A Special Lecture on

A multidisciplinary study of Homosapiens evolution in South Asia: re-evaluating “anatomically modern”

by
Prof. Sheela Athreya
Professor of paleoanthropology at Texas A&M University in the U.S.

at PGIAR
on 10^th January 2019
at 4 pm

All are welcome

Specialty:

Middle and Late Pleistocene Hominin Evolution and Systematics; Postcolonialism in Biological Anthropology; Human Biological Variation, Craniofacial Biology; Quantitative Methods

Current Research Projects:

My research focuses on human evolution in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. I look at patterns of morphological variation within and among populations of this time period to understand the evolutionary history of our own species, Homo sapiens. I have explored questions of phylogeny and systematics using quantitative assessments of craniofacial morphology, and use the results to understand which evolutionary forces, including population dynamics and interactions, shaped regional populations of H. sapiens.

For several years I conducted work in Gujarat, western India surveying sites associated with the Toba volcanic super-eruption. This research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society, focused on paleoenvironmental reconstruction of western India before and after the eruption. I have also participated in the Narmada Basin Paleoanthropology Project in the central Narmada Valley of Madhya Pradesh, in excavations at Lower and Upper Paleolithic sites in France, and at a Harappan site in western India. I have also conducted research in museums throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa looking at the original fossils of most Middle Pleistocene specimens.

My current research is an NSF and Wenner-Gren funded project examining the burials from the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, Central India. This is a UNESCO world heritage site initially excavated in the 1970s and 1980s by the late V.S. Wakankar of Vikram University. I am working with a multidisciplinary team to reconstruct early Homo sapiens evolution in India using a combination of morphological, genomic, and archaeological data. Our work aims to decolonize the study of our evolutionary history by moving beyond the “Out of Africa” model and building regional models, using local voices and data, that are more appropriate for South Asia.

Related to this, I teach and publish on critical issues of voice, inclusivity, diversity, representation, and postcolonialism in science more broadly, and biological anthropology specifically.

A Special Lecture on

Manifestation Of Stone In Art And Architecture

By

Choodamani Nandagopal

Renowned Art Historian and

UNESCO Fellow

in the PGIAR

on 11^th January 2018

at 10 am

All are welcome

PROF. CHOODAMANI NANDAGOPAL Renowned Art Historian and UNESCO Fellow

Choodamani Nandagopal

Prof. Choodamani Nandagopal, a renowned  Art Historian of International repute. with Doctorate from Mysore University.   She is awarded four International and two National Research Fellowships, including the first scholar to receive the UK Visiting Nehru Fellowship at Victoria & Albert Museum London, UNESCO Silk Road Fellowship at Paris, UNSW Senior International Fellowship Sydney and University of  Exeter Visiting Professor Research Fellowship UK. Her first National Fellowship was from ICHR. The government of India has conferred to Dr. Choodamani,  the prestigious Tagore National Fellowship recently for 2019 – 21 at National Museum Delhi.

Dr. Choodamani is an academician of high repute in  Art History and Cultural Studies served as Academic Head and established Art History and Research Department at Chitrakala Parishath. She was  Academic Head of IGNCA Southern Regional Centre Bangalore, set up Dept of Cultural Studies at Manipal University and Jain University.    She is an author of 20 International publications and 7 Kannada publications.  She has published 70 research papers to her credit and invited as a key-note speaker in International conferences. Guided 17 Ph.D. scholars, and 20 M Phil candidates. Her recent publication is ‘Ritual Enactment in Temple Tradition published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts New Delhi.

She is known in the academic circle of Sri Lanka, invited first by the Govt of Sri Lanka to conduct a workshop on Temple Architecture, later member of Association of Asian Heritage, at the conference on Ananda Coomaraswamy and several conferences organized by Kelenia University. She delivered the lecture on Coomaraswamy at the Peradeniya University in 1999. A paper on ‘Cultural Interface between India and Sri Lanka’ is published in the International Conference Publication by ICCR and National Museum. At present, she is on her research project ‘ Anuradhapura and Amaravati Cultural Interface’ sponsored by India-Sri Lanka Foundation.