Acharya Prafulla Chandra College (APC College)

Acharya Prafulla Chandra College

Govt. Sponsored | NAAC Accredited A Grade College with CGPA 3.23

Affiliated to West Bengal State University

Acharya Prafulla Chandra College (APC College)

About the Department

Anthropology was introduced in the University of Calcutta being oldest in Asia in 1918 as a part of the curriculum of Ancient History and Culture. Two years later in 1920, it was given the status of an independent subject for study in M.A., M.Sc. courses. Subsequently in 1921, a separate Post Graduate Anthropology Department was formed. Later on Anthropology was introduced in different undergraduate colleges under the affiliation of University of Calcutta since 1936 (Bangabasi College, Kolkata). The Department of Anthropology, Acharya Prafulla Chandra College is one among the first ten Departments under the affiliation of University of Calcutta established in 1989 with only one substantive teacher and some guest teachers. Initially Anthropology subject was started as General paper later on the College was favoured with the extension of affiliation up to Honours level from the year 2007. A number of persons like Smt. Chaitali Bhattacharjee (on Lien), Dr. Swapan Kumar Chakraborty, Shri Debasis Kumar Mondal, Smt. Jayita Roy Tapader were the teachers of this Department. Present faculty consists of Dr. Ashish Mukherjee, Smt. Payel Ganguly, Shri Indrajit Das, Smt. Puja Pathak, Shri Shubhrakanti Baul and Shri Biswajit Mahapatra. With the untiring efforts of the above-mentioned teachers, a well-organized Department equipped with facilities for teaching and conducting research emerged.

Teaching and Research:

With meager teaching strength the Department has carved out a unique position among the Anthropology Departments of the other Colleges/Universities of the state and the country in terms of student result and research/publication by the faculty members. The major thrust areas of teaching and research of this Department is biological, archaeological and social-cultural studies of human groups through fieldwork. In course of a short period of time, the faculties of the Department gradually developed interest in policy-oriented studies on health and nutrition, tribal development, problems of the aged, displacement and rehabilitation, women empowerment and developmental issues based on empirical research conducted in the region. The research programme of this Department is also very much active. Already one faculty member have earned his Ph.D. degree and received Young Scientist Award in the Indian Science Congress. Currently, three faculty members are conducting their Ph.D. research under different Universities.

Research and Advocacy:

The Department has organized a number of seminars/workshops as well as special lectures by eminent scholars. The Department is unique among all Anthropology Under-Graduate Departments in West Bengal to start a collaborative National Seminar and Lecture Workshop in Anthropology in which the lectures of eminent scholars are organized. The faculties and the research scholars of the Department have published book chapters, articles, comments and book reviews in national and international peer reviewed journals. Leading national and state-level funding agencies, like University Grants Commission (UGC) have sponsored research projects for the faculties of this small Department. The special contribution of faculty members lie in their active role in highlighting the problems of the underprivileged and marginalized sections of the rural society (the undernourished, the aged, the displaced, the tribals and the poor rural women) through their research articles and popular writings. The faculties of the Department have also served and are acting as expert members in different national and state level academic/research and policy making committees in public/private sectors as well as learned bodies.

The Students:

A good number of students of this Department have passed with first class since its inception and some of them secured the University rank in the UG as well as subsequently in the PG level in different Universities. A number of students have qualified in the UGC conducted National Eligibility Test (NET) and have also earned research scholarships from the Anthropological Survey of India and other government agencies. At present there many students working as Research Fellows and Project fellows. After obtaining the degree the students of the Department got job placements in schools, colleges, central and state government organizations as well as in various non-governmental organizations.