Dr. Preeti Prabhune

Dr. Preeti Prabhune began her journey with journalism and then moved towards the teaching profession, but started enjoying the research process truly… Her keen interest in Indian history made her participate in the excavations of chalcolithic sites in Rajasthan, taught her the significance and value of our culture, civilization, and necessity to preserve the heritage. Dr. Preeti Prabhune completed two years Diploma and Masters in Indology and then Masters in Anthropology. She did Masters's research in Developmental Anthropology, addressing the issues related to the dam-induced rehabilitation process and their self-development. She began with the Ph.D. titled, “A Study of Settlement Pattern, Nutrition, and Diseases Among Bhil, Warli, Mahadeo Koli Tribes of Maharashtra: An Ethno-archaeological Approach”. For this, she received Centralized Open Doctoral Fellowship by Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi. The same Council has awarded her Post-Doctoral Fellowship for the research project “Setting Up an Interventional Model to Combat Nutritional Challenges of Street Children in Pune City”, for which she is presently working. She was part of many research projects as a Research Assistant and Research Associate and delved more into the area of Ethno-archaeology, Ethno-botany, Obesity as well as Malnourishment at the university level. For Doctoral research and for other projects, she could understand the lifeways of many tribal populations in India like Bhil, Pawara, Tadvi, Warli, Konkana, Thakar, Mahadeo Koli, Gond, Madia, etc. and engaged in research activities for all age groups from infants to geriatric old population. Working in the NGO sector introduced her to urban reality. She worked as a Manager at IDEA Foundation, also got introduced to the segments of city populations like Katkari, Laman / Banjara, Gopal / Dombari (street players), Vaidu, Kuchi Korve. Socio-economically backward migrant communities face problems of getting adapted, livelihood, and education of children. She has published fourteen research papers in a variety of refereed journals and written many popular articles in Marathi, English, and Hindi languages. Dr. Prabhune has published one book in the local language titled, “A day with female workers” has been Published by Unmesh Publication, Pune; presently working on Maharashtra State Gazetteer. Two more books will be published soon titled, “Nutrition and Diseases in Western Maharashtrian Folks under the Umbrella of Ecology” and “Tribal Settlements and Ethno-archaeological Studies in Maharashtra: Bhil, Warli, Mahadeo Koli And Gond Tribes” by Hans Publication, Delhi.