# Joan P. Mencher, anthropologist of caste and rice, dies at 96 2026-08-12T00:34:13+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Joan P. Mencher, the American anthropologist whose work on caste in South India challenged elite perspectives, has died at 96. The Frontline reports that Mencher, born in 1930, earned her PhD from Columbia University and taught at Lehman College in New York until 2004. Her 1974 paper 'The Caste System Upside Down' argued for a bottom-up understanding of caste and its effects. Mencher spent decades researching agriculture and rural life in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. She used personal funds to run the Second Chance Foundation, which supported rice innovations like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), focusing on women farmers. She and her husband adopted two Indian children and considered India her true home. A feminist scholar, she was active in the International Women’s Anthropology Conference. ## Coverage - frontline.thehindu.com Tags: anthropologist, caste, feminism, India studies, Kerala, rice cultivation Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/joan-p-mencher-anthropologist-of-caste-and-rice-dies-at-96/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/joan-p-mencher-anthropologist-of-caste-and-rice-dies-at-96/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.