RONO HILLS, 7 Aug: Rajiv Gandhi University’s (RGU) Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies (AITS) has launched the Tamo Mibang lecture series, which will be an annual event, to commemorate late Prof Tamo Mibang’s immense contribution towards research in tribal studies and literacy in the state.
Prof Mibang (1 July, 1955 to 6 August, 2022) was the founding head of the erstwhile tribal affairs department in the Arunachal University in 1995. The institute was renamed as AITS in 2007.
Mibang served as the AITS director till 2012, and then as AITS professor till 2022. He was also a former RGU vice chancellor.
The first Tamo Mibang memorial lecture was delivered by Aizawl-based Mizoram University’s former history and ethnography head Prof Jagadish Lal Dawar, who was a close associate of Prof Mibang.
Delivering the lecture, titled ‘Tamo Mibang and various narratives and identities of emerging tribal culture’, he said that “Tamo Mibang’s work reveals authentic tribal cultural identities as the essential theme that connects all his works.”
“The lecture was based on academic enquiry into the themes of culture, gender, landscape and identity and food culture through works of writers like late Lummer Dai, late Talom Rukbo, Padmashree awardee YD Thongchi, Padmashree awardee Mamang Dai, and the work of late Prof Mibang,” the university informed in a release.
RGU Registrar Dr NT Rikam dwelt on Prof Mibang’s “selfless service towards RGU fraternity and larger society,” while RGU Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Khushwaha urged all to “imbibe the life principles of Prof Mibang in your everyday life, which could be a true tribute to the memory of late Prof Mibang.”
The lecture was attended by deans, HoDs, faculties, administrative officers, research scholars and students from various departments of the university.
