Durganand Sinha

SERPELL (SERPELL who-is-at UMBC2.UMBC.EDU)
Thu, 30 Apr 1998 18:33:30 -0500 (EST)

I am sad to have to share with you the news that Professor Durganand Sinha
died of a heart attack on March 23.

Several of you will know his book, published by Sage in 1986, entitled
"Psychology in a Third World Country: the Indian experience."
Professor Sinha was a mentor to many distinguished Indian psychologists,
including J.B.P. Sinha (whose writings about psychology and national
development are widely cited) and Ramesh Mishra (who shared the podium
with Jalil Akkari and me at the symposium in Fribourg, Switzerland,
last October on the state of research in education in countries
of the South and the East).

Durganand was the President of the International Association of
Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) from 1980 to 1982, in a line
of distinguished scholars that has included Jerome Bruner (1972),
Gustav Jahoda (1972-74), and Harry Triandis (1974-76), with whom
he was scheduled to share the podium at a the "Founders Symposium" in the
program of the Silver Jubilee congress of the IACCP
in Bellingham later this year. How sad that he missed by a just few
months the chance to participate in that historic event!

I am very glad, though, that he was able to see his inspiring chapter on
Indigenizing Psychology published last year in volume 1 of the
new edition of the Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology. I am sure that,
along with his many other works, it will keep his spirit alive among us
for many years to come.

On a personal note, Durganand was a large and imposing figure, but in my
experience also extraordinarily gentle and courteous. I first met him at a
meeting organized by Wolfgang Schwendler (UNESCO) and Wayne Holtzman (IUPsyS)
in Edinburgh in 1982, attended by a wonderful panel of psychologists from
many different corners of the globe. I still recommend the proceedings
(edited by Durganand and Wayne, and published in the International Journal
of Psychology, 1984, 19 (1/2), to my classes as one of the best overviews
of how different psychology looks from outside the USA than it appears in
the "mainstream" of American psychology.

Robert Serpell
-----------------------------------------
Robert Serpell Telephone: (410)455-2417
Psychology Department (410)455-2567
University of Maryland Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle,
Baltimore, MD 21250 Fax: (410)455-1055
USA
INTERNET: Serpell who-is-at UMBC2.UMBC.edu