Veena Das facts for kids

Veena Das (born in 1945 in India) is a very important Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. She studies how people deal with difficult times, like violence and suffering. She also looks at how governments affect people's lives. Professor Das has won many international awards for her work. She even gave the famous Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture. She is also a special member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Veena Das: A Leading Anthropologist

Veena Das is a well-known expert in anthropology. This is a field that studies human societies and cultures. She focuses on how violence and suffering impact people's lives. She also examines the role of the state, or government, in these situations. Her work helps us understand complex human experiences.

Her Early Life and Studies

Veena Das went to college at the Indraprastha College for Women. She also studied at the Delhi School of Economics in University of Delhi. She taught there from 1967 to 2000. In 1970, she earned her PhD from the Delhi School of Economics. Later, she taught at the New School for Social Research. From 2001 to 2008, she led the Anthropology Department at Johns Hopkins University.

Exploring Important Books

Veena Das has written several important books. These books share her deep insights into human society.

Understanding Old Traditions

Her first book was Structure and Cognition: Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual. It was published in 1977. This book looked at old writings from the 13th to 17th centuries. It explored how different groups in India saw themselves. She showed how Hindu thought was shaped by ideas about priests, families, and giving up worldly things. This helped explain how groups changed and gained new status.

Life, Words, and Violence

Her more recent book is Life and Words: Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary (2006). In this book, Professor Das suggests that violence is not just big, sudden events. Instead, she shows how violence can become a part of everyday life. The book talks about real historical events. These include the Partition of India and the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. It tells the stories of people who lived through these difficult times. It shows how these events affected their daily lives.

Researching Tough Topics

Since the 1980s, Professor Das has focused on studying violence. She also researches "social suffering." This means the pain and hardship that groups of people experience. Her book Mirrors of Violence (1990) was one of the first to study violence in South Asia. She also worked on a series of three books. These books explored social suffering, violence, and how communities rebuild after hardship. The series helped create new ways to study these important topics.

Awards and Recognition

Veena Das has received many honors for her work. In 1995, she won the Anders Retzius Gold Medal. This was from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. She also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago in 2000. She is a special member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences. In 2007, she gave the important Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture. This is a very respected annual lecture in anthropology. In 2019, Professor Das was chosen as a Fellow of the British Academy.