Anthropologist Osella deported on arrival in Thiruvananthapuram

A senior immigration official in Thiruvananthapuram, who did not want to be named, said Osella arrived at the airport via Qatar Airways at 3:10 am and was deported back to Dubai by 4.30 am.

Renowned anthropologist Filippo Osella who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday morning was deported to Dubai the moment he landed at the airport here. Osella was barred from entry as he had “previously misused his visa provisions,” said ministry of home affairs (MHA) official, aware of the development.

Filippo Osella (ANI)

A senior immigration official in Thiruvananthapuram, who did not want to be named, said Osella arrived at the airport via Qatar Airways at 3:10 am and was deported back to Dubai by 4.30 am. “We have no idea about reasons for his persona non-grata status. It is an official site manned by the immigration bureau and our records clearly mentioned that he was non- admissible to the country,” the official said.

Osella was due to speak at a conference on Fridayon coastal communities organised by the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Centre for Development Studies (CDS Thiruvananthapuram), Inter University Center for Alternative Economics, University of Kerala, and the University of Sussex. Osella has conducted extensive research in southern India with focus on Kerala. A CDS official said, “He is a regular to the country and had last visited four months ago. The present conference has nothing controversial. It is about livelihood of people living in coastal areas in the context of climate change. It was basically an academic function.” Once he reached Dubai, Osella contacted the organisers and expressed his inability to attend, said the official.

While the MHA did not officially comment, an official familiar with the development said, “Osella was deported as he had previously misused his visa provisions, violating the law of the land.”

Osella’s long academic relationship with Kerala includes a book called “Social Mobility in Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict” in 2000. A section of his research and scholarship on the University of Sussex website, where he is Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies (Anthropology) says his specialist areas are “Kerala, South India, South Asia, Gulf countries: Social reproduction and stratification; popular religion (Hinduism & Islam) and reform movements; migration; masculinity; consumption; relations between economic and religious practice; entrepreneurship and trade networks.”