Baron Omar Rolf Von Ehrenfels - Respected in India .. and East Africa

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

Famous quotes containing the words respected in, respected, india, east and/or africa:

    The Americans are violently oral.... That’s why in America the mother is all-important and the father has no position at all—isn’t respected in the least. Even the American passion for laxatives can be explained as an oral manifestation. They want to get rid of any unpleasantness taken in through the mouth.
    —W.H. (Wystan Hugh)

    ... to work, to work hard, to see work steadily, and see it whole, was the way to be reputable. I think I always respected a good blacksmith more than a lady of leisure.
    Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)

    But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge in something else.
    —E.M. (Edward Morgan)

    The East is marvellously interesting for tracing our steps back. But for going forward, it is nothing. All it can hope for is to be fertilised by Europe, so that it can start on a new phase.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    Everywhere—all over Africa and South America ... you see these suburbs springing up. They represent the optimum of what people want. There’s a certain sort of logic leading towards these immaculate suburbs. And they’re terrifying, because they are the death of the soul.... This is the prison this planet is being turned into.
    —J.G. (James Graham)