Ralph W. Nicholas

Ralph W. Nicholas is an anthropologist; he is the William Rainey Harper Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. He received his undergraduate education at Wayne State University in Detroit (1957); his M.A. (1958) and Ph.D. (1962) are from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His research in India began in West Bengal in 1960, and has specialized in the study of Bengali society and culture throughout his professional career. He held several administrative positions at the University of Chicago. From 2002 to 2010 he was President of the American Institute of Indian Studies, a consortium of 70 U.S. colleges and universities that have programs of teaching and research in India. The Institute, which has its headquarters in Delhi, sends 40 fellows from the U.S. to India each year for research, as well as more than 150 students for language study. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Indo-American Center of Chicago. His recent publications, based on research in villages in West Bengal, deal with Hindu religious practice: Fruits of Worship: Practical Religion in Bengal (2003); Rites of Spring: Gajan in Village Bengal (2008), and Night of the Gods: Durga Puja and the Legitimation of Power in Rural Bengal (2012).