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{{BLP sources|date=July 2011}}
[[File:Robert S Newman, anthropologist from Marblehead, Mass.jpg|thumb|]]'''Robert S. Newman''' (born February 12, 1943) is an [[anthropologist]] based in [[Marblehead, Massachusetts]], USA, primarily known for his contribution to studying post-1961 [[Goa]], [[India]].<ref>Mani, Kalanand & Noronha, Frederick (2008) ''Picture-Postcard Poverty: Unheard voices, forgotten issues from rural Goa'', Goa 1556, {{ISBN|978-81-905682-8-9}}, p. 4</ref>

==Early life and education==
Newman was born Robert Samuel Newman in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]] and grew up in [[Marblehead, Massachusetts|Marblehead]], [[Mass.]], the son of Morris M. Newman and Ethel Solmer Newman, both children of [[Jew]]ish immigrants from the [[Russian Empire]]. Music was his first love, but it turned out to be a short one. A chance to be an exchange student in [[Japan]] in 1959, turned Newman towards Asia and he earned his B.A. in [[Asia]]n Studies from [[Cornell University]] in 1964. He then went to [[India]] as a [[Peace Corps]] volunteer.

==Early anthropology work==
Before the [[Peace Corps]], he worked briefly in [[Honduras]] in 1964 with a Cornell project. In the Peace Corps he worked two years in [[Lucknow]] at [[Literacy House]], learned [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]], and married an [[India]]n woman, [[Sudha Dubey]]. Returning to Cornell, he pursued higher degrees in a combination of [[Organizational Behavior]] and [[Anthropology]]. After short stints teaching at the [[University of Chicago]] and [[SUNY]] [[Cortland, New York|Cortland]] in 1973, Newman immigrated to [[Australia]] with his wife to start teaching at [[La Trobe University]] in [[Melbourne]].

He had long wished to study [[Goa]], and after a serendipitous visit in 1965, he found his chance. He was able to begin research there in 1978 and returned many times over the next 12 years. During this period, he also taught in [[Xi'an]], [[China]] and at [[Yonsei University]] in [[Seoul, Korea]]. Newman remained at [[La Trobe University]] until 1989, when he returned to Marblehead to start a new life in an old place. He wound up teaching [[English language learning and teaching|English as a Second Language]] in the immigrant community from the former [[Soviet Union]], but continued working on [[Goa]], publishing a book and several more articles, attending conferences.

==Goa work==
Newman was the first to apply modern anthropological theory and writing to the study of [[Goa]]n society, his main arguments being that [[Goa]] has never been part of [[Portugal]], but rather a slightly [[Lusitanized]] region of India and that [[Goa]]n culture must be seen as a synthesis which formed a [[Hindu]]-[[Catholic]] one. A second conclusion is that the same "[[Green Revolution]]" process that increased grain production in [[India]], was also successfully applied to fishing in [[Goa]] (and elsewhere in [[India]]) but that the human and ecological price paid has been extremely high. Overall, he attempts to show that popular religion in [[Goa]], as separate from the classical versions of [[Catholicism]] and [[Hinduism]], is a rich synthesis of the two in which goddesses can be seen (for example) as either [[Shantadurga]] or [[Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)|Our Lady]], in which [[Hindus]] attend certain [[Catholic]] feast day ceremonies and [[Catholics]] make donations to [[Hindu]] [[temples]]. He especially studied the region in southern Salcete district where such activity is common.

Newman argues that in Goa, as in such places as [[Mexico]], [[Peru]], [[Brazil]], the [[Philippines]], and [[Mauritius]], contact between two or more civilizations created a "fascinating synthesis". He says this synthesis is "one that had been steadfastly slighted by anthropologists, who wanted to study "pure" India, whatever that may be!" In line with this argument, he did a stint of research in Mauritius in 1987, concentrating on [[popular Hinduism]] in its various aspects among the "[[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|overseas Indians]]" there.

==Writings==
Newman's original field work in [[Lucknow]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]], resulted in a book "[[Grassroots Education in India]]", published by [[Sterling Publishing|Sterling]] ([[New Delhi]]) in 1989. That book looks at the organizational effectiveness of three primary schools in [[Lucknow District]]: a typical village school, a Muslim [[Maktab (education)|maktab]], and a middle class, urban school run by Christian Brothers. Newman has written other articles on the nexus of education and culture in [[North India]], [[Islamic studies|Muslim education]], [[Indian Jews]], [[Hindi films]], a comparison of the [[Vietnam]]ese and [[Cambodia]]n revolutions, the transformation of knowledge in [[Albania]], and on extension education and approaches to agricultural development.

Newman has written a wide variety of articles on [[Goa]]. Many of them were combined in his book ''[[Of Umbrellas, Goddesses and Dreams]]'' which is published by the [[Mapusa]] ([[Goa]])-based [[Other India Press]].<ref>Harding, Paul (2003) ''Goa'', Lonely Planet, {{ISBN|978-1-74059-139-3}}, p. 47</ref> In 2019, he published in two volumes: "Goan Anthropology: Festivals, Films and Fish", and "Goan Anthropology: Mothers,Miracles and Mythology" at Goa,1556 Press. These volumes contain almost all of the previous work plus a number of new chapters, new bibliography and new introductions.

He is a semi-professional photographer and has had 15 one-man exhibitions over the last 30 years, selling hundreds of prints.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Robert S.}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American anthropologists]]
[[Category:History of Goa]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Mapusa]]
[[Category:People from Marblehead, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:State University of New York at Cortland faculty]]

Robert S. Newman - Revision history

imported>Rodw: Disambiguating links to Maktab (link changed to Maktab (education)) using DisamAssist.