National Anthropological Archives

Guide to the Owen M. Lynch papers, 1945-2012

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.2013-11
Creators:
Lynch, Owen M., 1931-2013
Dates:
1945-2012
Languages:
Collection is primarily in
English
, Some field notes, questionnaires, correspondence, writings by others, and sound recordings are in
Hindi
,
Nihali
, and
Nahali
.
Physical Description:
132 Sound recordings
43 Linear feet
83 boxes.
Repository:
The papers of Owen M. Lynch (1931-2013) contain his research and fieldwork on marginalized castes in India, and in particular highlight his work among the Dalits, or Untouchables, in Agra. The collection consists of field notes, surveys, interviews, maps, drawings, manuscript notes and drafts, language materials, subject files, day planners, correspondence, university papers, conference symposium and panel materials, photographs, sound recordings, video recordings, and electronic records.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The papers of Owen M. Lynch document his research and field work in India, and in particular highlight his work among the Dalits in Agra. The collection consists of field notes, surveys, interviews, maps, drawings, manuscript notes and drafts, language materials, subject files, day planners, correspondence, university papers, conference symposium and panel materials, photographs, sound recordings, video recordings, and electronic records. The Munda Languages Project was Lynch's first fieldwork experience in India and focused on the Nihali and Nahali languages. His subsequent research focused on the Dalits in Agra, the Dharavi slums of Mumbai, the Chaube Brahmans in Mathura, and the Radhavallabhi sect in Brindaban. This research is represented well in his field notes, photographs, and sound recordings.
Lynch also kept extensive subject files on numerous Indian issues which contain significant material on the Dalits, Indian economics and politics, and related researchers. There is a small amount of Lynch's university papers from both his time as a student and as a professor. His student material includes reading notes, his student papers, and dissertation proposal. His university papers are chiefly course and lecture notes. The bulk of the photographs are from Lynch's fieldwork, primarily from Agra and Mumbai. Included are photos of slums in Agra and Mumbai, shoemakers in Agra, weddings, ceremonies, conferences, and parades. There are also prints used in his first book
The Politics of Untouchability.
The presentation slides are thematically arranged sets of photographs, presumably used for course lectures or conference presentations. The majority of the sound recordings are from fieldwork in Agra in 1994-1995, and include lectures, interviews, conference recordings, and songs.

Arrangement

Arrangement
  • The Owen M. Lynch papers are arranged into 13 series:
  • Research, 1956-2006
  • Subject Files, 1953-2012
  • University, 1951-2010
  • Writings, 1963-2005
  • Writings By Others, circa 1950-2003
  • Correspondence, 1947-2010 and undated
  • Professional Activities, 1977-2004
  • Biographical, 1945-2007
  • Ephemera, circa 1990-circa 2000
  • Photographs, circa 1940s-circa 2009 and undated
  • Sound Recordings, 1962-2006
  • Video Recordings, circa 2000-circa 2011
  • Electronic Records, circa 1980-2011

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Chronology
1931
Born on January 4 in Flushing, New York
1956
B.A., Fordham University
1962-1964
Fieldwork: Munda Languages Project, Madhya Pradesh, India
1964-1964
Fieldwork: Dalits in Agra, India
1966
Ph.D. in anthropology, Columbia University
1966-1969
Assistant Professor, State University of New York at Binghamton
1966-1986
Seminar Associate, Columbia University Seminars
1969-1973
Associate Professor, State University of New York at Binghamton
1970-1971
Fieldwork: Squatters in Mumbai, India
1974-2003
Charles F. Noyes Professor Emeritus of Urban Anthropology, New York University
1978-1984
Senior Research Associate, Southern Asian Institute, Columbia University
1980-1982
Fieldwork: Pilgrimage and Chaube Brahmans in Mathura, India
1988-1989
Fieldwork: Radhavallabhi Sect in Brindaban, India
1994-1995
Fieldwork: Dalits in Agra, India
2013
Died on April 26 in Boston, Massachusetts
Owen M. Lynch was an anthropologist and scholar with New York University who was noted for his pioneering work with the Dalits, or Untouchables, in India. He was born in 1931 in Flushing, New York. He earned his bachelor's degree from Fordham University (1956) and his Ph.D in anthropology from Columbia University (1966). He began his teaching career in 1966 as an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He became the Charles F. Noyes Professor Emeritus of Urban Anthropology at New York University in 1974 where he remained until his retirement in 2003.
His first fieldwork experience was with the Munda Languages Project in Madhya Pradesh, India, in 1962. His involvement with the project centered around work with the Nihali and Nahali languages. In 1963, he began fieldwork among the Dalits in Agra. He worked with the Jatavs, many of whom were shoemakers. This fieldwork would evolve into his dissertation, and form the basis for his first book
The Politics of Untouchablility
, published in 1969. He continued to study the Dalits and other marginalized peoples in India, including the Dharavi slums in Mumbai, Chaube Brahmans in Mathura, and the Radhavallabhi sect in Brindaban. He wrote extensively about the impact of Dalit leader B.R. Ambedkar, as well as the intersections of Buddhism, politics, and economics within India and the Dalit community.
Lynch was active in numerous anthropological associations. Among other professional appointments, he served on the editorial boards of South Asian Social Scientist (1984-1987), the Association of Asian Studies (1973-1977), and the International Journal of Hindu Studies (1997-2013); he was chair of the South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies (1985-1988) and president of the Society for Urban, National and Transnational Anthropology (1996-1998). He was also involved with groups such as the Volunteers in Service to India's Oppressed and Neglected (VISION), and was an active participant on conference panels and symposiums. He retired from teaching in 2003, and died in 2013.
Source consulted:
Friedlander, Eva 2014
Owen M. Lynch (1931-2013).
American Anthropologist. 116(4): 898-900.

Administration

Author
Adam Fielding
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
Processing Information
The organization of the papers of Owen M. Lynch has for the most part been retained. Original folder titles were used when appropriate. The archivist has used the current name of the city of Mumbai except in instances of use where Bombay is in a formal title. A small amount of duplicates, photocopied articles, blank disks, financial documents, and widely available publications have been removed.
The archivist has assigned numbers to the negatives and sets of slides in the photographs series, and to each sound recording in the sound recordings series.
Processed and encoded by Adam Fielding, 2015.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Owen Lynch's niece, Maureen Murphy, in 2013.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Conditions Governing Access
Some material related to scholarship applications, job applications, and doctoral applications and defenses are restricted and not available for access. Restriction dates are noted in the container listing.
Access to the Owen M. Lynch papers requires an appointment.
Preferred Citation
Owen M. Lynch papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

More Information

Selected Bibliography

Selected Bibliography
1963
Some Aspects of Rural-urban Continuum in India.
In
Anthropology on the March
. Bala Ratnam, ed. Pp. 178-205. Madras: The Book Center.
1968
The Politics of Untouchability: A Case Study.
In
Structure and Change in Indian Society
. Milton Singer and Bernard Cohn, eds. Pp. 209-239. Chicago: Aldine Press.
1969
The Politics of Untouchability: Social Mobility and Social Change in a City of India
. New York: Columbia University Press.
1972
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: Myth and Charisma.
In The Untouchables in Contemporary India. J.M. Mahar, ed. Pp. 97-112. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press.
1977
Method and Theory in the Sociology of Louis Dumont: A Reply.
In
The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia
. Kenneth David, ed. Pp. 239-262. The Hague: Mouton.
1979
Potters, Plotters, and Prodders: Marx and Meaning or Meaning Versus Marx.
Urban Anthropology VIII(1):1-27.
1981
Rioting as Rational Action: An Interpretation of the April 1978 Riots in Agra.
Economic and Political Weekly XVI(48): 1951-1956.
1984
Culture and Community in Europe: Essays in Honor of Conrad M. Arensberg
. ed. Delhi: Hindustan Press.
1988
Pilgrimage with Krishna, Sovereign of the Emotions.
Contributions to Indian Sociology 22(2):171-194.
1990
Divine Passions: The Social Construction of Emotion in India
. ed. Berkley: University of California Press and Delhi: Oxford University Press.
1996
Contesting and Contested Self-identities: Mathura's Chaubes.
In
Narratives of Agency: Self Making in China, India and Japan
. Wimal dissanayake, ed. Pp. 74-103. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
1998
Dalit Buddhism: The Liberate Bodh Gaya Movement.
Dalit International Newsletter 3(1):1,4,10-11.
2000
Sujata's Army: Dalit Buddhist Women and Self-emancipation.
In
Women's Buddhism Buddhism's Women: Tradition, Revision, Renewal
. Ellison Findly, ed. Pp. 247-258. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
2003
Ambedkar Jayanti: Dalit Reritualization in Agra's Civil Society.
Eastern Anthropologist 55(2-3):115-132.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Buddhist pilgrims and pilgrimages Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Urban anthropology Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Caste -- India Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Linguistics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ambedkar, B.R. Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
India -- Social life and customs Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Untouchables Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Language and languages -- Documentation Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dalits Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Electronic records (digital records) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manuscripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Field recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Field notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Agra (India) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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