Profile

The Department of Anthropology is one of the oldest in South India established in 1961 under the leadership of Dr. N. Subba Reddy. The department maintains a holistic approach to anthropological teaching and research in all fields of the discipline including Socio-cultural Anthropology, Biological Anthropology and Palaeo Anthropology. Initially the department offered a program in Social Anthropology specialization. G. Golla Reddy joined the department in November 1961 followed by D. L. Prasada Rao in the year 1962 as lecturers. A. Muniratnam Reddy joined the faculty in the year 1967. Dr. Aiyyapan, the former Head of the department of Anthropology, Utkal University and Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University has associated with the department as research professor during 1967-69 . Dr M. R. Chakravarthi joined as a Reader in 1969 and initiated offering program in Physical Anthropology specialization. With the joining of Dr K. Thimma Reddy in 1970 who specialized in Pre-history, the department attained full-fledged status by offering programs in all the three specializations and continued its holistic aspects till today. Recognizing the vast growth of the discipline, in 1973 a separate department of Human Genetics and Physical Anthropology was carved out and Dr. M. R. Chakravarthi took the reins of that department. With the establishment of Anthropology department at S. V. University in 1972, Dr. Muniratnam Reddy was grafted to Tirupati. Later, Prof. Subba Reddy moved to University of Madras to establish a new department to Anthropology in 1976. M. Kodanda Rao, G. Prakash Reddy, R. Yathiraj Kumar and Dr. P. Veerraju joined the department in 1975 followed by induction of K. E. Rajpramukh, J. M. Naidu K. Srinivasa Murthy, V. L. Narasimha Rao, Ch. Bapu Haranath and P. Vijayaprakash in 1979. P. Veerraju was elevated as Reader and joined in the department of Human Genetics and Physical Anthropology Dr Kodanda Rao was elevated and joined as Reader in NEHU and moved to University of Hyderabad University to start the Department of Anthropology and Sociology. Dr. Prakash Reddy took up professorship at S. V. University, Tirupati in 1986. Dr. G. Jai Kishan joined the faculty in the year 1984. Dr S. Narahari, Dr. R. Sambasiva Rao, Dr. G. Paddaiah Dr. V. Subramanyam and Mr D. Ravindranath joined the faculty in the year 1985. Then the department had the strength of 16 teaching staff members during 1985-86. Later on P. D. S. Pal Kumar joined in 1994 followed by D. Ramesh in year 2000. The department has a sound infrastructural base for pursuing teaching and research activities. It is endowed with four laboratories- human cytogenetics laboratory, forensic& serology laboratory, molecular genetics laboratory, Paleo anthropological laboratory, an ethnographic museum with a wide collection of exhibits from various parts of the country, a library, audio-visual equipment, film archive and skilled human resources. Students for the four-semester postgraduate program in Anthropology are drawn from arts and science streams admitted through a common entrance test held by the state government. They are exposed in the fourth semester to a three week field-work in tribal areas to provide them first hand experience in data collection, analysis and report writing. The alumni of the department are occupying important positions in universities, research institutes, apart from State and Central governments and other organizations. The department extends consultancy services for government and voluntary organizations. It carries out activities such as genetic counseling, blood grouping tests, as part of extension activities and self sustaining efforts.