtung. New Delhi: Sage, 2009.

New Horizons of Social Theory: Conversations, Transformations and Beyond. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2006. Indian Edition of Conversations and Transformations: Towards a New Ethics of Self and Society, Lexington Books, 2002

Kristen Kold: A Pioneer of Danish Folk High School Movement and a Revolutionary in Education (Translation of biography of Kristen Kold originally written by Chitta Ranjan Das in Oriya into English). New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2007.

(edited) Pathways of Creative Social Research: Towards a Festival of Dialogues. (forthcoming).

Knowledge and Human Liberation: Towards Planetary Realizations (forthcoming).

Sociology and Beyond: Windows and Horizons (forthcoming).

(b) In Oriya:

Mujadi Dhumaketu Hoithanti (If I were a Comet). Cuttack:  Orissa Book  Store, 1991;

With Chitta Ranjan Das, Rachanatmaka Karmi, Swaraj O Satyagraha (The Constructive Worker, Swaraj and Satyagraha).  Bhubaneswar: Mayur Publications, 1996;

Sameekhya O Purodrusti (Criticism and the Vision of  the Future).  Cuttack: Arya Prakashani, 1998;

Pathaprantara Nrutattwa (Anthropology of the Street Corner): A collection of essays in Oriya. Bhubaneswar:  Pathika Prakashani, 1999;

Koinonia Diary (in Oriya).  Bhubaneswar: Pathika  Prakashani, 2000;

Bagalara Tila Chihna (The Dot on the Left Cheek): Bhubaneswar: Pathika Prakshani,  2004;

Srasta, Sastra O Saskrunti  (The Creator, The Text and Culture). Bhubaneswar: Pathika Prakashani, 2004.

Hrudayara Sehi Akhi Duiti (Those Two Eyes of the Heart). Bhubanewar: Pathika Prakshani, May 2007.  

Mochi o Darshanika (The Shoemaker and the Philosopher). Bhubaneswar: Pathika Prakashani, 2009.

(c) Editing the Creative Multiverse Series: A Brief Note

Creative Multiverse:

New Explorations in Transformative Learning and Research

A Series from Shipra Publications, New Delhi (www.shiprapublications.com )
 

There is an epochal challenge of learning from multiple experiments in self and social transformations now. Creative Multiverse seeks to explore and present different pathways of transformations in societies and  histories around the world.  It builds upon engagements in learning in different disciplines of life and academy and seeks to create a transdisciplinary space of research, dialogues and transformations.
 

Books in the Creative Series with My Forewords
 

Chitta Ranjan Das, A Revolutionary in Education, Kristen Kold: A Pionneer of the Danish Folk High School Movement (2007);

Ananta Kumar Giri, Pathways of Creative Research: Towards A Multiverse of Dialogues (forthcoming);

John Clammer, Diaspora and Belief: Religion, Identity and Globaization in Postcolonial Asia (2008);

Piet Strydom, New Horizons of Critical Theory: Collective Learning and Triple Contingency (2009);

Chittaranjan Das, Benedict Spinoza: An Appreciation (2009)

Current Research
 

I have just completed the ICSSR-supported  study on child-centered education entitled, “A School for the Subject: The Vision and Experiments of Child-Centered Education in a Comparative Global Perspective.” I have written the draft of a book, Learning the Art of Wholeness: Integral Education and Beyond.    I am also carrying out a project on global responsibility studying emerging movements in both trans-civilizational dialogues as well as global justice.  I am also working on the following edited volumes, Critical Social Theory and Asian Dialogues, Philosophy and Anthropology: Border-Crossing and Transformations, New Horizons of Human Development, Practical Spirituality and Human Development, Hearts of Unfolding Rainbows: The Discourse and Practice of Child-Centered Education in a Comparative Global Perspective, & Cosmopolitanism and Beyond: Towards a Multiverse of Transformations. In association with Indian Business Academy, Greater Noida and Bangalore with its dean Subhash Sharma, I am now planning to create spaces for transformative learning and dialogues on significant contemporary issues such as spirituality and human development around the country.