Congratulations to Sen. Kamala Harris, our first Sarah Kailath speaker, on being chosen as the running mate of Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Harris could become the first woman and the first person of color to hold the office of vice president. Read about her Indian heritage.
The Institute mourns the passing of Prof. Kirk R. Smith, a pioneering researcher on the impact of household energy use in developing nations. Professor of Global Environmental Health and Director of the Collaborative Clean Air Policy Centre in New Delhi, Prof. Smith is best known for his work on the effects of indoor air pollution from cook stove fires. Prof. Smith died on June 15 at the age of 73 at his Berkeley home.
Much needed analysis by CSAS' very own, Sanchita Saxena.
A South Asia scholar from Columbia University, known for his affinity with students and potential donors alike, Nicholas Dirks, has been selected as the 10th chancellor of UC Berkeley.
Read CSAS Chair, Lawrence Cohen's comments on the immense importance of this appointment.
At the memorial to the 1964 Free Speech Movement on the campus of University of California, Berkeley, students, led by Professor of English, Poulomi Saha, stand in love and solidarity with JNU. #standwithJNU.
We are proud to announce that Prof. Raka Ray, the former Director of the Institute for South Asia Studies, has been selected as the next dean of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science. We wish her all the best as she takes on this new role. Read more about Prof. Ray and her new role .
Congratulations to Bharat Venkat for receiving the 2019 Joseph W. Elder Prize in the Indian Social Sciences for his book, At the Limits of Cure. Bharat Venkat, who earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, is an assistant professor in Anthropology at the University of Oregon; starting in July 2019, he will be assistant professor at UCLA’s Institute for Society and Genetics. Read more about the award and the book.
The Institute's South Asia Art Initiative is sending a team of scholars - Atreyee Gupta, Sugata Ray, Asma Kazmi, Sanchita Saxena, & Munis Faruqui - to the Dhaka Art Summit in 2020. The program, titled, "Indian Ocean Imaginaries as World History," will unfold in close collaboration with artists, activists, and art and architecture historians in Bangladesh. Read more about the program "Indian Ocean Imaginaries as World History"
Many congratulations to Dr. Salman Hussain for his dissertation, Together Without Consensus: Class, Emotions and the Politics of the Rule of Law in the Lawyers’ Movement (2007-09) in Pakistan, completed at CUNY under Prof. Avram Bornstein. Award ceremony on April 26, 2019. Read more about Dr. Hussain's dissertation.
Highlights include an award winning photo essay on sanitation workers in India, new publications by UC faculty and alumni, an opinion piece on Rahul Gandhi's UC Berkeley visit, and Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies' related news. Read the Khabar newsletter.
A collaborative team of researchers led by UC Berkeley's Dr. Ashok Gadgil and Jadavpur University's Prof. Joyashree Roy have set up a very efficient and cost-effective system for providing safe and arsenic free water for just 60 paise per litre. Read more about their work.
"Demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are the two major headwinds that held back India’s economic growth last year," said the former RBI Governor in his Bhattacharya Lecture at UC Berkeley on Nov 9, 2018. Hear the lecture and see some pictures from the event.
What terms do we use to describe and evaluate art, and how do we judge if art is good, and if it is for the social good? In How Art Can Be Thought, Allan deSouza investigates such questions and the popular terminology through which art is discussed, valued, and taught. Read more about the book.
We are very proud to report that in recognition of our work in making UC Berkeley a critical node for South Asian scholarship the U.S. Dept. of Ed. has renewed our NRC as well as FLAS awards for the next four years. Read more about receipt of these two grants.
The BULPIP– AIPS Urdu Program in Pakistan is about to enter Year 5 of operations. The report contains information on the history of the program, the people who help run it and the people who have benefited from it, the program's spending patterns, curriculum, participation and learning statistics, and testimonials from a diverse group of past participants. Read the report.
Prof. Saba Mahmood passed away on March 10 after a prolonged battle with cancer. Prof. Mahmood, a powerful presence in the life of the Institute, played a key role in the creation of the Pakistan Studies Initiative and Urdu@Berkeley. We will all miss her profoundly. Our heartfelt condolences go out to her husband, son, family and to Saba's wide circle of friends. Read more about Prof. Saba Mahmood's passing.
Many congratulations to Dr. William E. B. Sherman (Asst. Prof Religion, UNC-Charlotte) for his dissertation, "Mountains and Messiahs: The Roshaniyya, Revelation, and Afghan Becoming," completed at Stanford University under Prof. Shahzad Bashir. Award ceremony on April 26, 2018. Details about the ceremony.
Navtej Sarna, the Indian ambassador to the United States, visited UC Berkeley on Feb 12. Drawn by UC Berkeley's famed library collections. the ambassador, who is a scholar of the Sikh religion, viewed parts of the South Asians in North America Collection (including documents of the Gadar party) and other holdings on Sikhism. Read the media coverage on the visit.
The Institute mourns the passing of Pakistan's most prominent human rights lawyer, Asma Jahangir. In 2013, we had the honor of welcoming Ms. Jahangir to campus as the inaugural speaker in our Mahomedali Habib Distinguished Lecture Series on Pakistan. In addition to her lecture, Ms. Jahangir also met with Cal students and members of the local Bay Area community. Video of the Lecture.
A new contest designed to highlight the untold stories of remarkable South Asian women who have effected change through their individual or collective work, ideas, or presence. Grand prize of $5000, a week in UC Berkeley. And much more. Deadline: January 15, 2018. Details and application for the contest.
Highlights include reports on cutting-edge research and socially impactful work being done in South Asia by Cal faculty and scholars, an excerpt from Prof. Pranab Bardhan's memoirs, and a welcome address from our new director, Prof. Munis Faruqui. Read Khabar's 2017 newsletter.
Munis Faruqui has been awarded a 2011 Hellman Award. Prof. Faruqui’s extensive archival research on the Mughal Empire has so far been restricted to India. With this grant, he hopes to extend his archival work on the Mughals to Pakistan. Find out more information on the award.
Professor of Sanskrit, Robert P. Goldman has been honored with the World Sanskrit Award for 2017 by the ICCR for his work on Sanskrit language and literature and for the completion under his direction of the translation of the Sanskrit epic poem, the Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki. Read more about the award.
The Institute for South Asia Studies is thrilled to announce the appointment of historian of medieval India, Prof. Munis D. Faruqui as the new Director of the Institute for South Asia Studies and Sarah Kailath Chair of Indian Studies. Learn more about Prof. Munis D. Faruqui.
In the Boston Review, Prof. Pranab Bardhan argues that the populist challenges to liberal order across the world cannot be explained just by anger with market-driven inequalities but also stems from larger majoritarian perception of siege and victimhood. Read the full article.
Our 2016 Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center Fellow on Quality of Life in Bangladesh was recently featured in UC Berkeley News for her astounding journey from refugee to health researcher at UC Berkeley. Read more about the journey.
Proud to share that our former Sarah Kailath Distinguished Speaker, Rohini Nilekani has been elected as Foreign Associate to the American Academies of the Arts and Sciences. This is a great honor and we wish her all success in her new role. Read more about the new members of the American Academy of the Arts.
In The Hindu, Prof. Pradeep Chhibber and UCB alum, Harsh Shah, speak on the need to change the incentive structure in India's political parties and "give local politicians a larger stake in larger issues of the day". Read the full article.
In the Times of India, Prof. Munis Faruqui was interviewed about Dara's intellectual pursuits and flipped the narrative on Dara's image as "a secular, liberal prince...who might have avoided the beginnings of communal divide". Read the full article.
IIT Kharagpur is starting a school on Quality and Reliability (Q&R) a first of its kind in India, with the generous support of distinguished alumnus and Chowdhury Center founder, Mr. Subir Chowdhury. Read more about the school HERE.
