1.2014 Ph.D. in Anthropology, Madras Institute of Development Studies, University of Madras, Chennai (with DAAD Visiting Fellowship to Food Security Center, University of Hohenheim, Germany). Thesis: Resisting Domination: Conflicts over Development and Tribal Movements in Contemporary Orissa.
2.2002 M.Phil. in Anthropology, Utkal University, Odisha.
3.2001 M.A. in Anthropology, Utkal University, Odisha, securing First Class First position (Gold Medalist).
4.1999 B.A. in Anthropology (Hons.) and Political Science, Utkal University, Odisha, securing First Class with Distinction (Rank VII).
12/2021 – 04/2022 Assistant Professor, PG Department of Anthropology, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar.
12/2018 – 12/2021 Assistant Professor (OES-I), PG Department of Anthropology, Khallikote University, Berhampur.
04/2015 -11/2018 Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Anthropology, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar.
08/2011 – 03/2015 Senior Scientist, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai.
05/2010 – 11/2010 Visiting Researcher, Food Security Center, Uni. of Hohenheim, Germany.
02/2010 – 04/2010 Team Leader, Renaissance Strategic & Management Services, BBSR.
07/2009 – 01/2010 Research Associate, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
05/2003 – 01/2004 Researcher, Academy of Tribal Dialects& Culture, Bhubaneswar.
09/2001 – 11/2001 Research Investigator, SC & ST Research & Training Institute, BBSR.
Anthropology of development, Social policy, Social movements and human rights, India.
Basics of anthropology, Theories in anthropology and development studies, Anthropology of development, Tribal studies, Research methodology
12/2021 – 04/2022 Assistant Professor, PG Department of Anthropology, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar.
12/2018 – 12/2021 Assistant Professor (OES-I), PG Department of Anthropology, Khallikote University, Berhampur.
04/2015 -11/2018 Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Anthropology, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar.
Books Published
• R. K. Mahana, 2019. Negotiating Marginality: Conflicts over Tribal Development in India (with a foreword by NandiniSundar). New Delhi: Social Science Press, and London and New York: Routledge.
• B. N. Ray and R. K. Mahana, 2018. Human Rights: Rhetorics and Practices. New Delhi: Kaveri Books.
• R. K. Mahana, 2007. JatapuJivanadhara(Jatapu Lifestyle). Bhubaneswar: Academy of Tribal Dialects and Culture, Government of Orissa.
• R. K. Mahana, 2004. BondaParampara O Gyanakousala (Bonda Tradition and Indigenous Knowledge). Bhubaneswar: Academy of Tribal Dialects and Culture, Government of Orissa.
Research Papers Published
• R. K. Mahana, 2019. “The Politics of Difference: Ol-Chiki and Santal Identity in Eastern India”, International Review of Social Research, 9(2): 136-146. doi: 10.48154/irsr.2019.0014.
• P. K. Nayak, R. K. Mahanaand Angelica Marinescu, 2019. “Adivasi Identity, Kingly-citizenship and Ethno-cultural Politics in the Jungle Kingdoms of Odisha”, International Review of Social Research, 9(2): 89-107. doi: 10.48154/irsr.2019.0011.
• P. K. Nayak, R. K. Mahanaand Angelica Marinescu, 2019. “State, Development and Marginalization: Adivasis (Tribal) and Identity Politics in India”, International Review of Social Research, 9(2): 84-88. doi: 10.48154/irsr.2019.0010.
• P. K. Nayak, R. K. Mahanaand Angelica Marinescu, 2019. “Indigenous/Tribal studies in India”, Romanian Journal of Sociological Studies, 2: 67-73.
• SuadiqSufian Ali andR. K. Mahana, 2019. “Cultivating Social Capital: Dimensions of Friendship Quality among the Afars of Ethiopia”, International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering, 8(7): 103-107.
• SuadiqSufian Ali and R. K. Mahana, 2018. “Linking Social Capital and Microsavings: Lesson from Thrifty Saving Behavior of Afar Pastoralists of Ethiopia” The Journal of Social Sciences Research, 4(12): 820-825.
• SuadiqSufian Ali and R. K. Mahana, 2018. “The unfinished project of defining social capital: A review”, International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 5(4): 521-527.
• R. K. Mahana, 2018. “The Politics and Poetics of Violence: The State and Marginalisation in Kashipur and Kalinganagar”, in K. B. Saxena (ed.) Swaraj& the Reluctant State, pp. 448-481. Delhi: Aakar Books.
• R. K. Mahana and R. Durairaja, 2016. “Teach a woman to fish: Encountering empowerment in community fish farming in Eastern India”, in JemimahNjuki, John Parkins and Amy Kaler (eds.) Transforming Gender and Food Security in the Global South, pp.96-113. London: Routledge.
• R. K. Mahana, 2016. “The politics of hunger deaths in Odisha (India)”, in Gemma C. Wright, EinarBraathen, Julian May and Marianne Ulriksen (eds.), Poverty & Inequality in Middle Income Countries: Policy Achievements, Political Obstacles, pp. 221-242. London: Zed Books.
• Smita Mishra, V A Nambi, T.R.Prabhakaran, N. Kalaiselvan, R.K. Mahana, 2014. “Dietary Diversity, Consumption Patterns and Community Food Security (CFS)among three Tribal Groups in Koraput District, Odisha, India”, International Journal on Biodiversity Watch, 4: 198-228.
• Prabhakaran T. R, N.N. Kalaiselvan, V. ArivudaiNambi, B. Chandra Gupta, R. K. Mahana, G. Venkatesan, R. Arunraj, and P.I. Maria Philip, 2014. “Assessment of food and nutrient intake of communities across three agro-biodiversity hotspots in India”, European Scientific Journal, 3: 135-147.
• R. K. Mahana, 2014. “Ghost friendship: The dynamics of ritual kinship among the Santals”, Man in Society, 21: 8-14.
• R. K. Mahana, 2013. “Objectification of women in development: Victimization vs. empowerment”, Man in Society, 20:103-116.
• R. K. Mahana, 2011. “Producing underdevelopment: The politics of hunger deaths in Kashipur, India”, FSC Brief No. 16, Stuttgart: Food Security Center, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
• R. K. Mahana, 2009. “Theories in anthropology: An intimate learning with the ‘Other’”, The Eastern Anthropologist, 62(1): 27-48.
• R. K. Mahana, 2008. “Pain, Politics and Persistence: The Power of Powerlessness”. Working Paper, No. 202, Chennai: Madras Institute of Development Studies.
• R. K. Mahana, 2006. “Culture and Development: The Third Way”, The Eastern Anthropologist, 59(3-4): 353-67.
1.2010 Visiting Doctoral Fellowship (DAAD Fellowship) for six months from Food Security Center, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
2.2007 Malcolm Adisseshiah Doctoral Research Fellowship for one year, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai.
3.2004 Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Doctoral Research Fellowship for three years, 2004-2007.
4.2003 Qualified the UGC NET in Anthropology in December
5.2001 University Gold Medal from Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar.
2021 Delivered an invited lecture on “Reconstructing the ‘field’ and the ‘other’: Anthropology and multi-sited ethnography”, in the “Capacity Building Training Pro-gramme on Digital Ethnography and Ethnographic Methods for Documentation of Tribes”, SCSTRTI, Bhubaneswar and Anthropos India Foundation, New Delhi, 23 Nov.
2021 Delivered an invited lecture on “How does a Good Social Policy Work?: Reflections on Forest Rights Act, 2006” in the National Webinar “Anthropology in Policymaking: Challenges and Opportunities”, Department of Anthropology, Fakir Mohan Autonomous College, Balasore, 07 August.
2020 Participated in online workshop on “Publishing Ethics and Research Methodology”, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Central Library, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 12-14 August.
2020 Participated in online workshop on “The Craft of Research Methodology: Advances and Applications”, Department of Anthropology, Delhi University, Delhi, 27-29 July.
2020 Participated in online Faculty Development Programme on “Emerging Issues in Social Science Research”, Department of Anthropology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, 4-8 May.
2019 Presented a paper “Subjugating Citizenship: The Politics of Implementing Forest Rights Act in Tribal Odisha”, in the international conference on Interrogating the Trends of Rural Development and Social Transformation in South Asia, Dept. of Sociology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, 2-4 October.
2019 Presented a paper, “The tribal ‘Other’ and Anthropology Trouble”, at national seminar on Scheduled Tribes, Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Communities of India: Challenges and Future, Anthropological Survey of India, Sub-Regional Centre, Jagdalpur, Chattishgarh, 18-19 March.
2018 Presented a paper “Political Economy of PESA: Tribal Governance a Distant Dream”, at national seminar on Tribal Governance and Administration, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar, 22 March.
2018 Presented a paper, “Subjugating Citizenship: The Politics of Social Inclusion in India”, at national seminar on Social Inclusion and Exclusion of Tribals in India, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar, 03 February.
2018 Presented a paper, “The tribal ‘Other’ and Anthropology Trouble”, at national seminar on History, Origin and Development of Primitive Tribes of India, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar, 12 January.
2015 Presented a paper, “Resisting Domination: Subaltern citizens and the conflicts over development in India”, at the All Indian Sociological Conference, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, 27-29 December.
2014 Presented a paper, “Negotiating Development: Why do a few interventions succeed”, at Food Security Dialogue, University of Alberta, Canada, 30 April-08 May.
2014 Presented a paper, (with R. Durairaja) “Teach a woman to fish: Encountering empowerment in natural resource management & community fish farming in Koraput, Odisha”, at Food Security Dialogue, University of Alberta, Canada, 30 April-08 May.
2013 Participated in the Tropentag 2013, “Agricultural development within the rural-urban continuum”, University of Hohenheim, Germany, 17-19 September.
2013 Presented a paper, “Cultivating eucalyptus: Practicing agro-forestry in waste lands for alleviating poverty in Koraput, Odisha”, in DAAD Alumini Summer School “Water for life: Source of food security”, University of Hohenheim, Germany, 8-16 September.
2013 Presented two papers, “Objectification of women in development: Victimization vs. empowerment?” and “Producing Underdevelopment: The politics of hunger deaths in Odisha (India)”, in the 17th world congress of IUAES at The University of Manchester, UK; 5-10 August.
2012 Presented a paper, “Justifying the failure of development interventions: The politics of hunger deaths in Odisha (India)” in the International conference on “Poverty and Politics in Middle Income Countries”, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, 22-24 November.
2012 Participated in Training Programme on “Nutrition and Anthropometric Orientation” organized by National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad, 11-22 June.
2010 Participated in the Tropentag 2010, Conference on International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development organized by the North-South Centre of the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 14-16 September.
2010 Presented a paper, “Production of underdevelopment: The politics of hunger deaths in Kashipur, Orissa, India”, at Food Security Center, University of Hohenheim, Germany, 22 June.
2010 Presented a paper, “Resisting domination: Development, displacement and the tribal movements in contemporary Orissa, India”, in the Department of Social Science in Agriculture, University of Hohenheim, Germany, 9 June.
2010 Participated in the training programme on Volunteering in Disaster Response organized by The Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management, Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Mumbai, 11-15 January.
2009 Presented a paper, “The politics of violence and the poetics of resistance: The state and marginalization in Kashipur and Kalinganagar”, in Social Development and the Human Civilization in the 21st Century: An International Seminar on the Centenary of Hind Swaraj, India International Centre, New Delhi, 12-14 February.
2008 Participated in three weeks Summer Course on Philosophy for Social Sciences and Humanities organized by National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, 2-20 June.
2008 Participated in the Dissertation Workshop for Social Science Scholars on Social and Political Transformations in Contemporary India organized by Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, 27-29 March.
2004 Presented a paper, “Culture and development: The tribal perspective” in the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences held in Kolkata, 12-15 December.