BERKELEY — Gerald D. Berreman, a UC Berkeley emeritus professor of anthropology who was widely recognized for championing socially responsible anthropology and for his work on social inequality in India, died at an elderly care home in El Cerrito, Calif., on Dec. 23 following a long illness. He was 83.

A native of Portland, Ore., Berreman joined the UC Berkeley Department of Anthropology in 1959 as an assistant professor. He retired in 2001 after a distinguished career that featured a 41-year study of caste, gender, class and environment in and around the Indian village of Sirkanda and the urban area of Dehra Dun.

In later work, Berreman explored how lower-caste individuals in Northern India could escape the stigma of belonging to the so-called “untouchable” class. With a lifelong interest in South Asia and the Himalayas, he also worked on environmental and development issues in India and Nepal.

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