Prof. Verne A. Dusenbery

Verne A. DusenberyAssociate Professor of Anthropologyand Director of International StudiesHamline UniversityBox 1641536 Hewitt AvenueSt. Paul, MN 55104Tel : (651) 523-2129Fax : (651) 523-3170vdusenbery@hamline.edu

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Verne A. Dusenbery from Hamline University and Jane E. Schukoske of the USEFI in Jalandhar on Thursday.
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Analysing Sikh philanthropy for the last nearly 30 years, Verne A. Dusenbery, Professor of Anthropology at Hamline University, and currently a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar in India, observed that competition among the Sikh NRIs to pay back to their motherland was the driving force behind the huge investments into Punjab.

Verne A. Dusenbery from Hamline University and Jane E. Schukoske of the USEFI in Jalandhar on Thursday. - Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma
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Analysing Sikh philanthropy for the last nearly 30 years, Verne A. Dusenbery, Professor of Anthropology at Hamline University (US), and currently a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar in India, observed that competition among the Sikh NRIs to pay back to their motherland was the driving force behind the huge investments into Punjab.

Talking to The Tribune at the Lyallpur Khalsa College during a seminar on "Sikh Philanthropy in Punjab", organised by the United States Educational Foundation in India (USEFI), Professor Dusenbery said that there were multiple factors motivating the NRIs to invest in the state, but competition among them certainly played a key role."Just because they are envious of an NRI making donations at an adjoining village, they are ready to spend more on their own village," he said.

Claiming that religion, too, was an important factor in Punjab, the anthropologist said he had travelled hundreds of kilometers across Punjab and found that the majority of the charity had come in the form of donation to gurdwaras and temples.The professor said he was "surprised" to see huge and expensive gates being erected at the entrance of the villages as another major form of donation to rural Punjab.

Professor Dusenbery said he had found some peculiar aspects to Sikh philanthropy.