Rajan Gurukkal

Rajan Gurukkal Biography

Rajan Gurukkal is a leading Indian social scientist, historian, professor and writer from Kannur, Kerala. He has written six books in Malayalam and in English. His works are based on Socio-economic, cultural history of Kerala, structural anthropology, historical sociology, and human ecology of the Southern Western Ghats. Apart from books, his articles and speeches also make him a famous person. He has also received numerous awards for his contributions to Malayalam literature. He is a former Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.

His full name is Puthen Madathil Rajan Gurukkal. He was born on May 15, 1948 in a village called Kariyad near Mahe in the Kannur District of Kerala. He did his schooling first in his family school at Kuruvattur, followed by Kariyad Nambiar’s Upper Primary School and Ramavilasam Secondary School. Later he studied at Government College of Madappally and Government Brennen College, Tellecherry to complete graduation. He completed post-graduation in history from the University of Calicut in 1972, with University first rank. After studies, he started his career as junior lecturer at Union Christian College at Aluva. He completed his M.Phil in 1978 and Ph.D in 1985 in historical socio-economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Later he served in different academic positions like dean of faculty, member of the academic council, senate and syndicate of several universities. He has also served as Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. He was a faculty of JNU, New Delhi before he took the chair of Professor and Director, School of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University. He was invited to that position by noted writer and the then University Vice-Chancellor U. R. Ananthamurthy. He received Oravakkal Mathen Memorial Best Academician Award in the year 1986.

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Updated: January 21, 2014