AIIS is pleased to announce the award of four student fellowships for digital sonic and visual projects, to be carried out in the summer of 2024. The recipients will carry out original projects using the resources of the two AIIS research centers in India (Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (ARCE) and Center for Art and Archaeology (CA&A)) and resulting in the creation of a digital exhibition, digital curriculum, or other creative products intended for varied audiences.  The goal of this opportunity is to: foster the digital production and dissemination of knowledge about India; promote the creation and use of digital resources and media for the study of India; and promote digital collaboration. This is the third year that AIIS has offered this opportunity.

Student fellows will work under the guidance of a project supervisor and assigned faculty mentor on their projects and will exercise their creativity to shape and implement their projects while also acquiring a digital skill set and hands-on practical experience that will enhance their professional development. AIIS will also foster a community among the five fellows working on their own projects with ample opportunities for collaboration. The four DIL summer fellows are:

Sophia Kingsbury for the project “The Performing Arts Ephemera Collection of Sunil Kothari”

Sophia Kingsbury is completing her B.A. at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon where she majored in International Affairs and was also able to continue her passions for dance and piano. Throughout her academic career, she felt a tension between her interest in the arts and International Affairs, and thought these subjects were unrelated. This was until she took an ethnomusicology class and discovered how politics and the arts are intimately connected. 

In Fall 2023 she participated in a Lewis & Clark College study abroad program in India for four months. The program was primarily located in Kerala, where the students learned Malayalam and studied Sociology and Development from local professors and academics. Traveling through Delhi and Rajasthan, the program shifted towards learning about the arts, which brought them to the AIIS ARCE. It was there that she was introduced to the Performing Arts Ephemera Collection of Sunil Kothari, which inspired research into the intersection of dance and geopolitics. She reports, “I was drawn to the many folders labeled “diaspora,” as my curiosity for understanding Indian dance outside of the country was the key focus of my research. In one such folder, I found a brochure from a conference in 2001 at Columbia College Chicago titled, “Bharatanatyam in the Diaspora: Spiritual, Classical, Contemporary.” In the introductory section, I was intrigued to find letters of support from both the Indian Consul General and the Illinois representative. Having physical evidence of governmental support for the arts was the ultimate springboard for the rest of my independent research on soft power and dance in India. The impact this ephemera collection has had on my personal and professional development drives me to share this collection with a greater audience. I left AIIS feeling inspired yet yearning to return back to finish the work I had started. I am very excited to return to the archive and assist in the development of its accessibility.”

After her return to the U.S., Sophia will consider career possibilities including museum curation, cultural policy, and archival work, with the possibility of obtaining a Masters or PhD.

Hunter Storz for the project “Animating the Grand Trunk Road: Creation of an Interactive Web Page.”

Hunter Storz was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Phoenix. He is finishing up his B.A. at Northern Arizona University where he majored in International Politics with a minor in Geographic Regional Studies. He has also been working as a paralegal at DNA Legal Services where his job involves travel over Northern Arizona and the Navajo Nation to help secure free legal aid for the economically disadvantaged.

Hunter’s interest in coming to India and working on this project comes from an intense desire to explore the world and its cultures and peoples, as well as a long-standing fascination with history, archaeology, geography, and the impact of infrastructure and policy on the development of the norms and societies of communities and states. This program presented him with an excellent opportunity to not only immerse himself in a place culturally divergent from his own, but also to apply his love of geography, history, and archaeology to a project that would be both fun and exciting. He writes, “I love to travel, get off the beaten path of what most tourists do, and really find the heart of a region or community’s culture. I love food and cooking, as I see food and the act of sharing a meal to be one of the easiest ways to break down our cultural conceptions, and I try to eat at local restaurants and learn how to cook local foods anywhere I go. I am also a massive fan of music, as I play several instruments and love listening to music across every genre and nationality, including Indian music (In classical Western fashion, I was introduced to the style of music through artists like the Beatles and the Doors, and now listen to the genre frequently). I am so excited to be able to come and work on this project and find more ways to learn about and experience the beautiful country of India and its history this summer.” 

For the DIL project, he intends to research the impact of the Grand Trunk Road—a critical ancient lifeline– on historical Indian motifs, architecture, and even modern infrastructure. Applying this history with a background in development and geographic studies to digitize, organize, and analyze related archeological finds, he plans to map these ancient crossroads that formed and cultivated these South Asian cultures. By digitizing and creating an interactive map of these ancient sites and finds, many of which are found alongside modern highways in the region, the user will be able to see how these highways, connecting now hostile neighbors after the colonial partition, were once an auspicious wellspring of communication, trade, culture, and the transmission of ideas and norms that have influenced the state today.

After he completes the DIL fellowship, Hunter will begin a Master’s program in Global Development at the University of Copenhagen.

John Weaver for the project “From Structures to Textiles: Shared Motifs in Indian Art”

Mr. Weaver has been designated the Pradeep Mehendiratta Fellow. The fellowship is in memory of Pradeep Mehendiratta who had been the long-time Director-General of AIIS in India and who passed in January 2022. Funding for this fellowship was generously provided by his son Deepak Mehendiratta.

John Weaver is currently pursuing a B.A. from Harvard University in History of Art and Architecture and English. He writes for the Harvard Crimson and also submitted a paper for publication: “Contemporary Tradition: Intersections of Past and Present in Li Huayi’s Contemporary Ink Wash Landscapes.”

John writes, “My childhood was marked by itinerancy, yet one that always seemed to find my family and I back in the comforting warmth of the desert. I was born in Bullhead City, a parched town kept alive by the rushing waters of the Colorado river and a place where I would spend the first seven years of my life. After a short but eventful year in Ohio, we moved once more to Texas, where—although we’d bounce around within—we’ve never left since. As I grew older, I discovered an ardent love for art in the most general sense. My academic studies spanned everything from English to musicology in a feverish search for all things beautiful. When I found myself in Harvard, this process continued, resulting eventually in me pursuing a joint concentration in the history of art and architecture and English. Although the scope of my studies has by necessity narrowed as I’ve grown older, it is nonetheless still informed by the passionate pursuit of beauty in every form it takes. Outside of class I write for the arts board of the Harvard Crimson, attending a wide variety of performances and interviewing an equally varied number of artists to think critically about and draw attention to their brilliant minds and fascinating projects. Though many of the artisans [I will study for the AIIS project] no longer have the opportunity to speak for themselves, I am thrilled to have the privilege to offer a platform for continued appreciation of their work and traditions. My interest in this project—much like a material tradition—is complex and multifaceted, with many different intersecting sources of passion. Most personally, I have discovered a love for Indian art and architecture with a special focus on Hindu traditions and structures. As a student pursuing a combined degree in both art history and English, I find the massive influence of stories and narrative on the material history of India especially fascinating. It offers an incredible opportunity for interdisciplinary investigations that combine art history with fields such as literary analysis, philosophy, and religious studies so as to produce a more holistic, rich, and exciting cultural perspective. Though perhaps slightly more subtle than the imposing narrative sequences that decorate the walls of rock-cut temples, Indian textiles are no different: their material history and local tradition represents a story woven into the fabric itself. I am particularly excited by the multimedium approach of the project as it will provide me with ample opportunity to explore a diverse range of sources so as to produce an engaging presentation. As I look towards the future, I plan on attending graduate school and entering the world of academia so as to continue to unearth more beauty in the world while helping bring attention to art of any time and place.”

Anjali Yadav for the project “The Performing Arts Ephemera Collection of Sunil Kothari”

Anjali Yadav is a doctoral student in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington. She holds a master’s degree in Asian Languages and Literature (2023) from UW, and in Literary Art and Creative Writing (2019) from Ambedkar University Delhi. Anjali was born and raised in Kishangarh, a small town in Rajasthan, and later moved to Delhi to pursue a bachelor’s degree at Miranda House, University of Delhi — where the seed of curiosity and research was first sown. Her doctoral dissertation attempts to recover the voices of eighteenth-century women from Rajasthan who were writing about Radha-Krishna devotion. She is interested in analyzing how gender and caste intersect in the context of devotional literature and the economic history of palace women. 

Anjali draws inspiration to work on this DIL project from the early-modern devotional literature, her area of academic interest which was largely sung or performed and written down only later for greater dissemination. She is interested not only in the historical process of oral heritage preservation but also in actively participating to keep the ephemera intact for future generations. Sunil Kothari’s lifelong efforts to document the Indian classical dance ephemera are noteworthy and precious. She intends to preserve Kothari’s efforts by digitizing his research with a curated digital exhibition to be enjoyed by connoisseurs worldwide. She writes, “I would greatly benefit from this opportunity because of its emphasis on digital learning and a need to preserve ephemera. For my Ph.D. research, I work with devotional songs sung and written during the long eighteenth century which continue to remain relevant to the public even today in Kishangarh, Rajasthan—a small principality founded by Kishan Singh in 1611 CE. Therefore, this opportunity with AIIS to read and preserve the ephemera aligns with my research motivations and plans. This fellowship, in a short intense period, will give me a taste of an emerging and important field of digital humanities and its role in preserving the rich performative tradition of India. It will also expand my skill set as an interdisciplinary scholar of devotional literature and its performativity in North Indian oral traditions.”

Anjali is excited to be back in Delhi (NCR) after so many years and work from AIIS’ beautiful India office. Beyond academia, Anjali enjoys watching Bollywood movies and working on her Kathak training. 

The Digital India Learning (DIL) initiative of the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) promotes the creation and use of digital resources and media for the study of India, facilitates training in digital methodologies, strengthens India-related collections and projects in U.S. libraries, and fosters the digital production and dissemination of knowledge about India. AIIS’s DIL builds upon, extends and strengthens the AIIS core mission. These fellowships are partially funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.