Akhil Gupta (born 1959) is an Indian- American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

whose research focuses on the anthropology of the state, development, as well as on

postcolonialism Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...

. He is currently Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Education

Akhil attended

St. Xavier's School A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...

in Jaipur and graduated in 1974. Gupta did his undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering from Western Michigan University, following that with a Mechanical Engineering Masters from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gupta then spent the next eight years getting a Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Career

Research

In 1992, while still at Stanford, Gupta along with fellow Stanford anthropologist James Ferguson wrote the well-known and oft-cited essay, "Beyond 'Culture': Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference." which argued that the analytic concept of culture had remained largely unproblematized by anthropological discourse, and that anthropologists of the day had failed to recognize and analyze the politics of cultural difference, how such differences were produced, and how such differences were used and abused by the state and by capital. The article argues for the examination of cultural anthropology as an unconscious mechanism of neo-imperialism. Gupta has done extensive work in rural North India. In his book, ''Postcolonial Developments: Agriculture in the Making of Modern India'', Gupta analyzes whether and how post-colonial theory can be applied to subaltern rural places. He attempts to understand the growth of modern India through its agricultural sector. Most of his work has taken place in the western part of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Gupta has also tried to understand the

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

of the state - as lived, understood and discussed in rural India. He is also a leading figure in the anthropology of the state, and is the co-editor of a book of collected essays called ''The Anthropology of the State: A Reader.''

Tenureship controversy

Gupta was unanimously approved for tenure in 1996 at Stanford, but was then denied tenure by the dean John Shoven. However, in the face of outcry from across the academy as well as mobilization by students, the dean's decision was overturned.Ann Gibbons, "Cultural Divide at Stanford", ''Science'' 20 June 1997: Vol. 276, Issue 5320, pp. 1783-1784.

Selected publications

* ''Postcolonial Developments: Agriculture in the Making of Modern India'', 1997 * Editor, ''The Anthropology of the State: A Reader'' (with Aradhana Sharma), 2006 * Editor, ''Caste and Outcast'' (with Gordon Chang and Purnima Mankekar), 2002 * Editor, ''Culture, Power, Place: Explorations in Critical Anthropology'' (with James Ferguson), 1997 * Editor, ''Anthropological Locations: Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science'' (with James Ferguson), 1997

References

External links

Stanford page

* ttp://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/june14/clayman-061406.html Iris F. Litt Award
Anthropology department splits in two over tenure ship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Akhil Stanford University Department of Anthropology faculty Living people Scientists from Jaipur Western Michigan University alumni Stanford University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty MIT School of Engineering alumni 1959 births