Professor K.K. Misra,
Former Vice Chancellor, Utkal University of Culture
Many significant events of the present era demonstrate that Anthropology has established a firm grip in the public sphere – enabling the most of novel forms of communication to reach beyond academic circles and distributing knowledge widely and freely. Global peace is one of the most important challenges facing humanity today. The contemporary world not only faces an onslaught of combative COVID -19 but also challenges emanating from escalation in protracted ethnic violence, religious fundamentalism, militancy and wars across countries and continents. This infectious hatred between the warring factions has brought untold misery to innocent masses, in particular to child victims, who have very little to do with the causes and consequences of war. Although conventionally the analysis of violence and war was left to scholars of international relations and geo-politics, it is realized that the anthropological community can play a major role in analysing the viciousness of war by presenting alternative models for sustainable “Global Peace and Harmony”.
The World Anthropology Congress 2023 intends to explore multiple avenues for global peace and harmony for sustainable development of humankind. It is now well understood that Anthropology as a discipline can lend a powerful voice to non-hegemonic and marginalized cultural perspectives on both Global Peace and Development. Since Global Peace and Development are multi-layered processes and Anthropology promotes the tradition of multifaceted thinking that ranges from the local to the global and also traverses the space in between, the discipline can unveil new dimensions in promoting lasting peace and sustained human development. Further, accumulated scientific evidence proves that many non-violent societies co-existed peacefully as a norm throughout the prehistoric period of the human existence. This indicates that human co-existence and peace were not mere words, but concepts that are integral to the texts of Anthropology. Therefore, deliberations in this Congress will contribute to the processes of Peace and Development of human society at different levels. The proposed World Anthropology Congress 2023 will continue this line of enquiry by playing a crucial role in creating a more contemporary and relevant debate on Global Peace and Development.
