Owen M. Lynch (January 4, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American anthropologist who specialised in the people of India, with particular interest in those now referred to as dalits, who were previously known as untouchables.
[1] Owen Lynch was born on January 4, 1931, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, to a working-class Roman Catholic family of Irish descent.
[2] Having conducted fieldwork among squatters in the slums of Dharavi in Bombay (now Mumbai) during 1970–1971, Lynch was appointed Charles F. Noyes Professor of Urban Anthropology at New York University (NYU) in 1974 and continued in that role until 2003.
[2] Further periods of fieldwork in India were undertaken by Lynch between 1988 and 1989, when he looked into the Radhavallabhi sect in Brindaban, Uttar Pradesh, and between 1994 and 1995, when he returned to Agra for further study of the dalits there.
[2] Lynch, who held numerous roles with professional organisations during his academic career, retired from NYU as professor emeritus in 2003 and died, unmarried and childless but with many appreciative nieces and nephews, on April 26, 2013, in Boston, Massachusetts.