Eminent anthropologist of Manipur, Dr Satyrabarta Chakbarti, on Sunday presented his personal narrative focusing on ‘certain aspects of human culture as were observed in various field situations.’
Dr Chakbarti delivered the memorial lecture on the topic, ‘A Humane Journey into the nature of Human Culture: A personal narrative’ at the second Gangmumei Kamei Memorial lecture.
The memorial lecture was held under the aegis of the G K Foundation in Imphal on Sunday.
Illuminating the learned gathering by taking the audience into a journey in understanding human culture from a very simple society to its development into a more complex urban society, Dr Chakbarti said, “It was part of my professional enquiry trying to understand the perceptions of people who created the self-cultivated meaning of life as they exist.
The anthropologist who is the general secretary of the Asiatic Society, Kolkatta said, ‘the same set of people also confronted with many adverse situations in course of their existence and tried out ways and means to get adjusted or adapted to the system.”
Late Prof Gangmumei Kamei throughout his life very seriously looked for studying the problems of social formation. As an eminent historian he was well aware of the importance of this subject.
Naturally, he spent lot of his time studying it very minutely, Dr Chakbarti felt.
Recollecting the eminent anthropologist, former political science teacher Prof Ksh Bimola Devi (retired) of the Manipur University while presiding over the memorial lecture function, shared her observation during the function which was well attended by a number of intellectuals of Manipur, retired bureaucrats, journalists, eminent scholars, well wishers and family members.
It may be recalled that renowned historian Professor Jayanta Bhusan Bhattacharjee delivered the first memorial lecture on ‘Exploring Manipur’s Past: Remembering Gangmumei Kamei and his Works,’ while Dr Arambam Lokendra, former Director of Audio Visual Research Centre, Manipur University presided over the first Gangmumei Kamei Memorial Lecture on January 6 last year.
Gangmumei Kamei, popularly known as Prof Gangmumei was a noted Manipur-based historian, litterateur and scholar.
He specialized in the history of the north-eastern region, and more particularly of Manipur, had served as a professor of History in Manipur University, and was also elected president of the Northeast India History Association in its Kohima session of 1986
He had also served as a minister for Forest, Environment and Higher Education in late nineties. He passed away in Imphal on January 5,2017.