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Full circle
While Balmurli Natrajan lives in Ames, his research is based in his native India
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Life at sea was no pleasure cruise for Balmurli Natrajan.
As an undergraduate Natrajan studied marine engineering in India and after
graduating got his first engineering job on an oil tanker in the Persian
Gulf.
That was during the Iran/Iraq war of the late '80s when travel by oil
tankers in the Persian Gulf was, to say the least, hazardous.
"I quit that job and sailed all the way to Texas," Natrajan
said. "But then we got caught in a hurricane. Life at sea seemed
to be jinxed.
"Iowa suddenly held a lot of appeal to me."
Natrajan made his way to Ames where his engineering background landed
him an assistantship doing combustion research. But Natrajan wanted more
in his life.
"I wanted to do something that was socially relevant in a meaningful
way," he said. "I started walking around campus and ended up
in the Anthropology Department. I really liked what Mike
Whiteford and Michael Warren (anthropology faculty members) talked about."
After completing a M.A. in anthropology at Iowa State, Natrajan earned
a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa focusing on issues of artisanal labor
and industrialization in India. Before finishing his Ph.D, he also managed
to squeeze in a M.S. degree in computer science in Atlanta and worked
as a programmer for a while. He joined the Iowa State Department of Anthropology
faculty as an assistant professor in the fall of 2000.
Now he has come full circle.
While living in Iowa, Natrajan's research efforts focus on his native
country. He continues to work on issues linked to artisanal development
and community organizations and has also begun research on the issue of
privatization in India. Last summer he worked as a consultant on a new
media and film project to document local innovations in technology in
India.
"An interesting part of that project was the use of locally developed
biogas plants used in households to generate cooking gas and electricity,"
he said.
Anthropology and his work with Indian potters are far removed from his
childhood in Bombay.
"I came to this country and realized that you can do things other
than engineering and still enjoy what one does," he said.
Natrajan says India is a land of contrasts. A large segment of the population
is highly skilled laborers in a technical sense.
Another significant part of India is just as highly skilled, but rather
in the more traditional crafts and arts like pottery.
"They don't seem to be able to get the fruits of globalization that
the middle and upper classes seem to enjoy," he said.
Typically the potters of India still produce their wares the same as their
ancestors did centuries ago. This informal or unorganized sector of the
workforce tends to be small firms or household businesses where the biggest
growth in employment and output is in India.
"My research focuses on how it is that artisans such as potters still
persist in their craft, what do their children aspire to, and how do the
state and market forces work together?" Natrajan says. "The
outlook isn't very good."
Natrajan is hopeful that his research will make a difference not only
for the potters of central India, but also other members of his native
country’s working class.
"I hope to work with leaders of these communities to make their conditions
known to politicians and policy making bodies," he said. "I
think I'm in a position that I can understand the economic jargon but
also the social and technological issues involved."
He is also looking into why potter cooperatives fail in India. He's working
with local managers on new production and accounting methods.
"I want to make a difference," he said. "That's the reason
why I moved from engineering to anthropology."
Around LAS
February 11-24, 2002
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