Respected in India .. and East Africa
In 1949 Ehrenfels lectured before the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) and got an honorary Indian citizenship. He was awarded the Sarat Chandra Roy Golden Medal for original contributions to Anthropology by the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal. Ehrenfels had suffered hardships as a British Empire political prisoner like other freedom fighters. A forced exile had brought him back as the Nizam's guest but he became an active builder of the new republic. He used anthropology with a historical and interdisciplinary outlook to strengthen the self-esteem of Indians particularly women. He wrote many anthropological articles and gave radio talks. He took part in social work. Always infused with his passion for women's rights, not only in theory but in implemantation in real life. In 1949- 1961 Ehrenfels was head and professor of the Department of Anthropology, founded in 1945, at Madras University. He held several grants from the Viking Fund, New York and did field work reinforcing the theories he had presentad in his dissertation 1937. In 1957- 58 he held a Swedish grant to make his longed for field work in East Africa, described in the bok The Light Continent (1960), translated into German and Telugu: Kaanti Seema.
Read more about this topic: Baron Omar Rolf Von Ehrenfels
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