Current AIIS Fellows

The Following Scholars have been Awarded Fellowships to Carry Out their Projects in India in 2023-25:

Amy Allocco, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Elon University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “The Drummer-Priests of Tamil Nadu.” Professor Allocco’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Jyoti Balachandran, an associate professor in the Department of History at Pennsylvania State University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “To Mecca and Beyond: The Rise of a Transregional Gujarati Muslim Intellectual.” Professor Balachandran’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Gil Ben-Herut, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “A History of Speaking: Scripture and Authority in Kannada Devotional Poetry.” Professor Ben-Herut’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Brian Bond, a visiting lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Singing Islam: Sindhi Sufi Music and Socio-religious Change in Western India.” Dr. Bond’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Patrick Cummins, a graduate student in the Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Deontological Hermeneutics vs. The Rational Inquiry: Towards an Intellectual History of Philosophy of Language in Premodern South Asia c. 900-1300 CE.” Mr. Cummins is the recipient of the Ludo and Rosane Rocher Research Fellowship in Sanskrit Studies.

Aparajita Das, a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Rights, Work and the Environment: Political Ecology in Mughal North India (1570-1760).” Ms Das is the recipient of the Kumkum Chatterjee Memorial Fellowship in Indian History.

Du Fei, a graduate student in the Department of History at Cornell University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Gendering Property and Islamic Law in Mughal India, c. 1720-1830.” Mx Fei is the recipient of the Metcalf Fellowship in Indian History.

Christian Gilberti, a graduate student in the Department of South and SE Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Burmese Students in Colonial India, 1870-1948.” Mr. Gilberti’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Rachel Hirsch, a graduate student in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Empire Inverted: Architecture in the New Mughal Center.” Ms Hirsch is the recipient of the Vina Sanyal Research Award. Ms Hirsch’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Patrick Ireland, a professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was awarded a scholarly development fellowship to carry out the project, “Explaining the Indian State’s Policy Response to Female Migrant Domestic Workers.” Professor Ireland’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Andrew Kerr, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Feeling (in) the Public Sphere: Circulations of Urdu Poetry and Affect in India.” Mr. Kerr’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Dipti Khera, an associate professor in the Department of Art History and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Letters from the Local Bazaar: Unfurling Scrolls of Mobility and Scraps of Time in Global Eras of Art History.” Professor Khera’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Amanda Lanzillo, a post-doctoral fellow at the Society of Fellows at Princeton University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Peripheral Subjects: An ‘Afghan’ History of the British Empire.” Dr. Lanzillo’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Priyamvada Nambrath, a graduate student in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Triangulating Pedagogy, Patronage and Innovation in the Kerala School of Mathematics.” Ms Nambrath’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Alexander Naylor, a musician, was awarded a performing and creative arts fellowship to carry out the project, “Hindustani Music on Guitar.”

John Nowak, a graduate student in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Nadwat al-‘ulama & Muslim Identity in the Late 19th-Early 20th Century.” Mr. Nowak is the recipient of the Rachel F. and Scott McDermott Fellowship. Mr. Nowak’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Dinyar Patel, an assistant professor in the Department of Management, Society & Liberal Arts at S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “The Liberals and the Making of Modern India.” Professor Patel’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Emelie Peine, a professor in the Department of International Political Economy at the University of Puget Sound, was awarded a scholarly development fellowship to carry out the project, “Homemade Liquor, Rural Economic Transition, and State Power: the Case of Feni in Goa.” Professor Peine’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Anne Rademacher, a professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “The Afterworlds of Vultures in India.” Professor Rademacher is the recipient of the Rajendra Vora Fellowship for the Study of Society and Culture in Maharashtra. Professor Rademacher’s  fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Sreekar Raghotham Matam, a graduate student in the Department of Linguistics at Rutgers University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Verbal Reflexivity in Indian Languages.” Mr. Raghotham Matam is the recipient of the Thomas W. Simons Fellowship.

Kalyani Ramachandran, a graduate student in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Limestone Landscapes: Buddhist Art in the Riverine Deccan, 1st – 4th centuries CE.” Ms Ramachandran is the recipient of the Asher Family Fellowship.

Matthew Reeck, an adjunct professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at St. John’s University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Translating the 1970s Poetry of Hindi Poet Leeladhar Jagoori.” Professor Reeck’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Llerena Searle, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Rochester, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Domestic Material Culture, Labor, and Value in Contemporary India.” Professor Searle’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC

Baisakhi Sengupta, a graduate student in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Ghora Galis and Place-making in the Indian Himalayas.” Ms Sengupta is the recipient of the Taraknath Das Memorial Fellowship.

Neelam Sharma, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Media & Persuasion at Idaho State University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Online Hatred, Abuse, and Women Journalists in the Era of Digitalization in India.

Riya Sharma, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Scaling Up Trust: Organic Certification and Farmers’ Cooperatives in Southern India.”

Chapman Sklar, a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Princeton University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Healing a Nation: Facets of Modern Muslim Medicine in Colonial South Asia.” Ms Sklar’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Hallie Nell Swanson, a graduate student in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Moving Stories: The Indo-Persian Romance, 1600-1850.” Ms Swanson’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Anu Taranath, a teaching professor in the Departments of English and Comparative History of Ideas at the University of Washington, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Rethinking Reciprocity: Identity, Social Justice, & the Politics of Global Educational Partnerships between the US & India.” Professor Taranath’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Koyna Tomar, a graduate student in the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Dairy Democracy: Food and Techno-politics in Modern India, 1880 -1989.” Ms Tomar is the recipient of the Thomas R. Trautmann Fellowship.

Sahithya Venkatesan, a graduate student in the Department of Geography at Rutgers University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Dalit Place-making and the Politics of Climate Change Adaptation in South India.” Ms Venkatesan is the recipient of the Joseph W. Elder Fellowship in the Social Sciences.

Gowri Vijayakumar, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Brandeis University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Migration and Sexual Exchange in the Bangalore Flower and Garment Sectors.” Professor Vijayakumar’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Tenzing Wangdak, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “The Digital Tibetan: Exile and Belonging.” Mr. Wangdak is the recipient of the Joe Elder College Year in India Junior Fellowship.

Shuheng Zhang, a graduate student in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Script, Scribes, and Artisans: A Social History of Writing in 5th-10th Centuries CE Deccan and Central India. Ms Zhang is the recipient of the Daniel H.H. Ingalls Memorial Fellowship.

AIIS 2022-2024 Fellows

Samantha Agarwal, a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project ‘Exploring Dynamics of Recognition-Redistribution in Contemporary Dalit Movements.” Ms Agarwal’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Sanjam Ahluwalia, a professor in the Department of History and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Northern Arizona University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “Entertainment Interruptus: Films Division of India’s Messaging on Population Control, Family Planning, and Happiness, 1940s-2000s.” Professor Ahluwalia’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Aditya Bahl, a graduate student in the Department of English at Johns Hopkins University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “The Absent Archives: Reading World Literature Amidst Peasant Revolts in Punjab, 1960s-70s.”

Jocelyn Bell, a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at Brown University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Reimagining Within-movement Conflict: Ideology and the Anti-sex Trafficking Movement.” Ms Bell is the recipient of the Joe Elder College Year in India Junior Fellowship. Ms Bell’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Anamitraa Chakraborty, a graduate student in the Department of Linguistics at Indiana University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Inter-generational Language Change among the Bangali Immigrants in Refugee Colonies of Kolkata.” Ms Chakraborty is the recipient of the Thomas W. Simons Fellowship.

Shashwat Dhar, a graduate student in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Circular Migration and Citizenship in Rural India.” Mr. Dhar is the recipient of the Vina Sanyal Research Award.

Haimonti Dutta, an assistant professor in the Department of Management Sciences and Systems at SUNY Buffalo, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “Digitization, Transcription and Art Recommendation From Painted Narrative Scrolls of Bengal.” Professor Dutta’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Stefan Fiol, a professor in the Department of Musicology at the University of Cincinnati, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “Drumming as Embodied Memory and History in the Indian Himalayas.” Professor Fiol’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Suvendu Ghatak, a graduate student in the Department of English at the University of Florida, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Malaria and the Narratives of the Modern in Literatures from Colonial Bengal.” Mr. Ghatak is the recipient of the Kumkum Chatterjee Memorial Fellowship in Indian History.

Ronit Ghosh, a graduate student in the Departments of Music and South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Technicians, Makers and Mavericks: The Entangled Histories of the ‘Modern’ Bengali Song.” Mr. Ghosh is the recipient of the  Rachel F. and Scott McDermott Fellowship.

Radhika Govindrajan, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Washington, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Scandal: Theorizing Sex and the Rural in Himalayan India.” Professor Govindrajan’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Stephen Graf, a graduate student in the Department of Politics at the New School University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Parties-as-Networks in India: The Form and Function of Student Organizations.” Mr. Graf’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Payal Hathi, a graduate student in the Department of Demography and Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Narratives of Stillbirth and the Production of Stillbirth Statistics in India.” Ms Hathi’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

John Stratton Hawley, a professor in the Department of Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “Beautifully Blind: Surdas Paintings from Udaipur, 1660-1730.” Professor Hawley’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Vasugi Kailasam, an assistant professor in the Department of South and SE Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project, “Tamil Realisms: Reading the Global Tamil Novel.” Professor Kailasam’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Anuj Kaushal, a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Texas, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Fann-e Mubasharat: Science of Sex and Masculine Ethics in North India’s Greco-Islamicate Healing, ca 1750-1930.” Mr. Kaushal is the recipient of the Metcalf Fellowship in Indian History.

Mohit Kaycee, a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Imprints of Place and Memory: Dalit Pedagogy and the Quest for Re-habitation in Rural Karnataka.”

Matthew Leveille, a graduate student in the Department of Religion at the University of Virginia, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “To Praise One’s Rival, A Śaiva’s Hymn to Viṣṇu: The Varadarājastava of Appayya Dīkṣita.” Mr. Leveille is the recipient of the Ludo and Rosane Rocher Research Fellowship in Sanskrit Studies. Mr. Leveille’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Elizabeth Lhost, a post-doctoral fellow in the Society of Fellows and Department of History at Dartmouth College, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “A Moral Hazard? Risk, Religion, and Modern Finance in the Indian Ocean World.” Dr. Lhost’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Darshana Mini, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “Rated A: Soft-Porn Cinema and Mediations of Desire in India.” Professor Mini’s fellowship is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Shahana Munazir, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Daughters of Destiny: Politics of Gharelu Muslim Women in India.” Ms Munazir is the recipient of the Joseph W. Elder Fellowship in the Social Sciences.

Devon Newhouse, a graduate student in the Department of History at Brown University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Roots Across the Ocean: The Journey of Cashew Through Portuguese Colonial Circuits.” Ms Newhouse’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Jia Win Kelvin Ng, a graduate student in the Department of History at Yale University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “The Labor of Self-Respect: Labor Migration and Tamil Political Modernism, 1920-1950.”

Jamie O’Connell, a graduate student in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Zoroastrian Identity and Authority Formation in the Persian Rivāyats.”  Ms O’Connell is the recipient of the Daniel H.H. Ingalls Memorial Fellowship. Ms O’Connell’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Thomas Oommen, a graduate student in the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Houses of Labor: Dwelling, Middling Experts and Architectural Cultures on the Malabar Coast (1960-2022).”

Jaideep Pandey, a graduate student in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Belonging and Nostalgia: Medieval Spain in Modern Urdu Literary Imagination.”

Mayuri Patankar, a graduate student in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Adivasi Religiosity in a Mixed Caste-Tribe Village.” Ms Patankar is the recipient of the Rajendra Vora Fellowship for the Study of Society and Culture in Maharashtra

Ilma Qureshi, a graduate student in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out her project “The Taste of Love and Knowledge in the Works of Amīr Khusraw and Fakhr al-Dīn ‘Irāqī.”

Nikhil Rao, an associate professor in the Department of History at Wellesley College, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “From Improvement to Gentrification. Property, Citizenship, and Cooperative Housing in 20th Century Bombay.” Professor Rao’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Rosalind Rothwell, a graduate student in the Department of History at Duke University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Coromandel Goods, Caribbean Goods: Material Culture & Colonialism in 18th C South India.” Ms Rothwell is the recipient of the Thomas R. Trautmann Fellowship. Ms Rothwell’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Elizabeth Salmon, a graduate student in the Department of Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of California, Los Angeles, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Traditions in Practice: Sustainable Pest Management in the Preservation of Indian Cultural Collections.” Ms Salmon’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Usha Sanyal, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Wingate University, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “Between Governmentality and Precarity: Girls’ Madrasas in UP Since 2017.” Professor Sanyal’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Utsavi Singh, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Building Memories: An Archaeology of Identity in a Frontier Region in India.” Ms Singh is the recipient of the Asher Family Fellowship.

Namita Sugandhi, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Hartwick College, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “Long-term Landscapes and The Archaeological Study of Tekkalakota.” Professor Sugandhi’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Shiva Sai Ram Urella, a graduate student in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project, “Caste, Religion, and the State in a Telangana Oral Performance Tradition.” Mr. Urella is the recipient of the Taraknath Das Memorial Fellowship.

Archana Venkatesan, a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Davis, was awarded a senior fellowship to carry out the project “The Nava Tirupati Network: A Study of Nine Viṣṇu Temples in Tamil Nadu.” Professor Venkatesan’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

Rabindra Willford, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, was awarded a junior fellowship to carry out the project “Paradox of Health: Entanglement and Wellbeing Among Irula Snake-Catchers.” Mr. Willford’s fellowship is funded by a grant from the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) through CAORC.

 

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