Anthropological Developmentalism: Furer-Haimendorf and the Making of Social Policy in Hyderabad State 1

Abstract

Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf has left a formidable legacy on the social policy of Hyderabad state, which was ruled by an Indian ruler during British colonial rule. As a field anthropologist, administrator and professor at Osmania University, Haimendorf played an important role in designing Adivasi development policies that were mainly rooted in a paternalistic and evolutionistic approach—what I call anthropological developmentalism—which was designed to overturn the political aspirations of the Adivasi communities. This approach neither empowered the Adivasis nor protected them from outsiders. Yet, Haimendorf and his legacy have been celebrated by the Adivasis in particular, and the state in general. This article explores this paradox by examining the intellectual and contextual role of Haimendorf’s anthropological ideas and their application to Hyderabad state.