South Asian Studies Speaker Series Presents: Prakriti Prajapati
Abstract: For over a century, state water engineers—hydrocrats—have shaped water governance through large-scale water infrastructure. In India, as elsewhere, they are trained as engineers, reinforcing a technocratic worldview that prioritizes technical solutions to water problems over socio-environmental considerations. Yet, little is understood about how hydrocrats make sense of their work and agency as experts, navigate
South Asian Studies Speaker Series Presents: Vineeta Yadav
How do politicians make risky choices? What shapes their taste for political risk? Do their risk preferences influence their political and policy choices? These are the questions we address in this paper. While two recent studies of MPs in four rich, established democracies find their MPs are not expected utility maximizing (EUT) rational actors, there
South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Sikata Banerjee
CANCELED: South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Subah Dayal
South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Sumathi Ramaswamy
“#GandhiMustFall: The Dilemmas of Being Turned into Statue” Using a material culture approach, I reflect on the overwhelming penchant for the creation of statues of Gandhi, the most among India’s political leaders to be so “honored” both at home and overseas, where many a statue has been installed as the official government gift. It is
South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Mary Shenk
Mary Shenk (Department of Anthropology, Penn State) Demographic research on South Asia often finds that Muslims have higher fertility (family size) than Hindus, a relationship generally ascribed to either ideological or socioeconomic differences between these communities. Yet literature from the study of religion suggests that belief systems may be less important than religiosity, the intensity
South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Nikhil Anand
In this talk I draw attention to the ways that indigenous Koli fishers in Mumbai read climate change as the outcome of a centuries long process of intervening in, and “improving” the city with the infrastructures of desiccation. I show how these civilizational projects constitute the climate of infrastructure. Staged on extant ecologies and polities, these
South Asian Studies Speaker Series Presents: Krishna Jayakar
Universalizing access to telecommunications and broadband has been a priority for nations around the world. Developing countries too sought to achieve this goal, despite limited finances and technical difficulties. This presentation will discuss how two leading Asian nations, China and India, have implemented universal broadband programs. Despite similarities in objectives and economic circumstances, the experiences of
South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Coralynn Davis
Film Screening: Sama in the Forest Sama in the Forest delves into the subversive role women’s folktales can play in a patriarchal society. The film is set in Madhubani, a district in India’s state of Bihar, where a rich cultural identity extends from the mythical past into a globalized present. Maithil identity is passed on
South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Aparna Parikh
Aparna Parikh (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Penn State) Urban development in Mumbai has involved the enclosure of ecological commons that are central for the lives and livelihoods of the Kolis, the city’s indigenous fishing communities. Within an atmosphere of development threats and resource constraints, a focus on Koli fisherwomen’s everyday activities sheds light on
South Asian Speaker Series Presents: Alaka Chudal
“‘We are bored of eating bread and coffee’: Unintended travel narratives of Indian soldiers in WWI” Soldiers from South Asia —India (before Partition) and Nepal— fighting in the First World War for the British travelled to the battlefields of Europe during 1914 and 1915. A large number of them were captured and imprisoned in Germany
South Asian Studies Speaker Series Presents: Nell Hawley
Many works on the great Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata invoke the famous axiom of the linguist, folklorist, and poet A.K. Ramanujan: “No Hindu ever reads the Mahābhārata for the first time.” Yet Ramanujan’s axiom is rarely explored with the critical interest that such a foundational claim deserves. I offer my talk as a response, addendum, and