Jean-Claude Galey, born in Paris, France, in 1946. Ph.D. from the University of Paris X, Nanterre. Directeur d’Études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oslo.
Fellow (1 September 2001 – 30 June 2002)
Over the last ten months I managed to make significant progress in the writing of my regional monograph to which I devoted most of my attention. One hundred and fifty pages were completed. Although my initial expectations of completing the book before departing were thwarted, I should mention how NIAS provided me with a new perspective on my work that my previous drafts had not foreseen. Chapters on space and time, and the analysis of funerary rituals have now reached maturation while the general perspective gained its full sociological dimension. This is partly due to intensive readings in political thought and the philosophy of knowledge. Discussions with Dutch colleagues from Leiden and extended conversations with other Fellows here at NIAS also made me aware of the necessity to modify and refocus my main argument at places making the comparative issue more explicit for non-specialists. The change of setting also instigated the writing of four articles which I had not initially planned They helped me to clarify some intertwined issues and improve my previous problematic uniting of various processes of social change in India. In the end, the visit of Indian colleagues and an invitation to deliver the Josselin de Jong Memorial Lecture reordered my year without rerouting it.