AS Prabhakar

Bio

Dr. A S. Prabhakar is a Professor in the Department of Tribal Studies at Kannada University, Hampi since 1997. He was an editorial board member of Kannada University’s renowned project, ‘Tribal Epic Series’. For the first time in India, tribal epics were recorded and published by Kannada University, and he contributed to the recording and transcription for this prestigious project. He is the Founding Editor of the critically acclaimed ‘Tribal Studies’ peer- reviewed journal and has been the Editor since 2003. He was the Head of the Department of Tribal Studies and organised conferences, tribal festivals, workshops and various special lectures on the Methodology of the Social Sciences. When he was director of the ‘Pictorial Encyclopaedia of Karnataka Tribes’, the first comprehensive pictorial encyclopaedia of Tribal and Nomadic people of Karnataka was brought out.

He is working on the Methodology of Tribal Studies, Tribal and Folk Literature, Displacement and Resettlement of tribal people, and social change in subaltern societies. Prabhakar has prepared ten documentaries on the culture and lifestyle of selected tribes living in the forests of Karnataka.

He has been a coordinator of the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Study Centre and produced 4 unique volumes on Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia to celebrate his birth centenary year in 2012. He has published 13 books including the ‘Pictorial Encyclopaedia of Karnataka Tribes’ and has been a successful research supervisor for PhD, DLit and MPhil programmes.

A.S. Prabhakar has received the Best Book Award twice from the Janapada Academy Bangalore, in 2001 for ‘Budakattu Badukina Sthithyantaragalu’ (‘Transitions in Tribal Life’) and in 2021 for ‘Chaharegalendare Gaayagalu Houdu’ (‘Identities are Manifest Wounds: Narratives on Tribal Studies’). His book on Puneeth Rajkumar, ‘Mugdha Naguvondara Kanmare’ (‘The Disappearance of an Innocent Smile’), a collection of articles by various authors, was published in 2022.