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{{short description|German anthropologist}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox academic
| name= Aparna Rao
| image= Aparna Rao (anthropologist).jpg
| birth_date= {{birth date|1950|02|03|df=y}}<ref name="de1"/>
| birth_place= New Delhi, India
| citizenship = Germany<ref>{{cite journal |title=Current Issues and Future Directions in Hunter-Gatherer Studies |journal=Anthropos |volume=102 |issue=2 |year=2007 |first=Mathias |last=Guenther |editor1-first=Othmar |editor1-last=Gächter |editor2-first=Joachim |editor2-last=Piepke |editor3-first=Anton |editor3-last=Quack |publisher=Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH |page=377 |doi=10.5771/0257-9774-2007-2-371 |jstor=40389730 |jstor-access=free |quote=They occupy what the German anthropologist Aparna Rao dubs the "peripatetic niche" (1993: 503-509) - and Alan Barnard (1993: 35) refers to as the ''san'' in any city.}}{{registration required}}</ref>
| death_date= {{death date and age|2005|06|28|1950|02|03|df=y}}
| spouse= Michael Casimir
| awards= [[Choice Reviews#Outstanding Academic Titles|Choice]]
| education= [[Doctor of Philosophy]]
| alma_mater= {{br separated entries|[[University of Strasbourg]] (M.A.)|[[Paris-Sorbonne University]] (Ph.D.)}}
| thesis_title= {{br separated entries|Les Sinté du Pays Rhénan. Essai d'une Monographie d'un Sous–groupe Tsigane (M.A.)|Les Ghorbat d'Afghanistan. Aspects Économiques d'un Groupe Itinerant '[[Jat of Afghanistan|Jat]]'{{refn|group=note|name=first|''The Ghorbat of Afghanistan. Economic Aspects of an Itinerant Group 'Jat' ''}} (Ph.D.)}}<ref name="de1"/>
| doctoral_advisor= [[Xavier de Planhol]]<ref name="de1"/>
| discipline= Anthropology
| sub_discipline= {{br separated entries|Ethnography|Ethnology}}
| workplaces= Former co-chairperson, Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the [[International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences|International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences]]
}}
'''Aparna Rao''' (3 February 1950 – 28 June 2005) was a German [[anthropologist]] who performed studies on [[social groups]] in Afghanistan, France, and some regions of India. Her doctorate studies focused on [[anthropogeography]], ethnology, and [[Islamic studies]]. Rao taught anthropology at the University of Cologne, serving for a brief time as chair of the Department of Ethnology at the South Asia Institute of [[Heidelberg University]], Germany.

Rao's research focused on [[Nomad#Contemporary peripatetic minorities in Europe and Asia|peripatetic]], agrarian populations in Afghanistan, France, [[Jammu Division|Jammu]], [[Kashmir Division|Kashmir]], and western [[Rajasthan]]. Rao researched the impact of the [[conflict in Kashmir]] on the environment and lives of people. Her 1982 work, ''Les Ġhorbat d'Afghanistan. Aspects Économiques d'un Groupe Itinérant 'Jat''', researched the ethnic makeup and local economy of Afghanistan. Her book ''Autonomy: Life Cycle, Gender, and Status among Himalayan Pastoralists'' received the 1999 [[Choice Reviews#Outstanding Academic Titles|Choice]] award.

==Early life and education==
Aparna Rao was born in New Delhi, India to [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]–educated parents who were political activists.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Obituary for Aparna Rao (1950–2005) |journal=Nomadic Peoples |volume=13 |issue=1 |year=2009 |publisher=White Horse Press |page=2 |first=Michael |last=Bollig |doi=10.3167/np.2009.130101 |editor-first=Saverio |editor-last=Krätli |jstor=43124142 |jstor-access=free |quote=Aparna was born on 3 February 1950 in New Delhi as the third child of a historian and an Anglicist. Both her parents had studied at Oxford and both had been engaged in the political struggles of India during their time. Through her parents, Aparna was confronted with the grave socioeconomic problems of India and became acquainted with the role of academia in societal struggles. Although belonging to an elite family, social conscience and personal responsibility were core motivations for her later academic engagements.}}{{registration required}}</ref> In 1980, she married Michael J. Casimir (b. 1942 in Berlin), an ethnologist who retired in 2020 as [[professor emeritus]] from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the [[University of Cologne]], Germany.<ref name="obituary"/><ref name="SCA"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Prof. Dr. Michael J. Casimir {{!}} Faculty of Humanities, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Cologne |url=http://ethnologie.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/content.php?kid=194 |website=University of Cologne |access-date=17 April 2020}}</ref>

Rao studied French literature, linguistics, [[cultural anthropology]], [[physical anthropology]], sociology, and [[ethnology]] at the University of Strasbourg.<ref name="obituary">{{cite journal |title=Obituary for Aparna Rao (1950–2005) |journal=Nomadic Peoples |volume=13 |issue=1 |year=2009 |publisher=White Horse Press |pages=1–4 |first=Michael |last=Bollig |doi=10.3167/np.2009.130101 |editor-first=Saverio |editor-last=Krätli |jstor=43124142 |jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref><ref name="de1">{{cite journal |title=Aparna Rao, 1950–2005 |language=de |journal=Zeitschrift für Ethnologie|volume=133 |issue=1 |year=2008 |publisher=[[:de:Dietrich Reimer Verlag GmbH|Dietrich Reimer Verlag GmbH]] |pages=3–5 |first1=Martin |last1=Rössler |first2=Birgitt |last2=Röttger-Rössler |jstor=25843125}}{{subscription required}}</ref> She received her M.A. in anthropology from the University of Strasbourg in 1974, and later in 1980, completed her Ph.D. in ethnology from the Paris-Sorbonne University.<ref name="obituary"/><ref name="de1"/> Rao studied [[anthropogeography]], ethnology, and [[Islamic studies]] during her doctorate studies. She spoke multiple languages including Bengali, English, French, German, Hindi, [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Romanes]], and Urdu.<ref name="de1"/>

==Academic career==
Rao taught anthropology as an associate professor at the University of Cologne.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lived Islam in South Asia: Adaptation, Accommodation and Conflict |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-grDwAAQBAJ&q=Aparna+Rao+Associate+Professor |editor-first1=Imtiaz |editor-last1=Ahmad |editor-first2=Helmut |editor-last2=Reifeld |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2017 |chapter=Contributors |isbn=978-1351384322 |quote=APARNA RAO (1950-2005)<br />The Late Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cologne, Germany}}</ref> She became a member of the ''[[Société Asiatique]]'' in 1981.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Journal Asiatique |volume=269 |year=1981 |pages=539–540 |publisher=Société Asiatique |place=Paris, France |title=Changements Survenus Dans La Liste Des Membres De La Société Asiatique |trans-title=Changes in the List of Members of the Asian Society |author1=Société Asiatique |author2=Centre national de la recherche scientifique |author2-link=Centre national de la recherche scientifique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWoxoTWmn4EC&pg=PA540 |language=fr}}</ref> From 1993 to 1995, she was chair of the Department of Ethnology at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University, Germany.<ref name="de1"/><ref name="Bulletin 41"/><ref name="SCA"/> From 1995 to 1998, she served as the co-chairperson of the ''Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences,'' along with Michael Casimir.<ref name="SCA">{{cite book |title=Disappearing Peoples? Indigenous Groups and Ethnic Minorities in South and Central Asia |edition=illustrated |year=2007 |pages=273–275 |editor1-first=Barbara |editor1-last=Brower |editor2-first=Barbara Rose |editor2-last=Johnston |section=Contributors |publisher=Left Coast Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ppw7-NEsEsC&pg=PA273 |isbn=978-1598741216}}</ref> She had been on the board of directors of the ''Association of Gypsy Lore Studies.''<ref name="greenwood">{{cite book |title=Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia |editor-first1=Joseph C. |editor-last1=Berland |editor-first2=Aparna |editor-last2=Rao |section=About the Contributors |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CAv53wlHfoC&pg=PA341 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood]] |year=2004 |page=341 |isbn=978-0897897716}}</ref> She was editor-in-chief of the ''Nomadic Peoples''{{refn|group=note|Journal of the Commission of International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences on the Nomadic Peoples<ref>{{cite web |website=White Horse Press |title=Nomadic Peoples |url=http://www.whpress.co.uk/NP.html |access-date=23 November 2020}}</ref>}} journal.<ref name="Bulletin 41">{{citation |title=Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research |number=41 |year=2001 |page=80 |publisher=Committee's Secretariat |place=Vienna, Austria |work=International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHR_AAAAMAAJ&q=%22Commission+on+Nomadic+Peoples+of+the+International+Union+of+Ethnological+and+Anthropological+Sciences%22 |oclc=2447750 |quote=Aparna Rao has taught anthropology at the University of Cologne and acted as Head of Department, Ethnology, at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg. She was cochairperson of the ''Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences'' and is chief editor of the journal ''Nomadic Peoples''. She has spent several years doing field research among peripatetic pastoral and farming communities.}}</ref>

Between 1995 and 1997, she was invited as a [[visiting scholar]] by the Institute of Development Studies at [[Jaipur]], and between 2003 and 2004, by the [[Centre for the Study of Developing Societies]] at Delhi.<ref name="de1" /> Before her death in June 2005, she was scheduled to be the research director at the ''[[Ecole des Hautes Etudes]]'' in Paris.<ref name="SCA"/>

==Research==
Rao performed field studies on the farming, [[Pastoralism|pastoral]], and [[Nomad#Contemporary peripatetic minorities in Europe and Asia|peripatetic]] peoples.<ref name="Bulletin 41"/> She researched the economy, ethnicity, gender relations, and social organization of pastoralist and peripatetic peoples in Afghanistan, France, and Kashmir.<ref>{{cite book |title=Muslim Communities of South Asia: Culture, Society, and Power |edition=3, illustrated, revised |year=1995 |page=525 |publisher=Manohar |editor-first=Triloki Nath |editor-last=Madan |editor-link=Triloki Nath Madan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRduAAAAMAAJ |isbn=978-8173040900 |quote=APARNA RAO did her schooling in India before studying Social Anthropology, Sociology, Human Geography, Islamic Studies and French Literature at the Universities of Paris (Sorbonne) and Srasbourg. She has researched mobile populations of peripatetics and pastoralists, in France, Afghanistan and the Western Himalayas (Kashmir), and published extensively on aspects of social organisation, economy, gender relations and ethnicity. She has taught Anthropology at Cologne University and is acting Head of Department, Anthropology, University of Heidelberg.}}</ref> She studied cognition, economy, environment, and social change in the midst of social groups in Rajasthan and Kashmir.<ref>{{citation |title=Newsletter, Issue 15 |year=2002 |page=22 |publisher=E. Stiglmayr |place=Vienna, Austria |section=Answers to the QUESTIONNAIRES according to the research areas |author=International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. Commission on Urgent Anthropological Research. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=adMiAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Aparna+Rao%22 |oclc=13178939 |quote=Dr. Aparna Rao At present: Institut für Völkerkunde der Universität zu Köln Albertus–Magnus Platz D-50923 Köln Germany Present research: in South Asia, among various communities in Kashmir and Rajasthan Subject: economy, cognition, social change, environment}}</ref> According to Jadwiga Pstrusińska, utilizing her native-level knowledge of an Indian language, she discovered previously unobserved phenomena on the languages of Afghanistan during her ethnological studies on the country's peripatetic populace in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Secret Languages of Afghanistan and Their Speakers |chapter=Polish Research on The Secret Languages of Afghanistan |first=Jadwiga |last=Pstrusińska |year=2014 |pages=31–32 |publisher=[[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ptUxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |isbn=978-1443864411 |quote=In so far as we are concerned with works on secret languages (and similar phenomena) and their speakers from Afghanistan itself, relevant information can be found in works by French researchers (Kieffer 1983; Dor 1977). Among the most valuable of these we can list the works of Aparna Rao, who, while conducting ethnological research on peripatetic groups, made important observations in relation to their "own languages." This research dates back to the 1980s—that is, it emerged subsequent to the Polish findings which will be discussed later. Rao's chief asset was her knowledge of a language from the Indian group at a level attainable only by a native speaker. This enabled her to perceive phenomena not previously noticed by anyone else, during her field studies in Afghanistan. The archives of the author of the present book preserve fragments of her correspondence with Aparna Rao and Andreas Tietze, dating from 1987–1988, related to research on secret languages.}}</ref> In her research in Afghanistan, Rao identified the ''Jalali, Pikraj, Shadibaz'' and ''Vangawala'' peoples as four clans of "industrial nomads" who speak a north Indian dialect and have characteristics of [[gypsies]]. In 2004, the four clans' total estimated population in Afghanistan was 7,000.<ref name= "Kenrick">{{cite book |title=Gypsies: From the Ganges to the Thames |edition=illustrated |year=2004 |pages=80–81 |chapter=Gypsies in India, Central Asia and the Middle East |first=Donald |last=Kenrick |publisher=[[University of Hertfordshire Press]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df2mIOnbrDoC&pg=PA80 |isbn=978-1902806235 |quote=Afghanistan is the first country to the west of India and Pakistan where we can identify industrial nomads who do not speak any of the local languages but a dialect from North India, in this case, Inku. Aparna Rao has identified four clans – Jalali, Pikraj, Shadibaz and Vangawala – who fall into this definition of 'Gypsy'. The locals call them 'Jat', which is used in a pejorative way. [..] They number in total some 7,000 and live on the edge of Afghan society.}}</ref> Between 1980 and 1992, she performed ethnographic research on the agency and autonomy within the [[Bakarwal]]s whose traditions have incorporated elements from those of the [[Pashtuns]] and [[Punjabis]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[International Quarterly for Asian Studies]] |volume=31 |number=1–2 |year=2000 |pages=149–150 |publisher=Arnold Bergstrasser Institute |place=Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany |title=Reviews: APARNA RAO, Autonomy: Life Cycle, Gender and Status among Himalayan Pastoralists |first=Christoph |last=Antweiler |url=https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/iaf/article/view/863/833 |issn=2566-686X |eissn=2566-6878 |access-date=17 December 2020 |archive-date=21 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721161539/https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/iaf/article/view/863/833 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Rao's research works included the impact of the [[conflict in Kashmir]] on the environment and lives of people,<ref name="j1">{{cite journal|author=John (Jack) Shrader|year=2005|others=Jeff Kwgel|title=Memorial: Remembering Aparna Rao 1950-2005|url=https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1285&context=himalaya|format=PDF|journal=Himalaya|volume=25|issue=1|access-date=17 April 2020|via=[[Macalester College]]}}</ref> and from 1991 to 1994, she did research on the ethnic, religious, and political conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir.<ref name="de1"/> Rena C. Gropper of [[Hunter College]] noted that Rao was one of the few anthropologists who had carried out research studies in the midst of groups who draw their basic livelihood from other cultural groups.<ref name="RCG"/> The term "peripatetic peoples", that was coined by her, has become a part of academic terminology.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work: Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa and Asia by Joseph C. Berland, Aparno Rao |journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |volume=11 |issue=4 |date=December 2005 |page=847 |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |first=Robert M. |last=Hayden |editor1-first=Glenn |editor1-last=Bowman |editor2-first=Geert |editor2-last=De Neve |editor3-first=Maureen |editor3-last=Bloom |jstor=3804056 |jstor-access=free |quote=The terminology used for this adaptation had not always been consistent in these studies, but the term 'peripatetic peoples' proposed by Rao has now gained general acceptance.}}{{registration required}}</ref> She defined the peripatetic peoples as "the endogamous groups who employ regular spatial mobility as an economic strategy".<ref>{{cite book |title=Romani Writing: Literacy, Literature and Identity Politics |edition=illustrated |year=2013 |pages=190–191 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |first=Paola |last=Toninato |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ec1iAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 |isbn=978-1317970859 |quote=The concept of peripatetics has been introduced in Romani studies by scholars such as Aparna Rao (1985, 1987), Joseph Berland (1982) and Salo and Salo (1982). Peripataticism is a mode of subsistence of great adaptive value. Peripatetics are endogamous groups who "employ regular spatial mobility as an economic strategy" (Rao 1987, 1).}}</ref>

== Written work ==
In ''Les Ġhorbat d'Afghanistan. Aspects Économiques d'un Groupe Itinérant 'Jat,'{{refn|group=note|name=first}}'' Rao discussed the livelihood of the [[Jat people (Afghanistan)|Jat people of Afghanistan]], with a focus on the [[Ghorbati|Ghorbat people]].<ref name="AO">{{cite journal|last=Olesen|first=Asta|year=1983|editor1-last=Luzbetak|editor1-first=Louis J.|editor2-last=Thiel|editor2-first=Josef Franz|title=Reviewed Work: Les Ġorbat d'Afghanistan: Aspects économiques d'un groupe itinérant "ǰat" by Aparna Rao|journal=Anthropos|publisher=Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH|volume=78|issue=3/4|pages=608–610|jstor=40460673|jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Jon W.|date=December 1983|title=Reviewed Work: Les Ġorbat d'Afghanistan: Aspects économiques d'un groupe itinérant "̌at." by Aparna Rao|journal=Middle East Studies Association Bulletin|publisher=[[Middle East Studies Association of North America]]|volume=17|issue=2|page=247|doi=10.1017/S0026318400013766|issn=0026-3184|jstor=23057629|jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref> Asta Olesen suggested that in the book, Rao had filled "an almost complete gap in the knowledge of the ethnic puzzle of Afghanistan".<ref name="AO" /> According to [[University of North Carolina]]'s Jon W. Anderson, the book made accessible the 19 months of fieldwork presented in it.<ref name=":0" />

Gropper suggested that her book ''The Other Nomads: Peripatetic Minorities in Cross–Cultural Perspective (1987)'' lacked structure and relevancy to future work.<ref name="RCG">{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work: The Other Nomads: Peripatetic Minorities in Cross-Cultural Perspective by Aparna Rao |journal=American Anthropologist |series=New |volume=90 |issue=1 |date=March 1988 |pages=228–229 |publisher=American Anthropological Association |first=Rena C. |last=Gropper |doi=10.1525/aa.1988.90.1.02a00910 |jstor=678541 |jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref>

While reviewing ''Culture, Creation, and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice'', a book that was co–authored by Rao in 2000, [[Ann Grodzins Gold]] of [[Syracuse University]] pointed out that a large proportion of its content had been drawn from anthropological field studies concluded or initiated in the 1970s and early 1980s and that the book lacked "new ethnography".<ref name="Gold">{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work: Culture, Creation and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice by Monika Böck, Aparna Rao |journal=Asian Journal of Social Science |volume=31 |issue=3 |year=2003 |pages=588–590 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |first=Ann Grodzins |last=Gold |author-link=Ann Grodzins Gold |editor1-first=Syed Farid |editor1-last=Alatas |editor2-first=Chan Kwok |editor2-last=Bun |editor3-first=Vineeta |editor3-last=Sinha |editor4-first=Medha |editor4-last=Kudaisya |editor5-first=Suriani |editor5-last=Suratman |editor6-first=Anne |editor6-last=Raffin |editor7-first=Leonard Y. |editor7-last=Andava |editor8-first=Zaheer |editor8-last=Baber |editor9-first=Eyal |editor9-last=Ben-Ari |editor10-first=Romain |editor10-last=Bertrand |editor11-first=Eldar |editor11-last=Braten |editor12-first=Hans–Dieter |editor12-last=Evers |editor13-first=James J. |editor13-last=Fox |editor14-first=Ananta Kumar |editor14-last=Giri |editor15-first=Riaz |editor15-last=Hassan |editor16-first=Kevin |editor16-last=Hewison |editor17-first=Michael Hsiao |editor17-last=Hsin–Huang |editor18-first=Frans |editor18-last=Husken |editor19-first=Hubb |editor19-last=De Jonge |editor20-first=Joel S. |editor20-last=Kahn |editor21-first=Rance P. L. |editor21-last=Lee |editor22-first=Terence G. |editor22-last=McGee |editor23-first=T. K. |editor23-last=Oommen |editor24-first=Janet |editor24-last=Salaff |editor25-first=Alvin |editor25-last=So |editor26-first=Wong |editor26-last=Siu–Lun |display-editors=4 |jstor=23654736 |jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref> Gold also said that a one-sided presentation of [[cultural essentialism]] didn't give much credence to a postcolonial interpretation. She noted that the authors substantially covered the "geographic and ethnographic contexts" of South Asia.<ref name="Gold" />

Rao's coauthored book ''Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia'', published in 2004, was a set of mainly ethnographic essays surrounding the role of interactions between settled and displaced peoples. In one of the essays, she analyzed research conducted on some Afghan nomadic people in 1975–1978, their self-perception, and how they were perceived by the sedentary populace of Afghanistan.<ref name=":1" /> In the book, Rao built off previous work conducted by [[Georg Simmel]]. [[University of Pittsburgh]]'s Robert M. Hayden reviewed the book, believing that the book might in the future serve as a benchmark study of displaced peoples. Hayden also believed that Rao's explanation for why the peripatetic lifestyle is successful was a good summary of the scholarly consensus surrounding the peripatetic lifestyle.<ref name=":1" />

Rao's co-authored and co-edited book ''Nomadism in South Asia'' is a series of essays on nomadism in South Asia.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Vinay Kumar Srivastava said that the ethnographic investigations done on nomadism by the authors were extensive. He further added that "...this is the first volume of its kind that brings together different writings, from different cultural contexts on nomads".<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work: Nomadism in South Asia by Aparna Rao, Michael J. Casimir |journal=Anthropos |volume=100 |issue=1 |year=2005 |pages=290–292 |publisher=Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH |first=Vinay Kumar |last=Srivastava |editor1-first=Othmar |editor1-last=Gächter |editor2-first=Joachim |editor2-last=Piepke |editor3-first=Anton |editor3-last=Quack |jstor=40466520 |jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref> According to [[Denison University]]'s Bahram Tavakolian, the book clarified the understanding of how "environment, structure, and agency" interacted in nomadic cultures.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal|last=Tavakolian|first=Bahram|year=2004|editor1-last=Saberwal|editor1-first=Vasant|editor2-last=Agrawal|editor2-first=Arun|title=Reviewed Works: Greener Pastures: Politics, Markets, and Community among a Migrant Pastoral People by Arun Agrawal; Nomadism in South Asia by Aparna Rao, Michael J. Casimir; Pastoralists: Equality, Hierarchy, and the State by Philip Carl Salzman|journal=Nomadic Peoples|series=New|publisher=White Horse Press|volume=8|issue=2, ''Whither South Asian Pastoralism?''|pages=274–277|doi=10.3167/082279404780446069 |jstor=43123738|jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref>

Rao was given the ''[[Choice Reviews#Outstanding Academic Titles|Choice]]'' award in 1999, for her book ''Autonomy: Life Cycle, Gender, and Status among Himalayan Pastoralists''.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Nomadic Peoples |series=New |volume=8 |number=2, ''Special Issue: Whither South Asian Pastoralism?'' |year=2004 |page=2 |publisher=White Horse Press |title=Front Matter |jstor=43123722 |jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}</ref>

==Death==
Rao died of cancer on 28 June 2005.<ref name="j1"/><ref name="de1"/>

==Works==

===Books authored===
*{{cite book |title=Autonomy: Life Cycle, Gender, and Status among Himalayan Pastoralists |year=1998 |publisher=[[Berghahn Books]] |place=New York |first=Aparna |last=Rao |lccn=97015842}}
*{{cite book |title=Entstehung und Entwicklung Ethnischer Identität bei einer Islamischen Minderheit in Südasien: Bemerkungen zur Geschichte der Bakkarwal im Westlichen Himalaya |trans-title=Origin and Development of Ethnic Identity among an Islamic Minority in South Asia: Comments on the History of the Bakkarwal in the Western Himalayas |year=1988 |publisher=[[:de:Das arabische Buch|Das Arabische Buch]] |place=Berlin |first=Aparna |last=Rao |lccn=88204809}}
*{{cite book |title=Les Ġhorbat d'Afghanistan. Aspects Économiques d'un Groupe Itinérant 'Jat' |trans-title=The Ghorbat of Afghanistan. Economic Aspects of an Itinerant Group 'Jat' |publication-date=1982 |orig-year=Composed 1980 |publisher=A.D.P.F. |place=Paris |first=Aparna |last=Rao |lccn=83174197}}
*{{cite book |title=Note Préliminaire sur les Jat d'Afghanistan /cAparna Rao |trans-title=Preliminary Note on the Jat of Afghanistan |edition=Reprinted from: Studia Iranica, t.8, fasc. 1 |year=1979 |publisher=Association pour l'avancement des Études Iraniennes |first=Aparna |last=Rao |oclc=1039700457 |language=fr}}

===Books edited===
*{{cite book |title=The Practice of War: Production, Reproduction and Communication of Armed Violence |publication-date=2007 |publisher=Berghahn Books |place=New York; Oxford |editor1-first=Aparna |editor1-last=Rao |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Bollig |editor3-first=Monika |editor3-last=Böck |lccn=2008299236}}
*{{cite book |title=Nomadism in South Asia |series=Oxford in India Readings in Sociology and Social Anthropology |editor1-first=Aparna |editor1-last=Rao |editor2-first=Michael J. |editor2-last=Casimir |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |place=New Delhi |year=2003 |lccn=2003321544}}
*{{cite book |title=Customary Strangers: New Perspectives on Peripatetic Peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia |year=2004 |publisher=[[Praeger Publishing|Praeger]] |place=Westport, Connecticut |editor1-first=Aparna |editor1-last=Rao |editor2-first=Joseph C. |editor2-last=Berland |lccn=2003060424}}
*{{cite book |title=Culture, Creation, and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice |editor1-first=Aparna |editor1-last=Rao |editor2-first=Monika |editor2-last=Böck |publisher=Berghahn Books |place=New York |year=2000 |lccn=00060885}}
*{{cite book |title=Mobility and Territoriality: Social and Spatial Boundaries Among Foragers, Fishers, Pastoralists, and Peripatetics |type=Conference papers and proceedings: Outcome of a conference held under the auspices of the [[:de:Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde|Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde]], in Cologne in October 1987 |publication-date=1992 |orig-year=Composed 1987 |publisher=[[Berg Publishers|Berg]] |place=New York |editor1-first=Aparna |editor1-last=Rao |editor2-first=Michael J. |editor2-last=Casimir |lccn=91023207}}
*{{cite book |title=Krieg und Kampf: die Gewalt in Unseren Köpfen |trans-title=War and Struggle: The Violence in Our Heads |year=1996 |publisher=[[:de:Dietrich Reimer Verlag|D. Reimer]] |place=Berlin |editor1-first=Aparna |editor1-last=Rao |editor2-first=Erwin |editor2-last=Orywal |editor3-first=Michael |editor3-last=Bollig |oclc=36406067 |language=de}}
*{{cite book |title=The Other Nomads: Peripatetic Minorities in Cross–Cultural Perspective |series=Kölner Ethnologische Mitteilungen, Volume 8 |year=1987 |publisher=[[Böhlau Verlag]] |place=[[Köln]] |editor-first=Aparna |editor-last=Rao |lccn=87153302}}

===Selected papers===
*{{cite book |title=The Other Nomads: Peripatetic Minorities in Cross–Cultural Perspective |series=Kölner Ethnologische Mitteilungen, Volume 8 |year=1987 |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |place=Köln |editor-first=Aparna |editor-last=Rao |article=The Concept of Peripatetics: An Introduction |first=Aparna |last=Rao |lccn=87153302}}
*{{cite journal |journal=Mountain Research and Development |volume=5 |issue=3 |date=August 1985 |pages=221–232 |publisher=[[International Mountain Society]] |title=Vertical Control in the Western Himalaya: Some Notes on the Pastoral Ecology of the Nomadic Bakrwal of Jammu and Kashmir |first1=Aparna |last1=Rao |first2=Michael J. |last2=Casimir |doi=10.2307/3673355 |jstor=3673355 |jstor-access=free}}{{registration required}}
*{{Cite journal |journal=[[Human Nature (journal)|Human Nature]] |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=241–272 |date=September 1995 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |title=Prestige, Possessions, and Progeny: Cultural Goals and Reproductive Success Among the Bakkarwal |first1=Aparna |last1=Rao |first2=Michael J. |last2=Casimir |doi=10.1007/BF02734141|pmid=24203092 |s2cid=3119534 }}
*{{cite web |title=Social Protection in Fiscal Stimulus Packages: Some Evidence |url=http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Development%20Studies/socialprotection_fiscalstimulus_sept2009.pdf |first1=Aparna |last1=Rao |first2=Yanchun |last2=Zhang |first3=Nina |last3=Thelen |publication-date=September 2009 |publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]] |place=New York |access-date=18 April 2020 |archive-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917223342/https://www1.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Development%20Studies/socialprotection_fiscalstimulus_sept2009.pdf |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite journal |journal=[[L'Homme]] |number=95 |pages=97–120 |date=July–September 1985 |publisher=[[École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales]] |place=Paris |title=Des Nomades Méconnus: Pour une Typologie des Communautés Péripatétiques |first=Aparna |last=Rao |volume=25 |doi=10.3406/hom.1985.368592 |jstor=25132145 |jstor-access=free |language=fr}}{{registration required}}
*{{Cite journal |journal=[[Human Ecology (journal)|Human Ecology]] |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=113–134 |date=March 1998 |publisher=Springer |title=Sustainable Herd Management and the Tragedy of No Man's Land: An Analysis of West Himalayan Pastures Using Remote Sensing Techniques |first1=Aparna |last1=Rao |first2=Michael J. |last2=Casimir |doi=10.1023/A:1018701001793|bibcode=1998HumEc..26..113C |s2cid=151112196 }}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Aparna}}
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:University of Strasbourg alumni]]
[[Category:Paris-Sorbonne University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Cologne]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Heidelberg University]]
[[Category:Members of the Société Asiatique]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to Germany]]
[[Category:German women anthropologists]]
[[Category:Human geographers]]
[[Category:20th-century German geographers]]
[[Category:Anthropology educators]]
[[Category:Anthropology writers]]
[[Category:German women academics]]
[[Category:German anthropologists]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century German anthropologists]]
[[Category:German Indologists]]
[[Category:Indian Indologists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of South Asia Institute Heidelberg]]

Aparna Rao - Revision history

Haresh Kathrotiya at 06:58, 10 February 2026