CHSS Fellow Amita Kumari Receives Prestigious D N Ghosh Award
Congratulations!
Amita Kumari, a CHSS workshop fellow, has been awarded the prestigious D N Ghosh Award for the Best Paper published in the Economic & Political Weekly (EPW) for her paper, “Customary Laws and Courts: Negotiating Adivasi Women’s Property Rights,” published in October 18, 2025 (Vol. LX, No 42) issue of the volume. This recognition marks an important milestone in her academic journey and reflects the lasting impact of her association with the CHSS Project. https://doi.org/10.71279/epw.v60i42.40058
Amita’s association with the CHSS Project began in 2022, when she joined the inaugural SIDA-AAS Researching Marginalities Workshop, followed by a second workshop in 2023. The learnings from the CHSS workshops, particularly from the sessions concerning themes like community, region, reflexivity and fieldwork, shaped the conceptualisation and arguments that were woven into the paper.
Amita Kumari’s paper examines the property rights of Santal Adivasi women, focusing on the ghar jawae marriage and the ways in which shifting customs, crisis in Adivasi communitarianism, and state interventions have affected women’s property rights. It also explores the complex relationship between customary law, community autonomy, patriarchy, and constitutional rights in shaping Adivasi women’s claims to property.
The D N Ghosh award is instituted by the Dhruba and Tapasi Social Ventures Foundation in honour of D N Ghosh. It carries a cash award of Rs 2 lakh and is given to two outstanding papers published under EPW’s Special Articles category. Amita’s paper was selected as the best paper by a jury of eminent scholars from different social science disciplines, recognising her contribution to scholarship on Adivasi women’s property rights.
Recently, she was awarded a research travel grant by the CHSS Project to visit the British Library, London. The grant provides her with an invaluable opportunity to access the rich archival materials on the Santals, the indigenous community that forms the core focus of her doctoral research. This visit will not only help address existing gaps in her thesis but also enable her to develop a strong proposal for postdoctoral research.
Find out more –
Amita Kumari
CHSS 2022-23 SPPU Workshop Fellow
Nationality: Indian
Affiliation: Sido Kanhu Murmu University, Jharkhand, India
Research interests: modern Indian history, marginalities and vulnerabilities, gender & politics
Amita Kumari
Amita Kumari teaches History at Sido Kanhu Murmu University in Jharkhand, a remote province of India. She is also a doctoral student in Presidency University, Kolkata. She became a part of the CHSS project during the initial years of her doctoral research. This association proved to be highly enriching and transformative, significantly enhancing her research capabilities. The workshops significantly helped shape the broad framework of her doctoral research. In addition, she presented her work at two international events — one at Chiang Mai University, Thailand, and the other in Daegu, South Korea. The workshops, coupled with the experience of attending two international events, greatly improved her ability to write research papers. She is delighted to share that a paper she wrote under SPPU’s mentorship will soon be published in the peer-reviewed English language Economic and Political Weekly Journal.
The benefits of her association with the CHSS Project extend well beyond her personal academic growth, however. Over the past couple of years, the project has reached out to her university located in a remote, semi-urban region of an underdeveloped province in India. Sido Kanhu Murmu University thereafter hosted a writing workshop, which proved highly successful, particularly because the sessions were held in the regional language. This initiative not only introduced local scholars to the project but it also encouraged many to apply for the workshops at SPPU. Several of them have since been selected to become part of the CHSS initiative, just as Amita was in 2022. From supporting one individual, CHSS has expanded its positive impact to help nurture a region in India that has long remained underrepresented in mainstream academic platforms.