Tannistha Samanta
I am an Associate Professor with the Department of Social Sciences, School of Liberal Education, FLAME University, Pune. Broadly, my research lies at the interdisciplinary crossroads of family sociology and gerontology where I focus on living arrangements, social capital & health, older adult sexualities and theory development in aging studies. In another line of inquiry, I am interested in examining the complex nexus of motherhood, sexual politics and the biomedical markets. Currently, I serve as an editor to the journal of Anthropology & Aging (the official journal of the Association for Anthropology, Gerontology & the Life Course). Prior to joining FLAME University, I was a faculty with the department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar. Originally from Kolkata, I hold Masters level degrees in applied economics and sociology from the University of Calcutta (M.Sc in Economics), Jawaharlal Nehru University (M.Phil in Applied Economics) and University of Maryland (M.A and Ph.D in Sociology/Social Demography).
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• Build collaborations of leading scholars who work on population aging and are committed to engage in social scientific inquiry that bridges the gulf between theory and practice
• Build an intellectual archive of comparative evidence (drawing from different countries) for effective policy planning on aging
• To advance scholarship on social gerontology
The deliverables of this research initiative will include two related components:
An EDITED VOLUME that weaves together the contributions of the early career scholars and experts working on cross-cultural perspectives on population aging. The working title of the edited volume has been slated as: Bridging the Gulf: Theory and Research on Social Gerontology. The volume will be edited by Dr. Tannistha Samanta (Assistant Professor, Humanities & Social Sciences, IITGN).
A SYMPOSIUM that will bring contributors of the edited volume to share their work on population aging. The symposium will be held in IITGN, June 14/15, 2014 (tentative)
We hope this research initiative will stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue and encourage research that guides country level policies to plan our own futures.
In this talk, Dr. Samanta will build on the complementary theoretical orientations of social capital and subsequently adopt a structural-cognitive framework to examine the association between social capital and well-being of older adults in India. In particular, she will focus on how household context (e.g. living arrangement, socio-economic status) influence subjective well-being of older people in India. The study draws data from a newly collected household survey (BKPAI, United Nations, 2011) and follows a two-step analytical strategy. Results underscore the importance of social capital in promoting well-being of older adults; specifically social engagement, trust and participation override the overall effect of living arrangement (i.e. whether the elderly co-reside in a multi-generational household or not) on health. Dr. Samanta argues that a “rights based” policy framework based on participation and freedom of older people holds promise in promoting an inclusive aging society.
The talk will conclude with a brief description of ongoing projects on the broad areas of population health and family sociology to explore possibilities of collaboration with the research staff at U of S.
In the talk, I will critically review some of the major debates that have shaken up the aid establishment while drawing examples from Asia and Africa. The talk will demonstrate that while it is important to wrestle with the limits and pitfalls of aid in promoting economic development, it is equally important to acknowledge the many other ways how aid has significantly contributed to gains in human development, including global health, education and community empowerment.
Course format will draw on both lectures and seminar-style group discussions of assigned readings and current world events. In addition to the assigned readings, the course will draw from editorials, blogs and opinion pieces from standard international publishing houses as well as videos/ted talks. Through presentations, debates and a final paper, the course will provide students the theoretical and conceptual tools to critically understand and engage in the politics and economics of development interventions in the Third World.
At this time, we are holding a recruitment roundtable for future faculty who might be interested to be part of our journey. In this panel, we will be discussing the larger recruitment vision of FLAME, pedagogical innovations, research and our deep commitment to diversity, inclusivity and intellectual rigor. Please feel free to spread the word!
From an institutional perspective, through this Summer Institute, we intend to explore and build solid research programs that will consist of:
1. Research collaborations (e.g. comparative research, grants, publications and research staff exchanges)
2. Joint mentorship possibilities, and
3. Curriculum development