Department of Anthropology in Dera Natung Government College, Itanagar was formally started on 16 August 2018 with the joining of two Guest Faculties namely, Mr. Tame Ramya (Tarh) and Dr. Ratna Tayeng as Assistant Professors. Although the formal teachings of Anthropology in Arunachal Pradesh started in Rajiv Gandhi University, Doimukh (2001), Saint Claret College, Ziro (2004), Apex Professional University, Pasighat (2014), and Saint Francis De Sales College, Aalo (2016); yet, the Dera Natung Government College, Itanagar is the first and the only government college to offer the course.
The Anthropology Programme at DNGC is committed to enhancing student knowledge and appreciation of human beings as both a biological and a cultural species. Emphasizing a holistic approach, the programme offers courses in each of the four traditional sub-fields of anthropology (socio-cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, archaeological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology) and provides students with proven conceptual and methodological tools for observing and studying human collectivities, both ancient and modern. Overall, the programme aims to foster appreciation of human difference, past and present, as well as attune students to the relationship between daily individual realties and larger social institutions at the local, national, and global levels. Given this foundation, the overarching goal of DNGC’s Department of Anthropology is to prepare students for future life experiences, whether personal, professional, or educational, in increasingly diverse and multicultural social environments.
Anthropology is devoted to the study of human beings and human societies as they exist across time and space. It encompasses all of humanity as well as our closest primate relatives, from the earliest prehistoric human ancestors to the varied societies inhabiting the world today. It is distinct from other social sciences in encompassing both the full span of human history and the full range of human societies and cultures, including those located in historically marginalized areas of the world. As a result, anthropology is especially attuned to questions of social, cultural, and biological diversity and to issues of power, identity, and inequality. Education in Anthropology provides excellent preparation for living and working in a multicultural and globally interconnected world. It equips students for careers in a wide range of fields, including law, medicine, business, public service, environmental sustainability, and resource management, etc. A number of academic anthropologists find careers in other departments or university programmes, such as schools of medicine, epidemiology, public health, ethnic studies, cultural studies, community or area studies, linguistics, education, ecology, cognitive psychology, and neural science.