The American Institute of Indian Studies is pleased to announce that the following scholars and artists have been awarded fellowships to carry out their projects in India in 2007-2008:

Amy Allocco, a graduate student in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Goddesses, Nagas and Anthills: Newly Evolving Women’s Ritual Practices in Tamil Nadu.”

Andrew Bauer, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Social Differentiation and Land Use in Early South India.”

Guy Beck, an adjunct professor in the Music Department at Tulane University, was awarded a performing arts fellowship to carry out his project, “Hindustani Music in Calcutta.”

Emera Bridger, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Syracuse University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Competing Developments: The Case of Keoladeo National Park.”

Durba Chattaraj, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Yale University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Between the City and the Sea: Transport and Connectivity in West Bengal.”

Nandini Chaturvedula, a graduate student in the Department of History at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Politics of Empire: Crisis and Conflict in Seventeenth Century Portuguese India.”

John Cort, a professor in the Department of Religion at Denison University, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out his project, “Naked Devotion: The Devotional Culture of the Digambar Jains in North India.”

Melanie Dean, a graduate student in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Power of the Gaze: The Evil Eye and Visual Culture in Tamil Nadu.”

Aparna Dharwadker, an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Drama at the University of Wisconsin, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out her project, “A Poetics of Modernity: Theories of Drama, Theatre and Performance in India, 1860-2005.”

Shanna Dietz, a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Globalization and Traditional Identity in Hyderabad.” Ms Dietz is the sixth recipient of the Priscilla M. Boughton-Stanley Kochanek Graduate Fellowship in Indian Studies.

Alberta Ferrario, a graduate student in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Initiation (diksa) in Tantric Saivism.”

Oscar Figueroa Castro, a graduate student in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Pratibha--Poetic, Religious, Philosophical: On Imagination in the Tantric Mysticism of Abhinavagupta.”

Diana Finnegan, a graduate student in the Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Friendship in Buddhist Monasticism: Ethics in the Mulasarvastivadavinayavastu.”

George Fiske, a graduate student in the Department of History at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “The Ghaznavid Sultanate Between Iran and India.”

Gillian Goslinga, a lecturer at Porter College of the University of California, Santa Cruz, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “The Poojari's Daughter.”

Natalia Hildner, a dancer, was awarded a performing arts fellowship to carry out her project, “Choreographic Methods for Traditional Kathak Dance of North India.”

Julie Hughes, a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Texas, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Hunting Grounds: Landscape and Princely Pursuits in Colonial India.”

Cari Costanzo Kapur, a teaching fellow in the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at Stanford University, was awarded a senior scholarly development fellowship to carry out her project, “Labor and Love: India's Call Center Industry and the Reconfiguration of Kinship, Courtship, Marriage and Divorce.”

David Kideckel, a professor in thee Department of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University, was awarded a senior scholarly development fellowship to carry out his project, “Globalization, Protest and Performance in Kerala.” Professor Kideckel’s fellowship is being funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Rebecca Klenk, a lecturer in the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Tennessee, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Development and Gender in the Making of Modern Gandhians.”

Justine Lemos, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Women's Dance in Kerala: Creation, Maintenance and Transformation of Lasya.”

Spencer Leonard, a graduate student in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Altering Modernity? Left Opposition Politics in Maharashtra, 1918-1965.”

Chandra Mallampalli, an assistant professor in the History Department at Westmont College, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out his project, “Matthew the Distiller: Race, Religion, and Family in Colonial South India, 1820-1863.” Professor Mallampalli’s fellowship is being funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mandavi Mehta, a graduate student in the Department of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Mouse Who Would Be King: Innovating Tradition in the State of Chamba.”

Wesley Michel, a graduate student in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Sanskrit Literary Theory and the Formation of Old Javanese Poetry.”

Diane Mines, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Appalachian State University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out her project, “Wilderness as Trope in the Contemporary Tamil World.” Professor Mines’ fellowship is being funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Debali Mookerjea-Leonard, an assistant professor in the Department of English at James Madison University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Paradox of Independence: Bengali Literature and the Trauma of Partition.” Professor Mookerjea-Leonard’s fellowship is being funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Sudha Narayanan, a graduate student in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Choosing Farmers: Selection and Screening Mechanisms in Contract Farming Systems in India.”

James Nye, a South Asia Librarian at the Joseph Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out his project, “A Union Catalogue for South Asia.”

Kathleen O’Reilly, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Texas A & M University, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Drinking Water Sustainability in Northern Rajasthan.”

Firoozeh Papan-Matin, an assistant professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Washington, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Khawja Banda Nawaz Gisu Daraz and the Mysticism of 12th Century Iran.”

Matthew Rahaim, a graduate student in the Music Department at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Gesture in Hindustani Vocal Music.”

Mridu Rai, an assistant professor in the Department of History at Yale University, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Caste in its Place: Locality, Nation and Caste Violence in Bihar.”

Malini Ranganathan, a graduate student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Politics of Infrastructure and Governance in a Globalizing Metropolis: A Study on Bangalore.”

Valerie Ritter, an assistant professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Hindu Courts and their Litterateurs in Colonial North India, ca. 1800-1947.”

Joshua Barton Scott, a graduate student in the Religion Department at Duke University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Divine Exposures: How Skeptics and Scandals Remade the Public Sphere in Colonial India.”

Llerena Searle, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Building Consumerist Personhood in Delhi and Kolkata.”

Franklin Southworth, an emeritus professor in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out his project, “Folk Taxonomies of Crop Plants in Four Dravidian Languages.”

Roy Tzohar, a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “World of Yogacara: Sattva-bhajana-loka, Spectacle and Shared Illusion.”

Archana Venkatesan, an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out her project, “Embodying Memories: The Performance and Ritual Culture of the Alvar Tirunagari Vishnu Temple.”

Patrick Weston, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Qawwals of Ajmer.”