Academic Veena Das elected fellow of British Academy
The UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences on Friday announced the election of 76 new fellows, including John Chilcot, who chaired the public inquiry into Britain’s role into the Iraq war.
Veena Das, who taught at the Delhi School of Economics for three decades and is currently the professor of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University, has been elected a ‘corresponding fellow’ of the British Academy.
The UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences on Friday announced the election of 76 new fellows, including John Chilcot, who chaired the public inquiry into Britain’s role into the Iraq war.
The US-based Das has been elected a ‘corresponding fellow’, a category that refers to scholars based outside the UK who have “attained high international standing in any of the branches of study which it is the object of the Academy to promote”.
Author of several books, Das’s research covers a range of fields, exploring questions such as how ethnography generates concepts; how to treat philosophical and literary traditions from India and other regions as generative of theoretical and practical understanding of the world.
David Cannadine, president of the British Academy, said: “The British Academy has always recognised pioneering research in the humanities and social sciences, and 2019 is no exception. This year we have elected a particularly multi-skilled and versatile cohort of Fellows whose research crosses conventional academic boundaries”.
“Whether it is climate conservation or the ageing society, the rise of artificial intelligence or social cohesion, our new Fellows’ wealth of expertise means the Academy is exceptionally well-placed to provide new knowledge and insights on the challenges of today”, he added.
