AIIS 2015-2016 Fellowship Recipients

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 2015-2016:

Catherine Adcock, an associate professor in the Department of History at Washington University, St. Louis, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Cattle Wealth and Cow Protection: Dharma, Development and the Secular State in India.” Professor Adcock’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Amy Allocco, an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Elon University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out her project, “Domesticating the Dead: Invitation and Installation Rituals in Tamil South India.” Professor Allocco’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out his project, “The City in Motion: Everyday Mobility in Mumbai.” Professor Anjaria’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Jennifer Campbell, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at SUNY Potsdam, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Caravanserai Architecture: Survey and 3-D Modeling from Amritsar to Agra.”

Syantani Chatterjee, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project “Caste in a New Mold: Commercial Surrogacy and the Rematerializing of Caste.”

Catherine Dalton, a graduate student in the Department of Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Agency of No-Self: Innovation and Tradition in the Works of Buddhajnanapada.” Ms Dalton is the recipient of the Ludo and Rosane Rocher Research Fellowship in Sanskrit Studies. Ms Dalton’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Vidya Dehejia, a professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Chola Bronzes in Context: A Reassessment.” Professor Dehejia’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Cheryl Deutsch, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Future in Transit: Middle Class Mobility and Environmental Sustainability in Delhi’s Transportation Planning.” Ms Deutsch is the recipient of the Joe Elder College Year in India Junior Fellowship. Ms Deutsch’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Natalia Di Pietrantonio, a graduate student in the Department of History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Visions of Desire: The Art of Awadh’s Court, 1754-1857. Ms Di Pietrantonio is the recipient of the Asher Family Fellowship. Ms DiPietrantonio’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Vinay Gidwani, an associate professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Minnesota, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out his project, “The Country and the City: For a Poetics of Informal Economies in Contemporary India.”

Julie Hanlon, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Archaeological Survey of Early Historic Jain Caves in Tamil Nadu.” Ms Hanlon is the recipient of the Daniel H. H. Ingalls Memorial Fellowship. Ms Hanlon’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Jacob Hustedt, a graduate student in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Mapping Queer Pune: Conflict and Belonging in New Queer India.” Mr. Hustedt’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Sunila Kale, an assistant professor in the Department of International Studies at the University of Washington, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out her project, “Industrial Firms, the State, and Rural Change in an Extractive Economy: Anugul, Odisha.” Professor Kale’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Aparna Kumar, a graduate student in the Department of Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Partition and the Historiography of Art in South Asia.” Ms Kumar’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Katherine Lieder, a graduate student in the Department of Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Representing Nirbhaya: Politicizing and Aestheticizing Violence Against Women in Modern India.” Ms Lieder’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Amrapali Maitra, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Domestic Violence, Caste and the Family in Kolkata.” Ms Maitra is the recipient of the Rachel F. and Scott McDermott Fellowship. Ms Maitra’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Murad Mumtaz, a graduate student in the Department of Art and Architectural History at the University of Virginia, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Reconstructing the Dispersed 1730 Baohli Gita Govinda: An In-depth Stylistic Analysis.”

Naveena Naqvi, a graduate student in the History Department at the University of California, Los Angeles, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Contesting Hindustan: Persian and Marathi Writing and the Making of a Post-Mughal Political Culture in Northern India.” Ms Naqvi is the recipient of the Metcalf Fellowship in Indian History.

Padini Nirmal, a graduate student in the Department of Geography at Clark University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “When Different Land Ontologies Meet: The FRA in Adivasi Lands in Attappady, Kerala.”

Diya Paul, a graduate student in the Department of Geography at Rutgers University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “Unintended Conservation Spaces in Forests Outside Protected Areas in India.” Ms Paul is the recipient of the Thomas W. Simons Fellowship.

Indira Peterson, a professor in the Department of Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Reading Eighteenth Century Thanjavur Marathi Language Court Drama.” Professor Peterson’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Sarah Pinto, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Tufts University, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Hysteria in India: The Transnational History of a Medical Idea.” Professor Pinto’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Natasha Raheja, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at New York University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “From Minority to Majority: Pakistani Hindu Claims to Indian Citizenship.” Ms Raheja’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Priti Ramamurthy, a professor in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “The Country and the City: For a Poetics of Informal Economies in Contemporary India.” Professor Ramamurthy’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Rahul Sarwate, a graduate student in the Department of History at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “The Making of Maharashtra: An Intellectual and Cultural History, 1848-1960.” Mr. Sarwate is the recipient of the Thomas R. Trautmann Fellowship.

Sudev Sheth, a graduate student in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “A Historical Ethnography of Statecraft and Governance in Baroda, c. 1700-1949.” Mr. Sheth’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Matthew Shutzer, a graduate student in the Department of History at New York University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “Geological India: Science, Law and the Making of India’s Coal Region, 1870s-1950s.” Mr. Shutzer’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Hilary Silver, a professor in the Department of Sociology at Brown University, was awarded a senior scholarly development fellowship to carry out her project, “The Inequality of Muslims in India.” Professor Silver’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Bhrigupati Singh, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brown University, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out his project, “Transformations of Sadness in Contemporary India: Explorations within Cinema, Psychiatry and the Everyday Life of Urban Poverty.”

Veena Sriram, a graduate student in the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project, “The Evolution of Emergency Medicine as an Academic Specialty in India: A Policy Analysis.” Ms Sriram’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

William Stafford, Jr., a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out his project, “The Measure of Measure: Regulating as Labour.” Mr. Stafford’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Cecilia Van Hollen, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Syracuse University, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Socio-Cultural Perspectives and Responses to Cervical and Breast Cancer Screening and Treatment in Tamil Nadu.” Professor Van Hollen’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

Vineet Vyas, a musician, was awarded a performing and creative arts fellowship to carry out his project, “Benares Gharana Revisited.”

Rina Williams, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati, was awarded a senior short-term fellowship to carry out her project, “Excluded, Mobilized, Visible: Women in Hindu Nationalist Politics in India.” Professor Williams’ fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.