Balmurli Natrajan Professor • Community and Social Justice Studies Website Dr. Balmurli Natrajan is Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Community Development and Social Justice at William Paterson University of New Jersey, USA. He has a Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Marine), a Master's degree in Computer Science, and a PhD in Anthropology. After a stint in the world of merchant shipping, and software development, Dr. Natrajan began his academic career in anthropology. His research and teaching is on Group formation, Identity & Inequality (caste, race); Culture and Ideology (legitimation); Commuinity Development & Globalization (sanitation, domestic work, indebtedness, livelihoods). Although most of Dr. Natrajan's work is based in India, he has recently begun work on community development issues in Passaic County, USA. Dr. Natrajan's book "Culturalization of Caste in India: Identity and Inequality in a Multicultural Age" (2011) is on the new modes of persistence and legitimation of caste in India, and his co-edited volume "Against Stigma: Studies in Caste, Race and Justice Since Durban" (2009) is on the global discourse of 'race' and caste in the wake of the UN Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and all forms of Discrimination. His current work is on sanitation practices and development policy in India and he has a book manuscript under review titled Toilet Theory: State, Sociality, and Policy In India. For more information visit his website (see link above). Professional Interests Community Development, Anthropology, Technology and Social Change Degrees PhD Anthropology, University of Iowa Iowa City, IA MS Computer Science, Southern Polytechnic State University Marietta, GA MA Anthropology, Iowa State University Ames, IA BE Marine Engineering, Marine Engineering Research Institute (DMET) Kolkata, India Specialization Group formation, Identity & Inequality (caste, race); Culture and Ideology (legitimation); Community Development & Globalization Representative Publications Being Vigilant about Sacred Cows: On Belief and Violence in India; , Current Anthropology; Volume 65, 2024 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/ca Racialization and ethnicization: Hindutva hegemony and caste; Ethnic and Racial Studies; Volume 44, Issue 45 (2) - 2022 2022 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2021.1951318 ‘Why don’t they use the toilet built for them?’: Explaining toilet use in Chhattisgarh, Central India; Volume Contributions to Indian Sociology, 55(1), 2021 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0069966720972565 The culturalization of caste in India: Identity and inequality in a multicultural age; Routledge; 2011 https://www.routledge.com/The-Culturalization-of-Caste-in-India-Identity-and-Inequality-in-a-Multicultural/Natrajan/p/book/9780415857864 Against Stigma: Studies in Caste, Race, and Justice Since Durban; Orient BlackSwan; 2009 Representative Presentations Castes Without Casteism? The Real Beef with Caste and ‘Culture’ British Association of South Asian Studies Nottingham, 2017 “Caste as Political Identity: Difference, Hegemony, Solidarity” Rethinking Difference in India: Racialization in Transnational Perspective American University, D.C. Washington D.C, VA 2019 Awards and Honors Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad grant Fulbright-Hays 06/01/2006 Media The myth of the Indian Vegetarian Nation http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43581122 A news article based on my co-authored publication 'Provincializing vegetarianism" An interview podcast on "What is Hindutva" at the Polis Project https://www.thepolisproject.com/billionaires-are-being-produced-at-the-same-time-that-people-are-actually-dying-from-lack-of-food-in-conversation-with-balmurli-natrajan/#.XvUDHWhKg2y In this Podcast, Suchitra Vijayan (polis Project) speaks to Prof. Balmurli Natrajan about the political and cultural history of Hindutva - ultranationalist authoritarian populism in India. Anthropology Course Explores the Life Cycle of, Say, Your Pen https://www.chronicle.com/article/Anthropology-Course-Explores/129572/ The Chronicle did a piece on Dr. Natrajan's course on "Global Transformations and the Human Condition" at William Paterson University of New Jersey in which students do a project about the 'social life of everyday objects' to learn about globalization and development. Fellowships, Grants and Research Senior Fellowship Grant Grant Worlds of Work: Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Asia in the 21st century" for K-12 teachers Grant Notable Courses Taught 1. Why Language Matters (course on fundamentals of language as a biocultural human capacity, relation to thought and culture, theories of representation, and socio/racio linguistics)2. Foundations of Community Development (key issues in community development such as housing, poverty, health, education, employment, violence, youth, environmental devastation, and state policies and programs)3. Global Transformations and the Human Condition (course on long and short history of globalization and making of the 'third world')4. Culture, Identity, and Cognition (course on formation of identities and sense of belogning, boundary making, and inequalities)5. Research Methods (qualitative and quantitative methods esp for community-based research) Email 973 720 3869 104 Atrium By appointment
