Bishnu N. Mohapatra is a social theorist and poet, an educator and a commentator on society, politics and culture. He was born in Odisha and spent his early years in its rural hinterland. Bishnu taught politics for more than twenty-five years in University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Azim Premji University. He has held visiting appointments at Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, National University of Singapore, University of Kyoto, Japan, and National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. He has lectured at several universities in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. From 2002 to 2010, he headed the governance portfolio of the Ford Foundation’s South Asia office in Delhi.