Fireflies, South India: Faculty Bios

U. R. Anantamurthy, former Vice-Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University, Former President of the Indian Academy of letters and one of our very well known writers and cultural critics. He is presently the President of the National Academy of film. One of his books, Samskara, is mandatory reading for the semester.

Duarte Baretto, former deputy director of the Indian Social Institute, Bangalore. He has a PHD in economics from the University of Lille, France. Specialist on history of development in India and impact of globalization on the poor.

D. Jeevan Kumar, Director of the Institute for Gandhi Studies, Bangalore University, and author of several books and articles on Trade issues, human rights, participatory democracy and social movements.

Michael Tharakan, professor of history at Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala. Is the author of a well known book on the history of Kerala. He is also an expert on the theme of Decentralization and Development.

John Kurien is Professor at the Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum, India. He is a founder member of the International Collective in Support of Fish workers (ICSF). He teaches courses in research methodology, natural resources management and issues in population, environment and development. He guides researchers working on issues pertaining to natural resource management. He is currently Vice-Chairperson of the FAO/UN Advisory Committee for Fisheries Research.

Ms. Nalini Nayak, writer, social activist and leader of a women's movement. She is one of the founding members of the Programme for Community Organization, and the International Collective in Support of Fish workers.  Nalini Nayak has co-authored a book with Gabriel Dietrich - Transition or Transformation: A Study of the Mobilization, Organization and Emergence of Consciousness among the Fish workers of Kerala, India.

Gabriel Dietrich, sociologist and Director of the Institute of Social analysis, Madurai, South India. She is very active in the Narmada anti-dam movement. She has written several books on social transformation and is a leading figure in the Indian women’s' movement. She has closely worked with unions in the informal sector and with environment movements. She is also concerned with inter-religious issues and the struggle against religious fundamentalism.

Siddhartha is a writer, journalist, trainer of NGO staff and Director of Pipal Tree and Fireflies. He is a cultural anthropologist and has written books and articles on cultural, social  and environmental themes. He has formerly headed the Paulo Freire institute of education (INodep) , Paris. He studied social anthropology at the Ecoles des Hautes Etudes, Paris. He lectures all over the world, including the United Nations University, Tokyo.

L. C. Jain, a Gandhian scholar,  has been in the forefront of the   development of India in different capacities.  To name a few, he was a: Former member of the Planning Commission of India, Former ambassador to South Africa and author of several books and articles from a Gandhian prospective.

N. Manu Chakravorthy is Professor of English in a college of Bangalore University and is a prolific writer on varied subjects like literature, cinema, music, culture, women's studies etc. He is also a visiting Professor at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore for the "Tracking Creative Boundaries" course for the final year MBA students. He was a referee for the Central Sahitya Akademi Award (Indian Academy of Letters-2005) and referee for the Karnataka State Sahitya Academy award (Karnataka Academy of letters-2000)

Jill Carr-Harris has Masters Degrees from Columbia University, NY and Toronto University.  She has over twenty years experience in managing multilateral, bilateral international development projects for northern Canadian and South Indian NGOs. She was a consultant for years with the United Nations on multilateral programmes related to forestry and environment in sub-Sahara Africa and India. She was also the Executive Director of South-South Solidarity for 10 years. and has edited  and co-authored several books.

Trent Schroyer has a Ph.D in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and is Professor of Sociology-Philosophy, at Ramapo College of New Jersey He has served as the Program coordinator and Chair of The Other Economic Summit (TOES/ U.S.) He  authored The Critique of Domination (Nominated for the 1973 National Book Award in Philosophy); A World that Works: Building Blocks for a Just and Sustainable Society (edited collection); and  Creating a Sustainable World (edited collection).

Jyothi Sahi is a renowned artist with numerous shows to his credit.  At present he is running a unique institution, the Art Ashram that attracts numerous visitors.  He has been lecturing on art in different institutions for a long time.

Ruth Manorama is a Member of the National Women's Commission, the most important national body designated by the Govt. of India to monitor women's issues.  She is the Director of Women's Voice, an important NGO concerned with the empowerment of women.  She  is also on various international committees working on women's issues.

Vanaja Ramaprasad is a scholar-activist working in the fields of bio-diversity and sustainable agriculture and has written several books on these subjects. She is the Director of Green Foundation which networks with farmers all over South India around issues of sustainable agriculture.

Ramapo

Dr. Trent Schroyer, Professor of Sociology/Philosophy
Dr. Jim Morley, Professor of Psychology
Dr. Michael Tharakan, Professor of History

Non-Ramapo

Siddhartha – Fireflies founder and Director of the Pipal Tree – Siddhartha is the founder of Fireflies Ashram and onsite director of Pipal Tree.  He writes regularly for Indian and international newspapers and journals, and lectures widely all over the world on issues related to culture, ecology and sustainable development.  His essays, “Letters du Gange” (Publisher: L’Aube) were published in Paris in 2004, his book The Birdwoman appeared in English in 2003 (Dronequill Publishers).  He was the international coordinator of INODEP – International Paris, a center of alternative education founded by Paulo Freire.

U.R. Anantha Murthy, President of the Indian Film Institute and winner of the Janapita National Award (the Indian Nobel Prize for Literature)

Dr. Duarte Barrette, Director, FEDINA, Political Economist

Dr. Vinod Vyasulu, Local Governance and Civil Society

Hanumanth Gowda

Location and Contact Information
The Office of Study Abroad is located in the Anisfield School of Business, room ASB-123. Our phone number is (201) 684-7533. E-mail - goabroad@ramapo.edu

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