FEATURED
BIO
Dr. M.A. Kalam is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at The Peninsula Foundation. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad. He was Dean, School of Liberal Arts Social Sciences, and Professor of Anthropology, SRM University, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. Also, he was founding Dean, Administration and Regulatory Affairs, and Professor of Anthropology, at Krea University, Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. Prior to that, he was Professor of Applied Social Sciences (Adjunct Faculty) at Loyola Institute of Business Administration; Professor of Eminence at Tezpur Central University, Assam; Professor and Head of Department of Anthropology, and Chairperson (Dean) School of Social Sciences, University of Madras.
Dr. Kalam was a Rockefeller Resident Fellow at Duke University, a Human Rights Fellow at Harvard University, and a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was Visiting Professor at Universities in France, as also at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad.
Dr. Kalam’s doctoral research was among the Coorgs in South India. Subsequently, he has studied the mass religious conversions in Tamil Nadu. Also, he has undertaken anthropological fieldwork among South Asians in England, the USA and France. He has participated in post-Tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction work in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Dr. Kalam has extensive administrative experience; he was on the Board of Management of Tezpur Central University, and on the Planning Board of Pondicherry Central University. He was Governing Council Member of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). He also served as a Member of the Expert Group on Diversity Index, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India.
Dr. Kalam continues to publish extensively not just academically but also in newspapers/news portals and periodicals.
Dr. Kalam has been a keen sportsman and has represented his college, university and state in Football, Hockey, Cricket and Athletics. He has also served as a cricket umpire for the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA).
Dr. Kalam was President of the Gwyer Hall Students Union at Delhi University. He has participated in the TV rounds of the BBC Mastermind Quiz. He has won the UNESCO Photography Prize for Asia and the Pacific.
