HARVARD UNIVERSITY

SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE2014 STUDENT GRANT REPORTS

ABBREVIATION KEY

GSASGSDHBSHDSHGSEHKSHLSHMSHSPHSAI

Graduate School of Arts and SciencesGraduate School of Design

Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Divinity School

Harvard Graduate School of EducationHarvard Kennedy School

Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Medical School

Harvard School of Public HealthSouth Asia Institute

Cover photo courtesy of Ekta Patel, Harvard College ‘15

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SAI Grants at a Glance 1

WINTER SESSION GRANT REPORTS

Undergraduate Internships Sabrina Ghouse, UNDP 3 Megan Prasad, AWAKE India and Mega Limb Annual Camp 4Graduate Internships Johannah Murphy, Aasha Sharanam Centre for Girls 9

Undergraduate Research Inesha Premaratne 11Graduate Research Mou Banerjee 13 Vineet Diwadkar 15 Sahjabin Kabir 16 Aparna Kamath 17 Caitlin McKimmy 19 Finnian Moore Gerety 21 Yusuf Neggers 22 Alexandra Raphel 23 Haider Raza 24 Justin Stern 25 Andrea Titus 27 Lydia Walker 28

SUMMER GRANT REPORTS

Undergraduate Internships Jennifer Chang, Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative 29 Louise Eisenach, Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative 30 Reina Gattuso, Center for the Study of Developing Socieites 31 Jacqueline Ma, Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative 32 Anne Rak, Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative 33 Sara Theiss, VidyaGyan Leadership Academy 34Graduate Internships Sarah Bolivar, Kopila Valley School & Home 35 Madhav Khosla, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi 36

Undergraduate Research Zeenia Framroze 39 BrennaMcDuffie 41 Ekta Patel 43Graduate Research Mou Banerjee 44 Jahnabi Barooah 46 Kyle Belcher & Daniel Feldman Mowerman 47 Sourav Biswas 48 Todd Brown 50 Gregory Clines 51 Namita Dharia 52 Vineet Diwadkar 53 Kanishka Elupula 55 Laurel Gabler 56 Andrew Halladay 58 Abbas Jaffer 59 Kayla Kellerman 60 Joseph Kimmel 61 Ian Maccormack 63 Aditya Menon 65 James Reich 67 Heather Sarsons 68

1

SAI GRANTS AT A GLANCE

Average Grant

Size:

$2,122

Total Amount

Awarded:

$97, 605

Total Number of

Students Funded:

46

31%

15%

15%

9%2%

2%

26%

GSAS

GSD

HDS

HKS

HMS

HSPH

College

24%

76%

Internship

Research

Grants Awarded by School

Grants Awarded by Type

2

SAI GRANTS GEOGRAPHICAL REACH ACROSS SOUTH ASIA

69%

9%

9%

9%

2% 2%

India

Nepal

Sri Lanka

Pakistan

Bulgaria

Bangladesh

Grants Awarded by Country

Map courtesy of Google Maps.

3

Undergraduate Internships

Sabrina Ghouse | Social Studies & Environment | Harvard College 2015

Internship with United Nations Development Programme

This J-term, I invested my efforts into the UN’s Internship Program and Field Work in Sri Lanka.

Part of the UNDP’s mission is to advance en-

vironmental protection by improving environ-

mental law, policy, and management: very sim-

ilar to the goals I have set for myself. The in-

stitution has played a pivotal role in shaping

the fields of environmental law, policy, and

management, domestically and abroad. Today,

the office in Sri Lanka is an internationally rec-

ognized, non-partisan research and education

center working to strengthen environmental

protection by improving law and governance

worldwide, and a fantastic way to start off my

professional environmental career.

The draw of an internship at the UN in Co-

lombo, Sri Lanka was the opportunity to

work on a diverse array of environmental

issues with policy experts. The UN made an

effort to match me with assignments that

reflect my particular interests, as well as a

variety of topics to help demonstrate the

spectrum of work typical of an environmen-

tal organization. In addition to planning

events and conferences, I worked with poli-

cy experts on publications, editing their up-

coming books, and publishing articles, mem-

os and reports of my own. I even participat-

ed in their Turtle Conservation project out-

side Colombo.

I can confidently say that this internship has

brought me a long away, from my theoreti-

cal conception of environmental policy from

Harvard courses, with a deeper understanding of the profession, practice, and substance of environ-

mental law and policy. I would not have been able to utilize such a significantly career-altering experi-

ence without the funding I received and I cannot express my appreciation in words. I believe that,

when faced with future choices, the information I have absorbed at the UN will help me to find the

option that best suits my interests, skills, and priorities and achieve my goals.

I can confidently say that this

internship has brought me a long away,

from my theoretical conception of

environmental policy from Harvard

courses, with a deeper understanding

of the profession, practice, and

substance of environmental law and

policy.

Visit to UNDP Turtle Farm in Galle, Sri Lanka

WINTER SESSION GRANT REPORTS

SAI funded 15 students over the winter session to pursue research and internship opportunities across

South Asia.

4

Megan Prasad | Economics & Government | Harvard College 2015

Volunteer with AWAKE India & Mega Limb Annual Camp

Growth and Hope in Bangalore

I spent winter break in Bangalore, India. I hadn't been to India in seven years, so it was a truly mind-

opening experience. During the fall semester, I took a class with Professor Dale Jorgenson on the

rise of Asia in the world economy, where I learned about China, Japan, and India. When studying In-

dia, we discussed whether growth has been inclusive and lifted people out of poverty or if it has

simply made the rich richer.

I remember pointing out in class once that India was a land of strange paradoxes when it came to

incredible growth and unending poverty. In fact, economists Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen pointed out

the paradox in their book India An Uncertain Glory—in India, everyone has a cellphone and yet most

people don't even have a proper toilet. Upon coming to India, I realized the truth of this statement.

The new airport in Bangalore looks like something plucked straight out of 2020. It is a shiny glass

structure with sleek curves and screams development at its finest. I commented on the grandeur and

cleanliness of the new airport and its surroundings. Was this what all of India looked like now?

Where was the trash and dung that usually littered the streets? As we zoomed along New Airport

Road past the trimmed hedges and luxury billboard ads, I exclaimed over the cleanliness and perfec-

tion that Bangalore had become. My driver turned around and said, "Just wait 5 minutes and it will

completely change."

And it did.

India, it seemed was still the same place in many ways. There were still cows grazing along narrow

streets, children running without shoes, and auto rickshaws zipping through traffic. But I noticed im-

mediately that a lot had changed about India. The streets seemed a little cleaner but much more con-

gested with traffic. There was construction everywhere and new apartment buildings rose in the sky-

line. It was a firsthand observation on how growth had changed the country, in some ways for the

better.

My experiences volunteering for two dif-

ferent programs gave me a firsthand look

into issues of gender disparity, illiteracy,

the caste system, corruption, religion,

and family structures.

Awake India Project

I had the fortune of working with women

from the rural area of Malavalli, Karna-

taka on marketing their products to busi-

nesses in Bangalore. These women are all

trying to earn extra money to support

their families, especially their children.

Because of their rural upbringings, most

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of these women lack a solid education and future job prospects are limited. Through training at a local

university, these women learned to produce food products such as curry powders, papadam, cornmeal,

and vermicelli. The university also provided the women with initial equipment to make these products,

which the women stored in their village.

There was a sense of urgency to find businesses to sell their products as many of the women had made

personal investments. There were 250 involved in this initiative and they had been divided into 15

groups. Each group was responsible for a different food product, and the women who had excelled in

the university program were the managers for each group.

I helped the women to ensure that their products had the proper packaging and quality control. For

example, they weren’t printing the manufacturing date on their labels, so I suggested that they make

this change. Then I helped the women with areas of marketing to make their products appealing to

stores they approached. I recommended that they market the corn products as gluten free, especially

because Indians consume a large amount of gluten in their diets.

Eventually, once the women generate revenue from local markets, they will be able to build capacity

and expand. Once this happens, I will help them pursue international markets, as there is opportunity

for their products to be sold in Indian stores in the US.

The most interesting part about working with these women was seeing how their quest for a small

grain of financial independence created tense relationships with their families. Interestingly, in-laws of-

ten give the woman more trouble than a husband would. Jaisheela, the manager of vermicelli produc-

tion, was shunned every time she made a trip into the city to market the products to stores. Her in-

laws were suspicious of what she did when she went to Bangalore and believed that she was engaging in

bad behavior even though she was just trying to earn extra income. When she would get back from the

city, her family wouldn’t speak to her for several days. Their anger was further compounded by the fact

that she had invested money into the endeavor, and they wanted to see a return.

I hope that these women succeed because they have more than money at stake—they have independ-

ence at stake. If their families see that they can increase household income, then they will earn the re-

spect, or at least tolerance, of husbands and in-laws. If they

fail, the consequences will be much worse than losing 3000

rupees.

Annual Mega Limb Camp

Because the project with Awake India was less of a day-to-

day role than I originally thought, I also volunteered at the

Annual Mega Limb Camp, which took place from January 3

to January 9, 2014. The camp is run by Rotary Bangalore

Peenya and gives calipers, artificial limbs, crutches, and LN-

4 hands to patients at no cost. Patients came from all over

South India to attend the camp, but mostly from Karna-

taka, Andra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

Preceding the camp, we worked to secure donations to

feed all the patients for the entire week. All patients re-

6

ceived three meals a day. While my SAI grant was

for my travel expenses, after learning more about

the state of the patients, I decided to donate a por-

tion of it towards supplying all the rice and curds for

the camp. The people who came to the camp live

below the poverty line and were typically villagers.

Many of them traveled for hours and hours to simp-

ly reach the camp, so it was almost like an outing for

them. We also set up the camp, which included a

registration area, a work area for the technicians

(who came from Jaipur), a rest area, and a kitchen.

When patients arrived, they took a number and

waited to register. Then they consulted with a doc-

tor who wrote down whether the patient could be

treated and if so, what the patient needed (below

the knee limb, bilateral calipers, crutches, etc.).

Many could not be treated because they needed a

tricycle and in the past those given a tricycle had

gone and sold it a few hours after receiving one.

The way that the registration tables were organized

was inefficient and created confusion for the beneficiaries, especially considering their difficult in walk-

ing, let alone maneuvering steps. A ramp had been set up at the entrance of the camp to cover up a set

of stairs. The ramp, while an improvement, was still drastically below the standards of handicap acces-

sible as it was uneven.

These problems with handicap accessibility at a place for the handicapped mirror a lack of accessibility

throughout India. New buildings typically include ramps and elevators, but pre-existing infrastructure is

a different story. With two-wheelers parked on them, potholes, and lack of ramps to get up, sidewalks

are difficult to walk on regardless of disability.

At the camp, I had several different roles. I worked at the government records table for a little bit each

day because there was always a long line. The beneficiaries were understandably impatient considering

they had traveled long distances and couldn’t get their limb

or caliper measurements until they received their govern-

ment ID. I enjoyed helping at government records because it

was a chance to interact with all patients and hear their sto-

ries. To my initial surprise, I had to ask each beneficiary for

his/her caste. I later discovered that this was done because

those in the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe would be

given more government aide.

I also learned to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands on patients. These

hands were donated by the Ellen Foundation and were made

by corporate employees at team-building conferences in Aus-

tralia. The Ellen Foundation was initially started as a tribute

to Ellen Meadows, daughter of Ernie and Marj Meadows. Er-

7

nie created the hand as a low-cost, lightweight, durable way to help people who couldn’t afford more

expensive alternatives. The hand can perform several different grips and is useful for writing, bathing,

eating, and other daily tasks.

Fitting hands was exciting for me because I felt like I was actively doing something to help these people.

It was nice to see them walk away with all the possibilities of using their new hand. Muttu Raj, pictured

above, was someone whom I’ll remember for a very long time. He came with an entire school of disa-

bled children, and was excited to be able to write. He spent 30 minutes practicing his writing, which

made me realize the impact that this would have on his education.

Another role that I did was serving food during lunchtime. This was a hectic role as there were hun-

dreds of beneficiaries at the camp on any given day.

While almost 2,000 patients were served at the camp, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the peo-

ple turned away. In India, it seems as though a good deed cannot be done without considering where

there is room for corruption. Dozens of people came crawling to the camp--literally--seeking help.

These people could not be helped because as stated previously, they would sell the tricycle or wheel-

chair they received immediately after getting it.

Working at the camp, I not only learned how to fit a hand and how to record details for records, but I

also learned a great deal about larger issues that affect millions all over India. This first-hand experience

was helpful material as I consider my thesis, which will undoubtedly be about India and its develop-

ment.

Whenever I worked at the registration table for government records, I realized the extent to which

illiteracy is still prevalent. Many older beneficiaries couldn’t sign their name and had to leave a thumb-

print instead. More often, these tended to be women. It was indicative of the life that many villagers

face and the lack of educational opportunities. No young beneficiaries used the thumbprint, so it made

me feel positive that things are changing for the better.

I also noticed the difficulties that stem from India’s hundreds of languages. While I have a basic grasp of

Kannada, I do not know any other Indian language. Karnataka is a Kannada-speaking state, but growth

in this IT hub has brought an influx of workers from other states. Also, many beneficiaries came from

different states, so there was a large barrier to communication. Many people came to the table but

could only speak Tamil or Hindi, so I had to resort to sign language or find someone who could com-

municate.

I noticed that the diversity of languages created problems in record keeping, because there is little

standardization in what language records are kept. Since we were writing the information in the books

by hand, I would record beneficiaries’ information in English, but someone else would record the infor-

mation in Hindi.

Furthermore, throughout the entire camp, I thought about the causes of these disabilities and how

these could be prevented by education on maternal health, greater worker safety, or better electrical

wiring. On the fourth day of the camp, when an entire school for disabled children showed up, it was

absolutely heart breaking. All of the children were afflicted since birth, and their defects were rarely

due to polio (more of the adults had cases of polio). These deformities could be entirely attributed to

8

poor nutrition or use of the wrong medicine during pregnancy.

When I was working at the LN-4 table and fitting prosthetic hands, I had the chance to ask patients

about the cause of loss. Many of the men there said that it was from a machine accident or an accident

in the field. This brings up the problems with worker safety in the country. In India there are complicat-

ed labor laws that are supposed to protect workers, but in reality these laws make it impossible for

workers to find jobs. While these laws are present, there are really no laws about worker safety and

many people suffer injuries in factories and receive no compensation.

Many patients also came in because they had suffered from electrical shocks. Walking around in India, I

saw the wires dangling from transformers, and my mom warned me never to walk near them. The diffi-

culty with that is it’s hard to walk on the street too! It’s either death by electrocution or death by traf-

fic, I would joke. But it’s not a joke—it’s a real problem that affects many people. A girl came in with-

out a right hand because she had reached up and touched a wire while walking home from school.

Apart from the causes of these handicaps, my experiences at the camp also brought up legal issues and

the lack of justice in the Indian courts. I met a woman who told me the story of how she lost her leg.

She was selling flowers on the side of the street, when a huge truck ran over the curb. She was the first

one who got run over, as did several other street-side vendors sitting near her. The truck driver ran

away from the accident and never faced any consequences for his actions.

If these problems were solved, then India would undoubtedly have a more able workforce. We study

growth and development in a classroom, but we often don’t see the reality of the situation. In a basic

productivity function, labor is a main input, showing us that fixes to the Indian labor pool would greatly

benefit the country, especially as it seeks to grow and move past a slowdown.

Bangalore is a beautiful city, and I had a great time just living in it. I’ve included some pictures of other

experiences I had while there. I wish that I could have stayed longer than one month, but hopefully I go

back soon.

India has seen tremendous growth in the past years. If there is any doubt of this, just look at how well

luxury car brands like Audi, Mercedes, and BMW have been doing in the past few years. I asked the

question at the beginning of my trip if this growth had affected the poor and helped them climb out of

the hole of poverty. I left India with no clear answer.

The experiences that I had convinced me the situation is improving. However, sometimes it seemed

like no amount of help was ever enough. Throughout my whole visit, I was shocked by the disparity in

the country. There are people who are able to spend rupees at western prices and buy Louis Vuitton

and Starbucks. There are also people who earn 1200 rupees a month (around $20) and buy pani puri

on the street for 10 rupees.

Whenever, I would feel discouraged that this gap would never be closed, I would just think back to my

first day in India when I marveled at the beauty of the new airport road. I hope that with India’s new-

found growth, more jobs are created and more people are given a chance at prosperity.

9

Graduate Internship

Johannah Murphy | Master of Divinity Studies | HDS

Internship with Aasha, Sharanam Centre for Girls, Mumbai, India

One of the crucial aspects of any type of social justice work is making sure that the successful facets

of the project, the work, are sustainable. This winter thanks to a grant from the South Asian Institute

at Harvard University, I was able to return to a project I had begun over the summer with the organi-

zation Aasha, working on both the overall success and sustainability of the project at hand. For three

weeks in the Dharavi slum of Mumbai, I worked with two groups of young women on several projects

concerning women’s empowerment, advocacy/leadership, and future planning. I worked with Aasha in:

1.) Evaluating and continuing curriculum I created and built during the summer, 2.) Running five work-

shops for college-aged young women 3.) Working one-on-one with three girls, soon to enter college,

on topics of leadership and future planning, 4.) Running classes for the younger girls on U.S. culture

through art.

The Empowered Advocate Initiative:

This past summer I wrote “The Empowered Advocate

Initiative: Curriculum for Developing Personal Leadership

Skills and Wider Community Development for the

Young Women at the Sharanam Center.” Along with

another volunteer I ran five of the workshops with

the young women leading them in writing, public

speaking, confidence, and empowerment activities.

This winter I reconnected with this volunteer and

with her, organized how this program would pro-

ceed. I then ran five more workshops that covered

topics including: elevator speeches, confidence

building, letter writing, and defining leadership in

both a personal and wider way.

Throughout these workshops the young women

developed and worked on elevator speeches, presentation techniques, a blog intended as an inspira-

tional and educational forum for the younger girls at the center, and created small booklets on The Im-

portance of Women Leaders. To preserve this program I worked closely with the volunteer who lives in

Mumbai on producing a plan for the upcoming year that will consist of workshops coupled with an in-

ternship program all the young women who are at college, will participate in. Along with editing the

curriculum, I also included three new classes along with a “transition class,” as there will be a small

amount of time before the volunteer will start them up again.

One-On-One Mentorship:

One of Aasha’s main goals is not only to provide the young women with deep enrichment that will as-

sist them in their immediate future, but in the long term as well. Part of ensuring their success beyond

when they leave the shelter is helping them to establish obtainable goals and steps they should be tak-

ing in order to achieve these goals with success and pride.

To assist in this process, I worked with three of the young women on topics of future planning as well

10

as developing specific plans to where they desire to

go. Through discussion, written exercises, Internet

research, and ongoing conversation, I assisted the

girls in coming up with detailed next-step-plans, as

well as their future goals and dreams. The young

women and I, all worked to keep the goals specific

and realistic, collaboratively crafting their dreams

so they are obtainable. These young women after a

few one-on-one sessions joined the older girls and

participated with enthusiasm in the workshops on

leadership and advocacy.

U.S. Culture/History Through Art Classes:

Over the summer I had the opportunity to work with the younger girls at the shelter on the topic of

U.S.A. history and culture. I continued this class with the younger girls adding a new twist of looking at

U.S. history and culture through an artistic lens while also discussing the purpose of art and completing

some art projects ourselves. The girls reviewed and learned new topics through classes structured

with a lesson proceeded by an art project. The goal of the class was not only to learn about U.S. cul-

ture/history and improve English skills, but to also explore the idea of "art," why art is important and

how doing, seeing, and experiencing art enhances learning and the mind. The girls created colorful

"patchwork quilt" depictions of the U.S. and talked about how art can make room for different view-

points and allows the viewer to think differently about history, culture, and it all!

Current Work:

I am hoping to continue my work with Aasha in the capacity of working on: The Empowered Advocate

Initiative: Curriculum for Developing Personal Leadership Skills and Wider Community Development for the

Young Women at the Sharanam Center. In the weeks/months ahead, I will be in continual contact with

the other volunteer who is now running the programming, occasionally skyping in with the girls, and

contacting the young women I worked with in the one-on-one sessions via e-mail. In this way, I aspire

to make sure the work I have done with this center during the summer and winter remains sustainable

and relevant.

11

Undergraduate Research

Inesha Premaratne | Economics & Government | Harvard College 2015

GrowLanka Project

The plans were set. We were crashing convocation. So I exaggerate – but not really. We had spent

all of Friday registering women and farmers to GrowLanka, a mobile system I co-founded back in

2012 that sends sector-specific job alerts to subscribers. Midday I broke away for a meeting with

MAS, an employer in the northern part of the country whom we were collaborating with, and ended

up talking to a young woman working there. She suggested we try talking to young people about our

system. “They could really use it,” she told me. “And you know what – tomorrow is my convocation

at Jaffna University — there will be like 1000 people there that you could tell about GrowLanka.”

And the lightbulb went on. She called her dean at the school and arranged for us to have a table set

up outside of the University. We made a big GrowLanka banner and printed up instructions for sub-

scribing people to the system. I made a gazillion more subscription cards and started cutting them

out. We sent out a facebook alert. Everything happened so quickly, it was bizarre. But there we were

on Saturday morning at 6:30 am leaving Vavuniya to make the 3 hour drive along the A9 highway to

Jaffna.

We set up shop right near one of the gate entrances. The grounds were filled with people. Garlands,

lights, colors. Ladies in pretty saris and gents dressed up in suits. It was clearly a day for celebration. I

felt like one of the wedding crashers. But it was a venue that made so much sense for GrowLanka.

Here these young people were graduating from college or from their degree program and inevitably,

they would be looking for a job.

As soon as we got there, people rushed to help us set up. Young men helped us hang up our banners

and our driver and translator for the day started telling people about GrowLanka. We got about ten

people signed up in one go. But then what was really astonishing to me was how they stuck around.

The student body president of the junior class was with us. They called their friends over, explained

the system to them, and helped us get more people subscribed.

12

As more and more people gathered around our table,

more stopped to hear about our work. At times I felt like

I was at the floor of some massive arena with a bunch of

people peering down at me. The students peppered us

with many questions — about the nature of our project,

about our service, about why we were doing it, the jobs

they might see come across the system. It was busy

work. There were ebbs and flows of people for certain

but more often than not our hands and eyes and mouths

were occupied with completely different tasks all at once.

Amidst the chaos, there were a few things that really

made me pause. For one, the men were always eager to

sign up. They questioned us less. The women hung back

in groups. Once the crowd died down, I’d see groups of

women flung out a couple feet from our table. They’d

send over an emissary to our table—the woman who, I suspect, spoke the best English from among

them. She’d ask us many thoughtful questions and take her measure of us. And then she’d take a whole

handful of subscription cards and get the women in her group to sign up from an area removed from

our table. Eventually, she’d come back, gifting us with a whole load of papers. Many women (and I did-

n’t even realize this until I started data entering all these new subscribers) entered several numbers–

not just for themselves but too for their kids, husbands, family members. Women, I found, were far

more timid to approach us – just as they were far more discerning of our services. They proved to be

some of the best advocates for our system.

But beyond anything else, the thing that sticks out to me most was the exchanges I had with the people

on the ground there. A second year Tamil law student came to the table with his Sinhalese friend.

They were talking in Sinhalese so I interjected. He said you know I’m so glad you’re doing this – you

don’t even know how much this is needed. The people here really suffered during the war. He ex-

plained to me the trials of finding a job, features not all that uncommon in post-conflict environments.

He explained to me that a lot of people had taken 2-3 times longer to complete their degree because

of the fighting going on. Some students couldn’t go home because during term time their home villages

turned into battlefields. The library on campus was burned one night. Students couldn’t do internships

over summers because businesses had left the region – meaning that when they graduated, they didn’t

have any experience to market to potential employers. All

these things and more he ticked through methodically and

then he turned over his subscriber card and wrote a note

about the specific kind of job he was looking for — be-

yond just the routine category (medicine, law, govern-

ment work, etc.) that our system required users to input.

I could see then how he really believed in our system.

That got to me. How ten minutes later he came back with

his friends and explained our set-up to them. How he

shook my hand. The promise in his eyes, his belief in our

system pushed me even harder; it is this moment that is

now sealed in my memory, one that I think about each

time as we make plans to scale and grow GrowLanka to

better service beyond the north.

13

Graduate Student Research Grant Reports

Mou Banerjee | PhD | Department Of History | GSAS

Indian Intellectual Response to Christianity and the Creation of the Modern Indian Public Sphere

I hope to incorporate vernacular sources from Muslim intellectuals in my project which aims to inves-

tigate Indian intellectual response to Christianity leading to the creation of a modern Indian public

sphere. With the generous

help of SAI’s Winter Session

Research Grants, I travelled

to Calcutta, India in Decem-

ber 2013, to start research

on this aspect of my disser-

tation.

My plan for this winter,

spread over four weeks of

archival work, was three-

fold. First, I wished to study

the life and work of im-

portant Muslim intellectuals

associated with the Bengal Renaissance and reform movements in the nineteenth century. I hoped to

critically investigate figures like Mir Mosharraf Hossain and Syed Amir Ali, as well as somewhat lesser

know figures such as Munshi Meherullah and Maulana Keramat Ali, who were important in spreading

popular awareness about the impact of Christian apologetics on Islam in Bengal. I also wished to read

critically and engage with the works of Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, whose novellas and short

stories critically examined gender relationships from a proto-feminist view-point. I wanted to compare

and contrast her work with the autobiographical literature penned by a number of well-known Hindu

and Brahmo women, like Swarnakumari Devi who redefined the arena of women’s rights through their

ground-breaking intellectual and political engagements.

Second – I wished to examine the popular perception of these intellectuals and their work through a

close investigation of newspapers and journals. I wanted to look at newspapers such as The Moslem

World, Mihir O Sudhakar, and Islam Pracharak. And third, I wanted to look at the legal and administrative

measures undertaken by the colonial government in Calcutta to control the public debate between the

Christian evangelical missionaries and the Muslim and Hindu intellectuals. I wanted to examine the

measures taken to control the political activists and the efforts to repress the periodic public outrage

fanned by conversion efforts or acrimony resulting from debates. I wanted to look at the police-files

and judicial records in the West Bengal State Archives to investigate this aspect of my research ques-

tions.

I arrived in Calcutta on the 26th of December, and set about visiting the archives at the National Ar-

chives, the CSSS and the West Bengal State Archives. The first setback to my plan of research was the

news that the College Street branch of the West Bengal State Archives, which contained majority of

the material I had hoped to consult, was indefinitely shut for renovations. I was disheartened but decid-

ed to follow up on my other archives. During my work in the archives of the National Library, I read as

much as I could on the different Islamic newspapers in Bengali, which gave me an idea of the concerns

and debates in the Bengali Muslim ashraf communities. I also read extensively in the digitized archives

St. Johns Church in Calcutta, India

14

of the CSSS. I came across figures such as Nawab Abdul Latif and his efforts in spreading English peda-

gogy among the Muslims in Bengal, which is a forgotten counterpart to the illustrious career of figures

such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. I hope to write about him in my dissertation. I also read about Mir

Mosharraf Hossain as extensively as I could, and the linkages between Hossain and Bankim Chandra

Chatterjee will also be an important part of my dissertation. Hossain’s novel “Bishad Sindhu” which

tells the tragic story of the Karbala was praised in the contemporary press as well as by Bankim himself

as a pioneering effort in vernacular Muslim literature.

An unplanned but welcome benefit of looking at nineteenth century vernacular newspapers was that I

gathered some more information about a sensational inheritance-case in mid-nineteenth century,

where a prominent Bengali aristocrat disowned his son because he had converted to Christianity. Since

the incident is going to be a chapter in my dissertation, I now have enough material to start writing.

Another fortuitous aspect of my stay in Calcutta was a chance meeting with Dr Susan Bean, who kindly

discussed her work on early linkages between India and the USA with me, and opened up an exciting

new avenue of research, that I cannot wait to follow up on. A kind email from Professor Francis

Clooney alerted me to the presence of the papers of an important Jesuit scholar of Hinduism in Cal-

cutta, and I hope that I will gain a better perspective of the religious and political debates in the Indian

public sphere through my study of such figures.

Archival work is, by its very nature, characterized by long periods of despondency, interspersed with

moments of utter joy. I have been fortunate that for every delay and dismay that I have faced, I have

had uncounted moments of exciting new discoveries, and a clearer sense of where my dissertation is

headed, and the arguments I want to make. The continuously generous and kind support of SAI, its

benefactors, members and staff have, over the last three years, made both my pre-dissertation and ar-

chival research possible. I cannot express how grateful I am for this unstinting encouragement.

15

Vineet Diwadkar | Masters of Urban Design/ Landscape Architecture | GSD

Modelling Mumbai: Human Architectural Currencies

The generosity of the South Asia Institute has allowed me to continue collaboration with anthropolo-

gist Vyjayanthi Rao on Modelling Mumbai, a research project combining ethnography, video documenta-

tion and graphic visualization of the processes underlying Mumbai’s contemporary urban form. The

research will be presented via a public website

and eventually turned into a short, pamphlet

style publication. Since the 1990s, urbanism in

Mumbai is marked by a simultaneous rise of

informal settlement alongside the growth of a

high-rise city and its infrastructure. During

this period, new planning regulations have in-

troduced a unique algorithm for remaking the

built environment. These regulations incentiv-

ize private developers to develop low-cost

housing for slum-dwellers in exchange for ac-

cess to the land occupied by these marginal-

ized citizens. This schema of privatization and

the conversion of resettled slum-dwellers into

an architectural currency, enabling the addition of millions of square feet to the city’s built stock has

radically altered the city’s physical and cultural form and is now a model rapidly spreading across India.

The field visit research plan involved intensive ground research in Mumbai interviewing resettled slum-

dwellers and activists and documentation of emerging built forms, neighborhood ecologies and cultural

effects of these transitions. These visits included sites throughout Mumbai, in Tardeo, Girgaon, Dadar,

as well as in Chembur, Mankhurd and Sewri and the Western suburbs of Andheri, Vile Parle and Santa

Cruz. Previously undocumented sites were documented towards visualizing multiple scales and experi-

ences. These include geospatial data, diagrams, photographic and videographic archives for analysis and

visualization of these urban transformations and their cultural consequences. During my meetings with

local activists, researchers and professionals, it became clear that Modelling Mumbai would offer them a

high degree of empirical accuracy and defensible research to be appropriated into their own activities.

These geographies provide crucial insight into the complexity of not only Mumbai’s planning and con-

struction processes, but also challenge the limits of methods for visualizing these complexities so that

they might become opportunities for projective intervention. Since returning, I have begun building

visualizations of the data to distill the pro-

cesses at work and have initiated an archiv-

ing platform to store video footage as well

as to display edited video materials for

public use. Professor Rao and I hope to

continue this project through finer-grained

interviews and documentation with resi-

dents as well as with developers, planning

officials, and building and infrastructure

contractors. I am grateful to the South Asia

Institute for supporting me in this effort.

16

Sahjabin Kabir | Master of Design Studies | GSD

Research on The Emergence of Flyovers in Dhaka City

An overwhelming experience: forty-eight

days of extensive travel in Dhaka; visits to

six sites, eight government organizations,

ten private institutes; meetings with more

than twenty five planning and implementa-

tion officers, scholars and activists; ten to

twelve hours of work daily from site visits

to data collection to meetings with offi-

cials. I am obliged to the Harvard South

Asian Institute (SAI) for giving me these

opportunities and honoring me with their

Winter Grant for conducting my disserta-

tion studies in Dhaka city. I had to choose

my dissertation topic in the beginning of

fall 2013. From the beginning, I was inter-

ested to work on the South Asian context

especially in Bangladesh, where I grew up

experiencing day-to-day issues. I wanted

my dissertation topic to be a rising voice against these issues. As I was native to these problems, it was

easier for me to understand the context even though I extremely needed a visit to Dhaka. Working in

the context of Dhaka was a challenging one for me because virtually no data was available online or in

US libraries. I had to run to different organizations to collect my study materials. Moreover, I had to

visit my research sites several times in person to observe and experience the existing situation. My

dissertation is mostly site oriented and my trip to Dhaka served as an important phase of my research

methodology. I came to Dhaka in December with the purpose of conducting my dissertation on the

burgeoning flyovers in Dhaka city.

Flyovers are a new urban trend of Dhaka city that were introduced in the year 2003 and in the last

few years a large number of flyovers were constructed. With their construction, Dhaka began a pro-

cess of continuous degradation of the physical and social environments: pollution, loss in natural land-

scapes, health hazards, growing inequities and so on. Therefore, my research intention was to identify

and address the root causes in flyover planning and development. I wanted to understand what led to

these issues, so that these issues can be resolved in future planning.

In order to conduct this research, I had to visit the key agencies and talk with the in-charge officials

involved in the planning, implementation and monitoring of different flyover projects. As the flyovers

in Dhaka city were executed by different agencies, I had to visit each of them: Rajdhani Unnayan Kar-

tripakkha (RAJUK), Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Local Government Engineering Department

(LGED), Roads and Highways. I had to inquire about the environmental impact assessment data of

these projects at Department of Environment (DOE) and the Planning Ministry provided me with the

required data. I had also meetings with the leaders of non-governmental agencies whose research are-

as relate to my inquiries such as Center for Urban Studies (CUS), Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon

(BAPA), Work For Better Bangladesh (WBB Trust), Bangladesh Center for Advance Studies (BCAS),

Bangladesh Institute for Planners (BIP), World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),

among others. Professors from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and

BRAC and some other prominent scholars and social activists provided me with their valuable opin-

Underneath the Khilgaon Flyover in Dhaka

17

ions about the flyover projects in Dhaka. Moreover, I went to explore various flyover sites in Dhaka

city- Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Banani, Khilgaon, Gulistan, Jatrabari and Kuril- at different times of the day

and night to discover the happenings across the neighborhood. All these visits provided me with en-

riched documents for my dissertation. And the information I collected can be used for future Flyover

Projects in Dhaka. Thanks to SAI, all this would not have been possible for me without their generous

grant.

Aparna Kamath | Master in Public Health |

Department of Global Health and Population | HSPH

Research Project on Understanding Access to Cancer Care in India

Attention to the issue of access to treatment and care for various types of cancer in low- and middle-

income countries has been growing in recent years. However, the literature on this topic is nascent.

The aim of my project in India this January was to shed light on newly-emerging health challenges in

India, to facilitate greater understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by any technology

(drug, vaccine or medical device) that will be costly but life saving, and the difficulties managing access

to these innovations.

India is an important country for better understanding

global access to cancer care, due to its large popula-

tion, heavy burden of disease, large and varied health

infrastructure, and local production of drugs for can-

cer treatment. My project began in June 2013, with

drawing up background papers to identify the players,

policies and programs that shape access to cancer

care in India, as well as the gaps in the literature on

cancer care. After six months spent obtaining IRB

approvals from Harvard and the Institute of Public

Health in India, this January, thanks to a generous

grant from SAI, I was able to travel to India to conduct

exploratory research. The idea was to meet identified

leaders in the field and gain a better understanding of

what can be learned regarding the challenges of im-

proving access to cancer treatment and care in re-

source-constrained settings.

I spent 3 weeks in India, traveling from Bangalore to

Bombay and then Delhi, conducting a number of inter-

views with key stakeholders from the government,

NGOs, patient advocacy groups, and public and pri-

vate hospitals. Most people I approached were very

happy that a student was interested in learning more

about their work, and the barriers to accessing cancer

care in India. I was welcomed into organizations big

and small, and got to meet a number of people within

each of them, giving me a really nuanced picture of the

various activities undertaken there. Even at hospitals, busy doctors passed me around from one depart-

Driving to interviews in a

constant stream of traffic

meant I often spent more time

chatting with cab drivers than

my intended interviewees.

18

My background research in Cambridge had not uncovered a fraction of what I learned going to India.

The most fascinating discovery was that there are two networks for cancer care operating in India –

the public health network and the

private/NGO sector – that run

almost parallel to each other, with

little interaction. To an outsider it

would appear that uniting these

networks would reduce redundan-

cies, making care more efficient by

utilizing resources better, and

crafting a landscape that is easier

for patients to navigate. However,

further insight into the politics and

economics of healthcare show this

to be untrue, which make for an

interesting case.

The high cost of drugs, chemother-

apy and radiotherapy, as well as

transport and living expenses for

patients traveling to the cities for

treatment means that money is the

driving force behind every new

program of care. NGOs working

in different parts of the country

have developed informal networks

among themselves that track patients to ensure they are taken care of wherever they move for treat-

ment within the country, finding them cheap housing, employment, and subsidized drugs. Hospitals do

their own bit by working on an ‘economies of scale’ model or setting up sliding fee scales to bring pric-

es down for everyone. The government has set up small-scale insurance schemes to protect the most

vulnerable from catastrophic healthcare costs. Such programs work to prevent those who need cancer

care from falling between the cracks because of financial constraints.

Of course, cancer is a complex disease and every case is unique. This means that blanket financial pro-

grams are unlikely to solve many of the more sophisticated issues patients face in accessing effective

treatment and care. My time in India gave me a taste of the intricate network of care that is growing

larger and more inclusive everyday, despite growing costs, but there’s much more to be uncovered. I

plan to continue conducting interviews over the phone while in Cambridge, and maybe soon I will get

another chance to go back to India and complete my research.

The Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Center, where

the oncology department is constantly bustling

with not just doctors and nurses, but social

workers, fundraisers, engineers, and scientists.

19

Caitlin McKimmy | Master of Theological Studies | Buddhist Studies | HDS

Research on Sacred Landscape and Tibetan Identity in Dharamsala, India

As a scholar of Buddhism, I am eager to study the Vajrayana tradition as it lives and breathes in the

Himalaya. Thanks to a generous grant from Harvard’s South Asia Institute, I was able to spend Janu-

ary 2014 exploring my research interests at the heart of the Tibetan Government in Exile, in

Dharamsala, India. During my time in

Dharamsala, I utilized the unique resources

of the area to examine the way in which Ti-

betan refugees intertwine the notion of a

'sacred homeland' into their narratives of

persecution and displacement.

As a second year MTS student at Harvard

Divinity School, I am interested examining

the interplay between religion, national iden-

tity, development, and geography in the dy-

namic socio-political context of the cultural-

ly Tibetan Himalaya. As I carried out my

winter session research project, I was able

to shed new light on the following research

questions of mine: How do Tibetan exiles

relate to the sacred, geographic landscape of

Tibet in their personal narratives? What im-

pact does the myth of place have on the perseverance of the Tibetan nation in the face of occupation

and exile? Is this notion of ‘sacredness’ intertwined with conceptions of environmental stewardship?

Dharamsala was a particularly rich place to explore these questions—it is the location of the Central

Tibetan Administration and the current residence of the Dalai Lama, and is a hub of numerous Tibet-

an governmental and non-profit organizations, publications, schools, and libraries. Upon arrival, I

found that all of these various centers of the

Tibetan exile community were very receptive

to my questioning, and that they provided me

with a wealth of stories and information.

Through formal interviews, informal conver-

sations, event attendance, and library re-

search, I was able to get a good idea of Tibet-

an perspectives surrounding sacred landscape

and cultural identity.

Generally I found that, among Tibetan refu-

gees in Dharamsala, nostalgia for the land-

scape of Tibet is practically universal. As one

journalist put it, “We are exiles precisely be-

cause we can no longer walk on the ground

that made us.” There was a spectrum of ac-

Caitlin in Dharamasala

20

counts about the notion of this geography as ‘sacred,’ per se—more educated refugees would catego-

rize places of Tibet in terms of their religious value, and would often mention the Chinese destruction

of the Tibetan environment. An incredible number of recent publications coming out of Dharamsala

also espouse this notion that the pristine, sacred land of Tibet is being decimated by the Chinese occu-

pation. There is also a burgeoning number of poets and creative writers in the Tibetan exile communi-

ty, and perhaps the most salient motif of these emerging works is the glorification of the sacred land-

scape of Tibet. These poetic discourses are emotional, nostalgic, and, fascinatingly, often religious in

character.

However, when I spoke with less erudite members of the Tibetan refugee community, I found that

there was a much less developed notion of sacred landscape. Former nomads and farmers would recall

Tibet as lovely, and would recount the times that they went on pilgrimage, but they seldom described

the land of Tibet, or their stories upon it, in terms of the religious valence of place. However, fascinat-

ingly, I found that working-class Tibetans would often say that they remembered Tibet as a “clean”

place. Time and time again nomads would tell me that their fine Tibetan yaks would only drink out of

the cleanest of water, and that, before the Chinese occupation, there was no plastic on the plateau of

Tibet. Therefore, fascinatingly, I found a sort of proto-environmentalism to be more universally articu-

lated than a notion of the sacred among working-class Tibetans.

Of course, my time in Dharamsala generated far more questions than it answered. These questions are

rich however. My winter term in Northern India gave me a great foundational knowledge of the Tibet-

an exile community, and will serve as a fabulous starting-point for my future research into the intersec-

tions between Tibetan cultural identity, sacred geography, and environmental conservation.

21

Finnian M.M. Gerety | PhD | Department of South Asian Studies | GSAS

Research on the South Asian Textualization of Sacred Sound

The South Asia Institute Winter Session research grant enabled me to travel to Kerala in January

2014. During my stay, I conducted fieldwork for the final phase of my dissertation research in Thrissur

and Palakkad; and presented a conference paper at the Sixth International Vedic Workshop in Calicut. I

am gratified to report that the trip was a success: the fieldwork went smoothly and my paper was

awarded "Best Student Contribution" by the organizers of the conference.

My dissertation is a case study of sacred sound in its earliest South Asian textualization, the Vedas, ca-

nonical texts of Hinduism. I tell the story of the emergence of "OM," the ubiquitous Sanskrit mantra

that has been in active practice across faiths for almost three thousand years. To make my argument

that OM's role in recitation and performance was decisive in its development in ancient India, I take a

new approach combining philological and ethnographic methods--that is, I not only make a critical study

of the source texts but also interview and record Kerala Brahmins who use the texts in their oral and

ritual traditions. This recent trip made it possible for me to consult my informants about several prac-

tices described in my dissertation. I made video and audio recordings of their performances, including a

valuable rendition of what is probably the oldest known text featuring OM, from the Araṇyegeyagāna

("Book of Forest Songs"), composed ca. 1000 BCE. This testimony will be a great help to me as I finish

the final draft of my dissertation this spring.

This year's International Vedic Workshop marked the first time this conference had been held in India,

and the focus of the Workshop was on promoting interdisciplinary, transcultural collaboration be-

tween Sanskrit paṇḍits and their counterparts from universities across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

As such, it was a fitting venue to highlight my research, which attempts to integrate emic and etic ap-

proaches to knowledge. I presented a paper entitled "This Whole World is OM: the Contributions of

Jaiminīya Sāmaveda to the Emer-

gence of India's Sacred Syllable,"

in which I addressed the contri-

butions of pre-modern singers to

OM's history. The paper was well

received and honored with an

award; it will be published next

year in the conference proceed-

ings.

This is the third grant I have re-

ceived from SAI in as many years

since I began my dissertation

fieldwork. I am grateful for this

support, without which my inter-

disciplinary research simply

would not have been possible. I

look forward to further collabo-

rations with the Institute in the

future.

Three generations of Sāmavedic singers in Palakkad, Kerala

22

Yusuf Neggers| PhD | Department of Public Policy | GSAS

Research on Identity and Elections in India

The generous support of the Harvard South Asia Institute (SAI) gave

me the opportunity to return to India for seven weeks during January

and February, allowing me to continue field research and data collec-

tion efforts in support of my dissertation. This research examines the

influence of the identities of individuals with whom the electorate in-

teracts at the local government level and during the conduct of state

and national assembly elections in the state of Bihar between 2005

and 2010 on voter turnout and behavior in those elections.

I first spent more than a month based out of the New Delhi office of

Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia and met on multiple

occasions with officials at the national headquarters of the Election

Commission of India (ECI), including Dr. Nasim Zaidi, one of the cur-

rent Election Commissioners. These detailed interviews helped improve my understanding of the spe-

cifics of the electoral contexts being considered from the viewpoint of the institution responsible for

the administration of the elections themselves. The officials explained the main problems that existed in

the past, the policies which were implemented in an effort to address them, and the challenges which

they viewed as remaining in the proper conduct of elections in India. These interviews will help inform

the specific hypotheses to be tested in the empirical analysis portion of my work.

I additionally travelled to Patna, the capital of the state of

Bihar, to meet with officials at the Office of the Chief Elec-

toral Officer (CEO), which is the state-level institution re-

sponsible for state- and national-level election management in

coordination with the ECI. While there I carried out follow

up meetings with election officials to acquire detailed polling-

station level data from the 2005, 2009, and 2010 state and

national assembly elections. The ability to be physically pre-

sent at the offices was critical, as the election data is general-

ly publicly available but requires successive rounds of follow up in person to obtain successfully. I then

met with officers at the State Election Commission (SEC), the government body which handles elec-

tions to local government bodies, to follow up on the collection of data related to the identities of the

elected heads of village councils. My time in Patna also allowed me to conduct interviews with a num-

ber of individuals involved in the elections on the ground as voters, polling station officials, and journal-

ists. Their viewpoints provided valuable perspectives complementary to those of the previously inter-

viewed higher ranking election officials, who were more involved in bigger picture strategy.

Finally, throughout my time in India, I assisted the former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr.

S.Y. Quraishi, in making revisions to his forthcoming book, An Undocumented Wonder, which provides a

detailed examination of the functioning of the Election Commission of India and the progress it has

made in the decades since independence in managing elections involving enormous populations of vot-

ers in often turbulent settings.

23

Alexandra Raphel | Master in Public Policy | HKS

Designing a Sustainable Ambulance System in Karachi, Pakistan

Thanks to the support of the South Asia Institute, in January 2014 I, along with Andrea Titus, trav-

eled to Pakistan to study pre-hospital emergency response in Karachi. Since October 2013, we have

been working with a private ambulance service as part of our policy analysis exercise – the capstone

project for students pursuing a Master in Public Policy degree at the Kennedy School.

The people of Karachi currently lack a publicly

provided emergency medical service, relying in-

stead on private ambulances to transport them to

or from hospitals in crisis situations. Most of

these vehicles, many of them operated by charita-

ble organizations, lack the necessary medical

equipment or trained personnel to administer en-

route interventions. This has the potential to be

especially problematic in a tense, populous city

like Karachi, which sees a high level of dangerous

road traffic accidents, violent crimes, and harmful

flooding.

In March 2009, the Aman Foundation – a not-for-profit trust – launched Aman Ambulance as part of

an effort to provide higher quality emergency care to all neighborhoods in Karachi. Since October

2013, we have been examining Aman Ambulance’s operations in an effort to determine how the ser-

vice can maximize its value in the particularly challenging Karachi environment while still achieving its

goals for financial sustainability. While in Karachi, we not only conducted in-depth interviews with

Aman Ambulance staff, but we were able to speak with other emergency response stakeholders as

well, including other private ambulance systems and the staff at hospital emergency departments.

Some highlights included visiting the Edhi Foundation, a charity that has been tending to Karachi’s

most impoverished and vulnerable communities almost as long as Pakistan has been a country, as

well as the Indus Hospital, a facility that provides care to patients completely free of charge. We

were also fortunate to be able to attend the SAI-sponsored Contemporary South Asian City Confer-

ence. Several of the experts there spoke on issues directly related to our research, including the

state of the Pakistani healthcare system and disaster and mass casualty response in a city like Karachi.

In line with our prior experiences in Pakistan – we both spent the previous (very hot) summer in

Lahore – people were extremely welcoming and generous, willingly sparing the time to meet with us

and answer our questions. We also found that Karachiites were excited to show us their city, which

does not always get the best international press coverage. We were often able to use the evenings to

see some interesting Karachi landmarks, including a picturesque restaurant right on the waterfront

and the famed Mohatta Palace, which once housed Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although

examining ambulance intervention data and Skyping with members of the Aman Ambulance team

throughout the fall was a good start to our project, actually traveling to Karachi has greatly informed

our report. Not only did the in-person interviews fill in critical information gaps, but just being in the

city provided invaluable context. Sitting in notorious Karachi traffic each day or seeing how difficult it

is to find addresses given Karachi’s jumbled, haphazard urban planning made us realize how much of a

challenge timely emergency response truly is. We hope that this understanding will make for more

practical and useful recommendations for Aman Ambulance. The final report will be completed and

published this spring.

24

Haider Raza | Master in Public Policy | Political and Economic Development | HKS

Evaluations for the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme in Pakistan

To tackle poor education indicators in the province, the Government of Punjab with assistance from

the World Bank initiated the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme (PESRP) in 2003. Aside

from implementing World Bank and Department For International Development (DFID) funded pro-

jects across the province, using different interventions like distributing free textbooks, disbursing sti-

pends to female students, providing teacher’s financial incentives for better exam results and running

school councils, PESRP through the Program Monitoring and Implementation Unit also collects

monthly data from every single public school in the province. This massive database has monthly in-

formation for all schools including data on teacher absence (including teacher name and reasons for

absence), student enrollment figures, school funds utilization, status of school facilities and status of

all PESRP projects in each individual

school since 2007. Sadly though, this

data is not being used by PESRP or the

Punjab Education Ministry to make

future policies or evaluations of past

interventions.

Through generous funding from the

South Asia Institute at Harvard Uni-

versity, I was able to travel to Lahore,

Pakistan, and meet the team at PESRP

to analyze their data and evaluate one

of its interventions. As part of the

requirements of my Masters in Public

Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School I’m required to work with a client organization and

develop a series of recommendations to solve a policy problem for that organization through a Policy

Analyses Exercise (PAE). During my visit, PESRP identified their School Council intervention as one

that they wanted to get evaluated. They identified two questions that they wanted me to look at, (i)

whether school councils have an impact on a school’s facility/teacher attendance/student test scores

and what has been the impact of the various school council mobilization programs. I’m currently dig-

ging through the data sets that PESRP provided me in Pakistan and will hopefully answer these ques-

tions by mid-March when I complete my PAE. Due to the enormous quantity of data, easily the larg-

est I’ve worked on with entries of roughly 55,000 schools for 60 months over 30 variables, it will

require extensive data analysis and advanced econometric tests to answer the questions that PESRP

have requested.

Other than interacting with my client, I was also able to meet with many professionals in the devel-

opment sector, who worked at the World Bank and DFID, to hear their views on Punjab’s education

sector from the donor’s perspective. I was amazed to find out that DFID’s largest education project

in the world is currently being carried out in Punjab, in partnership with the Government of Punjab,

and was also fascinated to hear the challenges that they are facing in increasing enrollment rates, test

scores and curriculum reform. Even though I have experience of working with Pakistani non-

governmental schools, this was my first experience of engaging with the public sector side of educa-

tion and I was quite impressed at the programs that the Punjab government, World Bank and DFID

are working on. This visit to Pakistan will also enable me to better assist the PESRP, by working for

them through my PAE, so that this project could work as a stepping stone for further evidence-based

policy making by government institutions in Pakistan.

Meeting the Program Director of PESRP in Lahore

25

Justin D. Stern | PhD | Architecture & Urban Planning | GSAS & GSD Between Industrialization and Urban Planning: Tata Steel and the Two Faces of Jamshedpur

With the generous support of the Harvard

South Asia Institute I spent winter term 2013-

2014 in Jamshedpur, an industrial city of

roughly half a million people in the Indian

State of Jharkhand, 175 miles from Kolkata.

My overarching research goal was to trace the

evolution of Jamshedpur from a small compa-

ny town into a sprawling commercial and in-

dustrial center, with special attention to issues

of urban planning and design. Questions I in-

vestigated during my time in the city included:

What is the urban character of Jamshedpur

outside of the city’s major industrial zones?

To what extent has Tata Group and other

major corporations generated a unique ur-

ban logic that is more accommodating to is-

sues of quality of life (recreation, efficiency, educational and healthcare facilities, etc.) than the typical

Indian city? What are the limitations and human rights issues embodied in public-private partnership in

urban planning and city management? And how can the lesson of Jamshedpur, as an inductive role mod-

el, better inform other rapidly developing industrial centers in India and beyond?

A relatively small body of scholarship has sought to explain the economic, political and planning ideals

upon which Jamshedpur was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although an implicit

theme of much of the debate on the city’s rapid growth is focused on the role of Tata Group and oth-

er corporations such as Lafarge Cement, BOC Gases and Timken, among others, practically all of

these studies overlook spatial morphology, planning and design as enabling factors in the city’s rapid

expansion and socioeconomic development. Further, of the limited number of studies that confront

the spatial morphology of Jamshedpur, few capture issues of housing development, building typology,

quality of life and informal settlement outside of the city’s core industrial zone.

To this effect, my ongoing research is an investigation into the urban design and planning strategies that

have corresponded with Jamshedpur’s growth

from a small and remote company town into a

metropolis of over 1.4 million residents. From the

moment I arrived in Kolkata, I quickly learned that

Jamshedpur is more commonly referred to as

“Tatanagar” or simply “Tata”, an early indication

of the degree to which the corporate identity of

Tata Group is intertwined with the urban identity

of the city. Despite the customary impression of

industrial cities as dirty, polluted, sprawling production zones with limited recreational features, I found

Jamshedpur to be surprisingly clean by Indian and, in many regards, global standards. Frequently re-

ferred to as a “model town” for India, Jamshedpur was selected by the United Nations in 2005 for the

Global Compact Cities Program, which engages private industry in the city development process.

The imposing entrance to Tata Steel in Jamshedpur

“My visit has allowed me to think

more broadly about the relationship

between private enterprise and urban

planning and design in the context of

developing countries.”

26

In many regards, the designation of Jam-

shedpur as a “model city” for India re-

flects the potential embodied in public-

private partnerships in city planning, as

well as the capacity of India’s Tier II and III

cities to reshape the narrative on urbani-

zation in the country. The issues I ex-

plored ranged from specific urban design

projects, such as corporate housing con-

structed by Tata Group, to organizational

innovations such as JUSCO (Jamshedpur

Utilities and Services Company), and more

ideological issues such as the concept and

questionable nature of the “corporate

citizen.” In full, I was interested in taking

Jamshedpur as a case study to critically

investigate the transformative potential of

private industry in urban development, as

well as the potential dangers of industrial towns that are heavily dependent on a limited number of in-

dustries. As a Midwesterner myself, the experience of Detroit provides a cautious tale to some of the

difficulties that stand to be encountered by cities that are overwhelmingly dependent on a single cor-

poration or industry.

Although the duration of my trip was limited to the short span of winter break, my visit has allowed

me to think more broadly about the relationship between private enterprise and urban planning and

design in the context of developing countries. In my fieldwork I uncovered two faces to Jamshedpur: first,

the impressive industrial plants of the city’s corporate giants, including the massive shop floor at Tata

Steel that serves as a testament to India’s industrial ingenuity. Sprawled across a broad swathe of land

at the center of Jamshedpur, it is almost as if the grounds of Tata Steel form the nucleus of the city,

with all of Jamshedpur’s other businesses, housing, commercial areas and recreational grounds radiating

outwards. On the other hand, there is a strong social compact between Tata Group and the city’s resi-

dents, although it is important to note that benefits don’t reach all of the city’s inhabitants. Even so,

public spaces such as Jubilee Park, which features an impressive statue of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata,

the founder of Tata Group, point to the reciprocal relationship between the city’s industries and urban

development.

As a first-year doctoral student in urban planning, the opportunity to conduct early fieldwork in Jam-

shedpur will shape much of my research moving forward and help inform my prospectus and disserta-

tion. I hope to return to Jamshedpur for an extended period during my time at Harvard to continue

my inquiry, as well as begin to develop a comparative line of research that relates the role of Tata Steel

in Jamshedpur with that of POSCO (Pohang Iron and Steel Company) in the development of Pohang,

South Korea.

Traditional and modern industry in Jamshedpur

27

Andrea Titus | Master in Public Policy | HKS

Designing a Sustainable Ambulance System in Karachi, Pakistan

Karachi is a massive metropolis with an estimated 15-20 million people, but it lacks a coordinated

emergency response system. In the absence of any public sector efforts to provide pre-hospital care,

several private foundations have stepped in to run charitable ambulance services throughout the city.

In January 2014, I (along with my classmate Alexandra Raphel) received a grant from the South Asia

Institute to conduct research with one of these private foundations – Aman Ambulance – on the op-

erations and long-term financial sustainability of their ambulance system. The purpose of our trip to

Karachi was to conduct a series of interviews with key stakeholders in the city’s emergency response

network. The results of these interviews, combined with a quantitative analysis of Aman Ambulance’s

operational data, will be compiled into a series of policy recommendations that will also fulfill the

capstone requirement for our Master’s in Public Policy program at the Harvard Kennedy School.

All ambulance providers in Karachi face a number

of challenges. Frequent, heavy traffic slows re-

sponse times. Poor road conditions in certain sec-

tors of the city place enormous wear and tear on

vehicles. Ongoing sectarian violence threatens

crew safety and diminishes social trust. And finally,

poverty and low levels of health insurance limit any

organization’s capacity to cover its operating costs.

Our trip to Karachi was a chance to examine each

of these issues more deeply, and to understand

how our partner organization, Aman Ambulance,

works to overcome each challenge in turn.

With the support of the South Asia Institute and

the Aman Foundation, we met with the key mem-

bers of Aman Ambulance’s management team, as well as a number of other stakeholders in Karachi’s

emergency response network. For example, we interviewed Aman Ambulance’s two main

“competitors” – the Edhi Foundation and the Chhipa Welfare Association – about the landscape for

ambulances in the city and the challenges faced by all providers. In addition, we interviewed the

heads of emergency departments at several of the largest public and private hospitals, including the

Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (pictured above) to understand how ambulances contribute to

the care of critically injured or sick patients. We also had the opportunity to attend the 2nd Pakistan

Urban Forum, where we learned about planning for disaster response on a city level in the South

Asian context.

The opportunity to conduct interviews with our partner organization and other stakeholders in Ka-

rachi’s emergency response system was an invaluable addition to our research. It enabled us to bet-

ter understand the unique value that Aman Ambulance – as the only ambulance system in the city

with advanced life support equipment – brings to pre-hospital emergency care, particularly in the

context of high rates of traumatic injury. It also allowed us to explore how partnerships among key

players could lead to more effective emergency response in Karachi, which in turn could serve as a

model for other South Asian cities. Our final policy report will be completed in late March 2014.

Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre

28

Lydia Walker | PhD | Department of History | GSAS

National Separatist Movements in the Early 1960s in South Asia and Southern Africa

The South Asia Institute generously sup-

ported my preliminary dissertation re-

search trip to Teen Murti (Nehru Me-

morial Museum and Library) for January

2014. This was my first time conducting

primary historical research in South Asia,

and it was a wonderful and wonderfully

productive experience.

I am building a connective project on

national separatist movements in the

early 1960s in South Asia and Southern

Africa. My plan was to use the brief pe-

riod of the January winter session to lay

the groundwork for a more extensive

research trip for the academic year 2015

-2016 (what will be my G4 year). I

wanted to focus on what is available in

the archival record relating to the 1964-1966 Naga Peace Commission between the Indian government

and the Naga National Council. I became very familiar with the indexes for Teen Murti’s manuscript

collections, thanks to the kind help of their knowledgeable archivists, and I found quite interesting ma-

terial relating to the Peace Commission. I also was able to gain access to some of the closed collec-

tions, something I had hoped would be possible, but was not sure as my trip was so brief.

However, I also found much, much more – the com-

plete record of the Indian office for an international

Non-Governmental Organization that dealt with

issues of anti-colonial nationalism worldwide, at the

same that a number of its principals were involved

with the Peace Commission. Tracking down the

papers of this organization’s European and North

American offices will be one of my summer research

projects.

I had a number of other ‘finds,’ research discoveries which will shape my dissertation project in previ-

ously unforeseen ways – fleshing out previously nebulous ideas, and giving it the potential to be some-

thing new and groundbreaking while solidly rooted in the archival record. Therefore, what was origi-

nally meant to be a preliminary research trip, morphed into a rather substantial research, far exceeding

my expectations. My only wish is that I had had more time! Luckily, I plan to return.

I was able to accomplish quite a bit more than I had anticipated with my grant – thank you very much

to the South Asia Institute for making this trip possible and to Jyoti Luthra, archivist at the Nehru Li-

brary, for facilitating such a pleasant and productive research trip. My preliminary research to ‘test the

waters’ turned into considerable findings.

Lydia Walker in front of the

Nehru Memorial Museum and

Library.

What was originally meant to be a

preliminary research trip, morphed

into a rather substantial research, far

exceeding my expectations.

29

SUMMER GRANT REPORTS

The South Asia Institute offers grants for research and internships opportunities across the region. Stu-

dents are able to spend the summer term working or conducting extensive research in the topic of

their choice.

Jenny Chang | Mechanical Engineering | Harvard College 2016

Harvard-Bangalore Science Initiative, Bangalore

I had the privilege of spending this past summer at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Ban-

galore, India, pursuing scientific research through the Harvard-Bangalore Science Initiative. Through

this program and the funding of the South Asia Institute, I had the opportunity to do cutting-edge re-

search in the heart of the “Silicon Valley of India”, while being immersed in a rich and exciting culture

that was completely foreign to me. Prior to this summer, I had never before had the experience of

doing scientific research, which is why the research aspect of this program greatly appealed to me. At

NCBS, I worked in the Control and Morphology Lab pursuing research at the intersection of me-

chanics and biology. Under the guidance of an incredible role model and academic Dr. Madhusudhan

Venkadesan, I applied years of studies and theoretical knowledge to practical research. The primary

area of research I worked on was the topic of jumping. I performed research on maximum vertical

jumping in humans, and used this to design an experiment testing the effects of noise-induced limits to

neural control on maximum vertical jumping height. Additionally, I researched force-balancing mecha-

nisms employed by some of the best jumping organisms such as frogs, and used these as inspiration to

build a jumping robot with a force-balancing mechanism.

Outside from the research experience I gained at NCBS, the

most unique and exciting aspect of the summer was the cul-

tural experience of doing research and living in India. By

spending ten weeks immersed in the culture and interacting

with locals, I got just a glimpse of the diversity of lifestyles,

languages, food, history, and religions that India has to offer.

Every single weekend, my fellow interns and I explored and

traveled to different parts of India, soaking in as much as we

could. We hiked the beautiful hills around Bangalore, explored

the stunning Mysore palace, meditated in Pondicherry’s alter-

native lifestyle community, rode through the backwaters of Kerala, sat in peaceful reflection on the

banks of the Ganges river, rode elephants at the Amber Fort, and so much more.

Through my experiences this summer, I have learned so much about India and also about myself. I

now know more than I ever thought I would about all the different starches you can eat in one meal,

and I am beginning to figure out how to interact with taxi drivers who don’t speak English. But more

importantly, I have a stronger idea of my academic and career interests, an increased sense of confi-

dence in my abilities, and a new group of friends both from nearby and on the other side of the globe.

Undergraduate Summer Internships

The South Asia Institute partners with various organizations in South Asia to offer internship opportu-

nities to Harvard students. This year, SAI funded undergraduate students to engage in hands-on work

experience at NGOs, schools, and think tanks. Funding for these students was made possible through

the Prasad Fellowship for in-region experience working with non-profit and development organiza-

tions, and co-sponsorship with institutions at Harvard, such as the Office for Career Services and the

Institute for Politics Director’s Internship program.

30

Louise Eisenach | Chemistry | Harvard College 2016

Harvard-Bangalore Science Initiative, Bangalore

This past summer, I was in Bangalore, India, living at the National Centre for Biological Sciences

(NCBS) and working at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as a part of the Harvard-Bangalore Science

Initiative. I had very few expectations for the summer as India was a very foreign place and I did not

know what to expect as to the caliber of research that I would be doing. I worked in the Center for

Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS) and IISc in a lab which studies the impact of aerosols upon

the global and local climate.

As a summer lab researcher, I worked independently on my own project to analyze local aerosol com-

position and utilize radiation models to understand the impact of daily variations in aerosols in the at-

mosphere. Aerosols are solid particulate matter in the air including black carbon, sulfates, and nitrates

which are the largest components of aerosols and largely from anthropogenic sources. Especially in

India, where pollution is not only a health concern but also a climate concern, it was very enlightening

to be able to study the impact of aerosols mainly produced by anthropogenic sources on the total radi-

ation from the sun. The models used (SBDART and OPAC) show the radiation absorbed, refracted,

and remitted by the different types of aerosols which I studied, eventually showing how the local and

global temperature of the atmosphere changes as a result. I tracked daily changes for two months; the

data collected and analyzed will be used as part of a larger project to show the impact which aerosols

have upon the temperature of the atmosphere.

As a cultural experience, I learned a lot about India, its people, and the very unique and interesting cul-

ture. I worked with other visiting summer students; it was fun to trade stories and learn about both

the differences and the similarities between our experiences as undergraduate and graduate students.

My lab this past summer was a dry lab. This gave me the flexibility to travel on weekends and work

occasionally from NCBS. As such, I (and the other Harvard students who were a part of this program)

travelled around southern India to various cities and states. Through these travels, I experience the

unique culture of India, learning a lot about its history as a country and the history of various groups of

people living in the south of India. I also had the opportunity to travel to the north of India to Varanasi,

New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. The history and culture is different in the north of India and it was fasci-

nating to compare my experience in the south with my travel in the north.

In the upcoming year, I hope to become involved in a research project on campus. While I do not cur-

rently plan to continue to work in the same field in which I worked this summer, I feel much better

equipped to take on a research position and contribute meaningfully to a team. I believe that by partici-

pating in research at Harvard, I can enrich my education and prepare for my future after I graduate. By

exposing myself to research during my academic career at Harvard, I have opened many more oppor-

tunities not just at Harvard but post-graduation as well. I intend to pursue research in a lab at Harvard

and ultimately write a thesis, combining both my interests in chemistry and earth and planetary scienc-

es. This past summer has been an invaluable experience which has exposed me to the different types of

environmental and climate research being conducted and the methodology of such research. I also

learned that I am very interested in working a wet lab, having worked in both a dry lab and a wet lab

for the past two summers. Although my research this summer was very interesting and the cultural

experience was eye-opening, I prefer to collect my own data rather than use data already collected to

build models. Personally, this was important for me to understand and for me to grow as an under-

graduate as I search for research on campus.

31

Reina Gattuso| Literature and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality |

Harvard College 2015

Lokniti Program, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

During summer 2014, I had the good fortune of working at the Lokniti Program with the Centre for

the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) as an intern sponsored by the SAI and the Harvard Institute

of Politics. The Lokniti Program focuses primarily on quantitative analysis of Indian electoral politics,

and the aftermath of the 2014 May parliamentary elections—and the earlier December Delhi elec-

tions—was an extremely rich time to be there. While I come from a comparative literature and gender

studies background and tend to work more on cultural—rather than electoral—politics, working at

Lokniti was a great way to become more familiar with that vital field of knowledge all too often ignored

by us in the humanities: surveys. While I was there, Lokniti researchers were analyzing the tail end of

surveys related to the Parliamentary elections, while also working on a report about the State of De-

mocracy in South Asia—both projects from which I learned immensely. I also was able to use the time

and space at CSDS to pursue my own research interests, which mostly included reading for my senior

thesis on lesbian criminality in Bollywood film. CSDS is a vibrant humanities and social sciences re-

search center and a hub of scholarly activity, so it was a great atmosphere to be in and facilitated a lot

of academic and personal connections.

I first went to Delhi several years ago with a scholarship to begin learning Hindi—which I’ve continued

since—and had recently spent fall semester 2013 studying abroad at Jawaharlal Nehru University in

Delhi as well. I’ve found in the city an incredibly rich intellectual and political community of likeminded

students and scholars, and was abso-

lutely thrilled to able to return to Delhi

for the summer through SAI. When my

friends and coworkers asked me why I

was so delighted to be in the city de-

spite the monstrous heat, I’d say in ab-

solute earnest that I have a big crush on

Delhi: on its long afternoons working

out some idea for a paper with friends

over chai; on its lecture- and music- and

adda-filled evenings. I hope to return to

Delhi after graduation for continued

study and research, and I’m so glad SAI

gave me the opportunity to spend time

in the city this summer.

When my friends and coworkers asked me

why I was so delighted to be in the city

despite the monstrous heat, I’d say in

absolute earnest that I have a big crush on

Delhi: on its long afternoons working out

some idea for a paper with friends over

chai; on its lecture- and music- and adda-

filled evenings. I hope to return to Delhi

after graduation for continued study and

research,

32

Jacqueline Ma | Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology | Harvard College 2016

Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative, Bangalore

During the two months that I spent in In-

dia, I often found myself outside of my

comfort zone. The first day I arrived, I sat

in a rickshaw and didn’t think I would sur-

vive the short ride. The driver’s constant

lurching and honking made me anxious, so I

gripped the seat, trying to stay calm as my

heart raced faster with every bump in the

road that we crossed. As I settled into my

room on the campus of the National Cen-

ter for Biological Sciences (NCBS), I found

that I shared my space with geckos and

other small creatures. These were harm-

less guests, but I still yelped the first time I

spotted a gecko running across the wall. There were so many things that I did not expect to encoun-

ter, but I have learned and grown so much from all my experiences this summer.

With the SAI grant, I was given the opportunity to work in a lab at NCBS researching the effects of

stress on behavior. I learned how to handle Sprague-Dawley rats and observed their social interaction

behaviors after an episode of stress. Working with my other lab members, I was able to learn about

science and the culture of India simultaneously. In between performing behavioral tests and analyzing

our data, we would chitchat about everything from the must-see attractions in India to the country’s

education system. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon tea breaks with my lab mates were considered a

daily pilgrimage, which I could never refuse. We would often sit in the open-air café areas to muse

about what might have gone wrong in our last experiment or to discuss each other’s plans for the

weekend.

Over the weekends, I was able to explore the cities of Bangalore, Mysore, Hampi, and Pondicherry to

get a real taste of Indian life. The NCBS campus was an oasis of greenery and crooning birds, which

provided a perfect surrounding for conducting scientific experiments, but this contrasted drastically

with life out in the cities. Within the boundaries of NCBS, we were protected from the chaotic traffic

and bargaining shopkeepers, so wandering outside was always guaranteed to be a loud, exhilarating

experience. With the other members of the Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative, I roamed the many

shops that lined Commercial Street in Bangalore for souvenirs to bring home. We had dosas for

breakfast in Mysore before walking through the luxurious Mysore Palace. Feeling daring and invincible,

we rode around Hampi exploring the ancient ruins. And in each of these cities, I walked barefoot in at

least one temple, wondering at the locals as they practiced rituals and made offerings to their gods.

Of all the memories that I have of my time in India, many will remain indescribable. I couldn't possibly

put into words how I felt in Pondicherry, as I watched the powerful waves crash on the rocks after

sunset, or in Agra, as I watched the sun rise over the Taj Mahal. These are just a few of the moments

when I felt so grateful to have had the chance to travel to India. I have brought so many wonderful

memories home with me, and I truly look forward to the next time I will be able to return to India.

Working with my other lab members,

I was able to learn about science and the

culture of India simultaneously. In between

performing behavioral tests and analyzing

our data, we would chitchat about

everything from the must-see attractions

in India to the country’s education system.

33

Anne Rak | Applied Mathematics | Harvard College 2016

Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative, Bangalore

Thanks to funding from the South Asia Institute Summer Internship Grant, and the Michael and Ellen

Berk Undergraduate Travel and Research Fund Grant, this summer I had the incredible privilege of

participating in the Harvard Bangalore Science Initiative. I stayed with five other students on the cam-

pus of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), a research institution in north Bangalore,

and took a shuttle each day to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where I worked in a lab that stud-

ies motor control and decision making in humans and monkeys. On the weekends, the six of us trav-

eled to other cities in south India—Mysore, Hampi, and Pondicherry, and at the end of the program

we took an exciting weeklong trip to north India, visiting Varanasi, Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur.

The Murthy Lab at IISc was my first time really seeing how a quantitative neuroscience lab works. This

past spring, I took a class in computational neuroscience, and got some exposure to how neural data is

analyzed, but it was much more exciting to get the chance to meet eight different grad students in the

lab and ask them about the research questions they were pursuing. Professor Murthy was very sup-

portive and flexible, and encouraged me to help out with whatever project I found most interesting. I

ended up working with a dual neuroscience-engineering student on a project using Matlab to model

the neural circuits that control eye movements. It was a great chance to develop my confidence in

working on problems involving mathematical modeling and coding, and really exciting to discuss the

models with the graduate student, Varsha, and Prof. Murthy, about how to use the models to test hy-

potheses for circuit mechanisms that could explain patterns in eye movement found in empirical data. I

relished the degree to which the lab discussed, and often debated, research questions with each other.

One of my favorite parts of the week were the journal clubs, where a graduate student would present

a published paper whose topic was connected to their own research, sometimes to the lab, and other

times to the whole neuroscience department. The intellectual energy in the room during the resulting

discussions was so invigorating!

I had some familiarity with neuroscience research, reading paper, and coding, but everything else

around me was starkly different than I was used to in the US! They say India to foreigners is an assault

on the senses, and this is exactly what happened to me when I was first taken around Bangalore by our

program advisor Ryan Draft—the traffic was crazy, cows wandered the streets, the clothing was beau-

tiful and bright, brightly painted temples speckled the roadside.

I wanted to come to India because I was fascinated by the religious culture, and I wasn’t disappointed.

We visited many temples on our various

trips, and at one particularly crowded one,

I was particularly struck by the atmos-

phere of the crowd waiting to get in the

temple to give their offerings—the best

thing it could be compared to in the US

would be people waiting in line at an

amusement park ride: families with chil-

dren babbling excitedly in anticipation. I

made a point of participating in the stand-

ard temple rituals at each temple we visit-

ed—if I didn’t actually believe in the divini-

I’m pretty sure for now that I want my main

career focus to be scientific research, but I

would love at some point to go back to India

and soak even more of it in, and maybe even

study some Hindi at Harvard in preparation, so

that I could communicate better.

34

ty of the gods the same way as the rest of those there, I could at least appreciate the ritual aspects.

The most concentrated religious energy we were able to witness was when we went to Varanasi, a

holy city where dying Hindus go to be cremated and have their ashes scattered on the Ganges River so

that they can escape the cycle of life and death. Here we witnessed cremations on the river, joined a

huge crowd to watch the daily evening fire offering, and went swimming in the Ganges early one morn-

ing.

In addition to seeing all the ways religion is embedded in the lives of Indians, I was also exposed every

day to India’s infrastructure problems, its poverty, and its gender inequality. I got used to walking

around on sidewalks with holes in them, seeing people chuck trash on the side of the road, or burn it. I

saw plenty of public urination. In Bangalore luxury high rise apartments propelled by the growing tech

industry were being advertised blocks away from where people were living in tents. Travelling around

to other cities in India, I realized that sights incredibly disturbing to me, like a baby sitting in the dirt as

her parents did road construction work, or a rickshaw driver trying to pull passengers three times his

weight, were not anomalies but norms. I was also incredibly bothered by the inequality between the

genders in India. Only a select few jobs seemed acceptable for women to work in, and the rest were

completely dominated by men. (For example, I was never once served by a female waitress). When

our group went out at night, there would be men hanging out on the side of the road, but never wom-

en. As I got to know some of my lab mates better, they told me about the atrocious prevalence of sex-

ual assault, which almost never gets reported or pursued by the law. I learned about how families are

strongly disincentivized from having female children because of the cost of paying for a daughter’s dow-

ry, and how sex-specific abortion has dropped the ratio of women to men in India to nearly 9:10. One

of our tour guides told us the amazing story of how her father advertised in the newspaper to find her

a husband.

Living in India took a lot of getting used to, and there were a lot of things I saw and learned about that

really bothered me. But still, the religious energy, the motion and activity, the degree of human expres-

sion, of the place was addicting and is why I’m starting to miss living in Bangalore after just a few weeks

back in the US. My time working in the Murthy Lab at IISc made me surer that I want to work in a neu-

roscience lab at Harvard, and helped me narrow down just what sort of lab I’m most interested in. It

confirmed for me further that I do want to keep studying math to build a good skill set for research,

but it also made me realize I’m not really satisfied doing just modeling—I really want to do research

that explores how computations are physically performed in the brain. I discovered how stimulating it

is for me to discuss research in a group, and want to do my best to increase the amount I discuss sci-

ence both in the lab and in my classes. Talking to the graduate students in the Murthy Lab, I realized

that it will probably be very important for me to take a class in systems and signal processing.

Honestly, I’m still processing how all the amazing things—both good and bad—that I was exposed to in

India affect the way I see the world. I saw up close just how complex and intertwined are the issues

that India faces as a developing country, and got an appreciation for how today’s India is shaped and

defined by thousands of years of cultural tradition and hundreds of years of being conquered by various

invading groups. I’m pretty sure for now that I want my main career focus to be scientific research, but

I would love at some point to go back to India and soak even more of it in, and maybe even study

some Hindi at Harvard in preparation, so that I could communicate better. I can sincerely say that the

past two months have been the most exciting and educational months of my life. Without the South

Asia Institute’s financial support, the chances of me getting to experience what it is like living in India

would be very slim. This summer gave me the chance to advance my academic exploration while simul-

taneously being exposed to an energetic, fascinating, and complex culture, and I really don’t think I

would trade it for anything. Thank you very, very much.

35

Sara Melissa Theiss | Psychology | Harvard College 2015 | Prasad Fellow

VidyaGyan Leadership Academy, Uttar Pradesh

Dreams and aspirations can be born in an instant.

One “AHA!” moment has the power to change the

future of a student, a family, a country, or even the

world. Unfortunately, a lack of access to adequate

food, water, shelter and education effectively pro-

hibits thousands of children the opportunity to

dream.

Dirt floors, hoards of flies and scant instruction

time are the realities of many primary and second-

ary schools in rural India. At home, the situation

for students is not much better. Oftentimes, it is

worse. Starvation and infection are constant companions to many rural youth whose chances for social,

intellectual and moral growth are slim to none. One philanthropic organization is trying to change all of

that.

The Shiv Nadar Foundation recently launched two residential leadership academies for economically

disadvantaged children. Collectively known as VidyaGyan, the leadership academies offer full room and

board as well as seven years of schooling free of charge. While conservatively advertised as a radical

social initiative that provides a transformational education (“About VidyaGyan,” 2013), VidyaGyan is

actually much more…

VidyaGyan is a safe haven that provides a truly transformational life experience.

VidyaGyan is a place where meritorious children can dare to dream.

Spending a summer exploring the educational system in India was both sobering and enlightening. Nev-

ertheless, every experience reinforced the importance of education. For the first time, at VidyaGyan,

students were given the opportunity to blossom. The environment at this residential school is in such

sharp contrast to the situation at government schools that it is difficult to describe.

For example, upon arriving at VidyaGyan, many of the first-year students refused to drink the water.

This puzzled me until a teacher mentioned that some of them thought the water was poisoned. The

reason? It was clear. Previously, the students had only ever seen brown water.

For the students at VidyaGyan, everything is an adventure. Throughout the summer I had the wonder-

ful opportunity to watch the students explore their environment; to see them grow by leaps and

bounds. Some students discovered art. Others became enamored by dance. All of them engaged with

myself and the other interns in discussions of multiculturalism and debates about ethics.

Looking back on my summer, I feel incredibly grateful to have been a part of the VidyaGyan family.

Looking forward to the future, I cannot wait to see these students become transformative leaders of

India.

36

Graduate Summer Internships

Like the undergraduate internship grants, these grants give graduate students a chance to engage in

career oriented experiences in the region, while bolstering their research back at Harvard. Support for

such internship are made possible in part by the Aman Foundation, which sponsors an internship at its

headquarters in Karachi.

Sarah Bolivar | Master of Landscape Architecture | GSD

Kopila Valley School & Home, Nepal

This past summer, with grant funding from the South Asian Institute and the Harvard Graduate School

of Design, I was able to support Kopila Valley School & Home, an American non-profit based in south-

western Nepal. Kopila Valley manages a home for children coming from destitute conditions, as well

as a school for 350 students ranging from kindergarten to 10th grade. I had learnt about the organiza-

tion from my friend, Kelly, who had been volunteering for almost two years. Kelly’s images of the chil-

dren and landscape had captivated me, and when I asked if there was any way in which I could contrib-

ute, she shared that there were plans for a new school campus and for my potential role as campus

master-plan designer. As a landscape architecture student, the opportunity to work with community

members in the design and construction of a project filled

me with slight trepidation, but overall, a great sense of en-

thusiasm for the journey ahead.

Before putting ideas on paper, I led workshops with the

older classes to help gauge the students’ ideas on play and

to help them learn about the field of landscape architec-

ture. Exercises included using paper and clay to create

various landforms and learn about city development, draw-

ing and visualizing ideal play spaces, and re-imagining the

Kopila Valley School neighborhood. Through these exer-

cises, students became designers and learned about the

power and potential of physically transforming their envi-

ronment. In an area where increasing residential and com-

mercial pressures are coupled with little environmental

oversight, it will be key for students to become more cog-

nizant of their own impact and role within fluctuating eco-

systems. In the midst of leading workshops, I had the great

fortune to meet with and learn from experts in the region.

One of the more memorable site visits included a motor-

cycle ride over rocky hillsides to the Himalayan Permacul-

ture Center, where I learned first-hand about local plants

and permaculture principles. This knowledge was benefi-

cial as Jamie MacDonald, Kopila Valley’s Sustainability Fellow, and I began conducting research for the

new school campus’ plant palette. With the support of our community liaison, Sandip Shahi, Jamie and

I selected trees with edible and medicinal properties, and built a nursery to accommodate the seed-

lings. And through Kopila Valley School’s Community Service Day, students helped plant more than

one hundred bamboo and eucalyptus plants. It was truly wonderful to work directly with students and

teachers and to provide them with a sense of ownership over their new campus.

Sarah and students of the school

work on an activity together.

37

The actual design process itself

was challenging – as it is apt to be

– but a source of great fun and

contentment for me. Fortunately,

Prabal Thapa, the local architect

behind the school building designs,

provided me with a building layout

so I could concentrate on the sur-

rounding spaces. Since the new

school campus is located on a

slope, surrounded by small homes

and agricultural fields, and bifur-

cated by a ravine, I homed in on

water flows throughout the site.

During monsoon season, heavy

rains can wreak havoc on commu-

nities. Seeing this phenomenon firsthand made me conscious of where land could easily erode. Thus,

the design is composed of a series of sloping terraces that channel water to planted areas, reed bed

systems, and the ravine. By integrating terraces with varying slope and aspect into the design, the pro-

ject tackles water flows, fosters diverse plant growth conditions, and promotes gathering spaces of

varying scales. Programmatically, the design encourages children to either play soccer in the large,

open field, venture into the forested amphitheater and path systems, or gather in one of the more inti-

mate outdoor spaces. Moving forward, I hope to refine and finalize the plan with the help of Kopila

Valley volunteers and community members.

The South Asia Institute Graduate Internship Grant provided an unparalleled experience.

Through volunteering with Kopila Valley School, I learned about the nuances of managing a design pro-

ject in an area where there is extreme weather phenomena, little municipal infrastructure, and visibly

enmeshed land development patterns. From playing with the Kopila Valley children to constructing a

terrace with the laborers, each experience wrought opportunities for self-reflection on my role within

community design projects. In the future, I hope to continue working closely with community mem-

bers to create dynamic, resilient, and inclusive spaces.

Students and teachers work together to plant

trees.

38

Madhav Khosla | PhD | Department of Government | GSAS

Centre for Policy Research, Delhi

I spent the summer of 2014 in New Delhi. The summer involved me transitioning from my third to

fourth year within the PhD program, and preparing for my prospectus defense which typically takes

place in the beginning of the fourth year. The South Asia Institute Grant enabled me to spend three full

months in Delhi where I worked towards refining the scope of my project and conducted archival re-

search pertaining to my project.

My dissertation focuses on Indian political and legal thought in the late nineteenth century and early to

mid-twentieth century. As a pro-

ject within political theory and the

history of political thought, it

rests primarily on interpretive

techniques, addressing important

conceptual and theoretical con-

cepts, but inevitably relies on

some degree of archival material.

Most of the archives for this are

in New Delhi, especially at the

Nehru Memorial Museum and

Library, and other published ma-

terials such as the collected works

of major Indian thinkers at the time are also available in the city. The summer in Delhi gave me an op-

portunity to spend time accessing and studying these materials. I took extensive notes, made important

advances in my research, and have begun this term at Harvard much better prepared to continue my

research. In addition to my dissertation, I spent some of the summer working on an edition of Jawahar-

lal Nehru’s letters to India’s Chief Ministers, written during his time as Prime Minister between 1947

and 1964. For this project, I had to access a wide variety of Nehru’s writings, which I was able to do

while in Delhi.

While in New Delhi, I was hosted at the Centre for Policy Research. This is a think-tank with wide

ranging and diverse faculty, in fields ranging from law and history to economics and politics. Being situ-

ated at the think-tank gave me a quiet place to read and write, and to work on my research. But it also

had other advantages, and in particular helped me to be part of a vibrant and active intellectual com-

munity. I also helped in Centre out in some of their own ongoing research, particularly relating to the

theory and practice of Indian constitutionalism and some recent decisions of the Indian Supreme

Court.

Although the summer is indeed a very hot time in Delhi and not the most comfortable period of the

year to reside there, this summer confirmed my belief that the city is a growing hub of intellectual ac-

tivity and energy. The Nehru Memorial Library and other libraries as well offer excellent resources and

opportunity to conduct research, and an entire scholarly community from around the world descends

upon Delhi during this time. I had the opportunity engage with and be part of this group, and I am ex-

tremely grateful to the South Asia Institute for making this summer research opportunity a possibility.

Although the summer is indeed a very hot time in Delhi

and not the most comfortable period of the year to reside

there, this summer confirmed my belief that the city is a

growing hub of intellectual activity and energy… An entire

scholarly community from around the world descends

upon Delhi during this time. I had the opportunity engage

with and be part of this group, and I am extremely

grateful...

39

Undergraduate Research

With a focus on supporting undergraduate thesis research, the SAI undergraduate research grants al-

lows students to conduct on the ground inquiries and deep dives into the subject of their choice.

Zeena Freamoze | Government | Harvard College 2015 | Prasad Fellow

Indian Corporate Social Responsibility Research Project, Mumbai

This summer, I returned to my hometown of Bombay to conduct thesis research on the Corporate

Social Responsibility (CSR) component of the recently implemented Companies Act of 2013. As a stu-

dent of political theory in the Government department, I have always been fascinated by the nature of

prosocial behavior and democratic institutions. CSR in India touches upon both of these aspects by

essentially mandating the redirection of the funds of mid-size companies to philanthropic causes such

as the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty and gender equity and women’s empowerment. My

senior thesis hopes to explore India’s unique traditions of philanthropy, the role of the government in

such a diverse, nascent democracy, and the broader question of how to create and harness philan-

thropic spirit in the developing world.

In the hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of how philanthropy and NGOs have changed in the

light of this new act, I also spent the summer volunteering with ACORN International’s The Dharavi

Project, a waste and recycling management NGO in the Dharavi slums. In many ways, it was the com-

bination of theoretical research and my real-life experiences working in Dharavi, that have made me

decide to eventually pursue a career in strategic philanthropy. I’m extremely grateful to the South Asia

Institute for giving me the chance to learn so much more about my city and country than I ever have

before. It’s been an extremely memorable summer experience.

Of course, as many seniors will probably admit in retrospect, this was not the original topic I had in

mind for my thesis. My interest in broadcast journalism and the India media had already partly evolved

into a thesis question; it was when the Companies Act came into effect earlier this year that my inter-

est in the topic was truly piqued.

I spent the most of the summer

conducting a great deal of back-

ground research on democratic in-

stitutions, Indian constitutionalism

and the nitty gritty of the CSR law

itself. In the past few months, the

law has been actively discussed (and

dissected) by the media, philanthro-

pists and companies. One of my

most interesting findings thus far has

been the largely positive reception

that big business in India has given

the law. Through interviews and

press conferences, I’ve learned that

the law certainly has a fair amount

of support in the country. It’s intri-

guing, given that in any country gov-

erned by more Western philoso-

phies of democracy, it would be

40

deemed unconstitutional and undemocratic for the represented government to pass the welfare buck

on to private enterprise.

One of my most valuable interviews was a conversation with Deval Sanghvi, the co-founder of Dasra, a

strategic philanthropy organization. We discussed CSR and philanthropy in India at length, but what I

found most fascinating was our discussion of the maturation of Indian democracy. India has only just

celebrated her 67th year of Independence this month, and yet, the country has made economic and

moral strides unexpected of a democracy of her youth. There is definitely a need to provide new mod-

els to explain the wonderful democratic experiment that it India, whether they are in the realm of in-

ternational development, philosophy or public policy. After a semester abroad in Italy, being truly im-

mersed in the world of the Renaissance and its great thinkers, it was thrilling to come home and see

just how unique my own country is.

Of course, this is not to say that my summer has not been without typical Bombay madness. Working

in the Dharavi slums was an experience that was challenging, overwhelming and rewarding. The world

of recycling and waste management is full of contradictions that it took me ages to wrap my head

around: right next to the plastic pellet recycling chawl was a burning area for toxic materials; in the

crates of recyclable paper I would find account statements describing bank accounts containing tens of

crores. The experience I had working there complimented my understanding of the CSR law, and gave

me a what I believe to be a necessary non-theoretical approach to understanding welfare.

When I decided to be in India this summer, in many ways, I was trying to figure out whether or not I

truly wanted to return post-graduation, and live the rest of my life here. Conducting research and vol-

unteering in Bombay has reinforced my sense of responsibility towards the country that raised me; but,

it has been the warm sense of welcome here—the way the monsoon cleanses everything, the deep

sense of community, the truly inextinguishable sense of hope—that has made my summer so unforget-

table.

41

Brenna McDuffie | South Asian Studies | Harvard College 2015 | Prasad Fellow

American Institute of India Studies Hindi Language Immersion Program, Jaipur

This past summer I enrolled in an intensive, eight-week Hindi language program through the American

Institute of India Studies (AIIS), an invaluable experience that would not have been possible without a

generous grant from the Harvard South Asia Initiative. AIIS sends students from American universities

to its various language centers across India, from Chandigarh for Punjabi to Pune for Sanskrit. In June, I

journeyed to the capital of the desert state to learn Hindi in Jaipur, Rajasthan. My time studying with

AIIS was certainly transformative: in just nine weeks I noticeably progressed as a Hindi-speaker, made

enduring ties with many of my fellow students, and formed valuable relationships with my teachers and

other Jaipur residents, ensuring that

whenever I return to Jaipur in the future,

it will feel friendly and familiar.

As a South Asian Studies concentrator, I

had studied Hindi-Urdu for two academic

years before my summer with AIIS. Dur-

ing first year Hindi-Urdu, my progress felt

rapid. In one short month, what once

looked like nondescript squiggles on a

page transformed into identifiable Urdu

sounds and words, and just a few months

later I had mastered Devanagari as well. I

was therefore disheartened when my

progress was not as obvious to me the

following academic year. Towards the end

of my second year of study, I felt confi-

dent in my understanding of Hindi gram-

mar and syntax but had hit a somewhat

frustrating wall when it came to my ability to speak the language. I knew that the best way to combat

this kind of plateau effect so common to foreign language study would be to immerse myself in a Hindi-

speaking region, and the AIIS summer language program in Jaipur provided me with the perfect oppor-

tunity to do so.

In the oppressive heat of a mid-June Delhi (nearly 115 degrees Fahrenheit thanks to an ill-timed heat

wave), thirty-one American students boarded a bus to Jaipur bonded by nothing but our mutual inter-

ests in South Asia. I was stunned by the diversity of our backgrounds. The girl sitting to my right was a

Government major at UT Austin, the man to my left was a PhD student in the Religion department at

Cornell, the woman behind me was studying Geography in Arizona, and the man in front of me made

maps. We anticipated having to make a few hours of small talk during our five hour bus ride, but we

were forced into a much more intense bonding experience when road work halted our bus for six

hours, the sweltering afternoon sunlight beaming through our windows all the while. By the time we

arrived in Jaipur a full twelve hours after our Delhi departure, I knew all of my peers’ names, focus

fields, and reasons for joining the program. We had already survived our first India travel hiccup, and

we had done so together.

For the next eight weeks, we spent five hours five days a week studying Hindi side by side, a tight-knit

group led by a fleet of teachers who were equipped with inspiring amounts of generosity and care.

“Only Hindi!” they would warn us in class, at lunch, or even in the hallways between periods. Though

strict in enforcing the no-English-rule, our teachers were kind and patient. “If it’s not challenging, then

42

what is the benefit?” they would ask as they answered the same questions and repeated themselves

again and again, always with a smile.

My SAI-funded trip to AIIS was rewarding in unexpected ways as well. I grew particularly close to a

teacher named Prerna, a young woman around my own age. Prerna was a twenty-year-old Masters

student at Delhi University, spunky, brilliant and mature beyond her years. During personal Hindi tuto-

rials, Prerna and I would discuss topics that I had been hesitant to breach with my teachers, who were

almost all native to conservative Jaipur. We talked about sexual assault and violence against women in

India versus in the United States, as well as about feminist activism and the frustratingly gradual im-

provement for women’s safety and freedom in India. My conversations with Prerna turned out to pro-

vide the fuel for my senior thesis topic. This year, I will be interviewing and conversing with female uni-

versity students about their perceptions of violence against women and feminist activism in India. My

thesis will be an interactive report of these perceptions and their interactions with modern feminist

discourse in India, particularly the north.

As I drove out of Jaipur two months after I arrived, I had the kind of tears in my eyes and sadness in

my heart that I hadn’t felt since my first time leaving summer camp as a child. In a short amount of

time, a foreign place and unfamiliar faces had become home and family. I left Jaipur having achieved

what I set out to accomplish, confident that I improved my Hindi by leaps and bounds. But I also left

with new friendships, new mentors, and the feeling that Jaipur had begun to feel a bit like home. I even

left with the favorable bonus of having found direction and inspiration for my senior thesis. I am grate-

ful to the Harvard South Asia Institute for affording me these opportunities.

43

Ekta Patel | Environmental Science and Public Policy | Harvard College 2015 |

Prasad Fellow

Vulnerability Assessment of Urban Poor Migrants to Climate Change in Surat, India

After a 40-hour-long journey through planes, trains, and rickshaws, I finally arrived at the place that

would be my home for two months. Despite never having been to India before, my Gujarati allowed

me to smoothly navigate to the urban village where I had arranged a homestay. It was small, lively. Tea

stalls, colorful markets, and cricket matches all defined the village perimeter, and as anxious thoughts

about what the summer had in store for me filtered into my mind, I was greeted by the smiles and hugs

of my host family (and their neighbors). Despite being exhausted and overwhelmed, I sat around to

share stories and gifts with the village children. I was soon given a tour of the three-room home and

left to unpack on my own. Glancing at the bed and fan that would define my room, I was hit by a sud-

den jolt of loneliness and disorientation. I did not want to think about how I was going to gather data

for my thesis. I had 64 days left, and all I wanted were my parents and my room.

“I have one more interview, let me call you back soon…

yes, but mom, I’m really going to miss this place.” I was

wrapping up my last day at work, and the interview I had

left was with a ward officer five minutes from home. After

getting my questions approved by the director of the Ur-

ban Health and Climate Resilience Center (UHCRC), I

started bidding my farewells to the four colleagues I had

learned from and connected with. Jokes about my nervous

first day passed around as I laughed energetically while

scrolling through recent photos. Elephants, flooded

streets, children eating mangoes, groups of sari-clad wom-

en around me, and unsanitary roads. The images showed I had worked hard, and I realized none of it

would have possible without them. As I took my last auto rickshaw from UHCRC, I knew I had col-

lected enough data to start writing my senior thesis. After all, I had come to Surat for exactly that. I

wanted to investigate the vulnerabilities of urban slum dwellers to climate change and the impact of

local governance and healthcare on them. Because Surat has both undergone rapid urbanization and

dealt with extreme floods and epidemics, I wanted to understand the local experience with it all.

My research started quickly. After joining UHCRC to conduct the fieldwork I wanted to, I spent only a

few days doing literature reviews and preparing interview questions. With help from local schoolteach-

ers, I arranged four sites for fieldwork and began my first focus group discussion within 10 days. Still,

despite having over 40 questions, I was unable to get many of them answered. The first discussion

went off rails and arguments over lack of resources heated the room even more. Losing homes and

families from frequent floods chipped at the resilience of the slum dwellers I met. Men and women

who could not plan their next meal circled me. I felt helpless as they commanded me to do something,

anything to help them. I realized that day that if nothing else, I would try my hardest to understand

their lives from their perspective—I couldn’t simply frame questions based on what I understood from

academic papers. I had to reframe my inquiries taking the local perspective into consideration. As such,

I decided to join my colleagues on their projects and spoke to as many people as I could. Working

from 9 to 6 each day, I ultimately conducted over 100 interviews and 10 focus group discussions and

made human connections I will keep with me forever. This summer experience was instrumental in

allowing me to discover what I care about most—academically and personally—and I am deeply grate-

ful for SAI’s support in making this possible. I look forward to dissecting all I have gathered as I write

my thesis this fall.

44

Graduate Research

With a focus on supporting graduate level dissertations, the SAI graduate research grants allows stu-

dents to conduct on the ground inquiries and deep dives into the subject of their choice, as well as

study language.

Mou Banerjee | PhD | Department of History | GSAS

From 1857 to 1861: Racism, Colonial Violence and Cultural Solidarity

This summer, I wanted to conduct extensive research on what I hope will be one of the substantive

chapters in my dissertation, tentatively titled, “From the revolts of 1857 to the Nil Durpan case of 1861:

Racism, colonial violence and cultural solidarity”. I have been fascinated by the number of localized,

small-scale patriotic revolts which broke out in and around the Bengal Presidency in the period be-

tween 1856 and 1861. I say fascinated, because the accepted historiography of the great Indian Uprising

of 1857 usually holds that Bengal remained largely calm and unaffected by these events. Missionary

evangelical activity is commonly accepted to be one of the primary causes of disaffection that led to the

Uprising. I felt that it would be interesting to try and examine how the Bengali intelligentsia reacted to

the smaller disturbances in Bengal from 1856 to 1861, and what role missionary activity played in these

events. Studying Duff and Long, along with their cosmopolitan social networks would help me, I hoped,

to understand the evolution of Christianity in India as well as to untangle the paradox of Christianity as

the catalyst of the modernization impulse in India, and its change over the nineteenth century into a

potentially conservative force. In order to carry out archival work, I spent my time mostly at the Brit-

ish Library in London, with shorter forays into the SOAS library and the National Archives at Kew to

supplement my research.

It is certainly true that the intellectual bhadralok elite

of Calcutta turned their faces away from the Rebellion

of 1857. Their opinion on the desire to band beneath

the Mughal Emperor’s titular sovereignty was that it

was a hopelessly nostalgic and untenable project. Evi-

dence of such thinking is apparent in the descriptions

of 1857 in contemporary vernacular newspapers, as

well as in the biographical reminiscences of intellectu-

als such as Debendranath Tagore, the father of

Rabindranath Tagore. Kaliprasanna Simha, in his “Tales

of the Observant Owl”, made fun of the timorous

Bengalis who were more content with the pen than

the sword, and who took such fright at shadows, that

their women had to escort them at night. Yet, a series

of disturbances, beginning with the Santal Hool of

1855-56 and ending with the mass disaffection with

Indigo planters and their treatment of the ryots, creat-

ed a particularly tense and uneasy situation in Bengal,

especially in the eastern districts of Dhaka, Jessore and

Rajshahi. The complex motivations behind these local-

ized movements included both socio-economic and

religious factors. Regional patriotisms of the kind that

one finds as defining ideologies in both the Santal Mou Banerjee in the British Library

45

Hool and the Indigo uprisings had a surprising common factor. Both featured as primary grievances the

depredations of non-official whites and natives on land-rights that were seen to be held through imme-

morial ancient customary usage by the original settlers on the land. Some of this customary usage was

an invented tradition, nevertheless disaffection ran high. Compounding this disaffection was the inter-

ference by planters, landlords, colonial officials, and often missionaries, in religious and spiritual cus-

toms of the people.

What makes this five-year period so interesting to study in detail is the way the relationship between

the official and non-official white population in Bengal shifted and reconfigured itself at moments of

heightened political and racial tensions. Changing alliances and partnerships are constituted through the

ideological discourses on moral as opposed to political duties and responsibilities. These ideological

stances taken by both the evangelical missions and the non-official white population, though always in a

state of flux, was seen to be dangerous both to the machinery of colonial administration and the rela-

tionship of the empire to its subjects, both white and non white, to say nothing of the relationship be-

tween the white and non-white subjects themselves. In this period, alliances between colonial officials

and missionaries sympathetic to the plight of the native subjects were seen as a direct threat to the

rights of non-official white population. At the same time, the activities of missionaries and evangelically

motivated colonial officers was seen to be a hugely undermining factor against the right of the colonial

state to administer justice to the colonized native subjects as well as to the non-official commercially

engaged white settlers.

The intense lobbying that occurred on these occasions to influence the colonial government, both at

Calcutta and in London, was usually split between the elite intellectual Calcutta bhadralok associations;

the missionary groups such as the CMS (Church Missionary Society), the LMS (London Missionary So-

ciety) and the BMS (Baptist Missionary Society); the Planters’ associations; and the colonial administra-

tive officials’ associations. The correspondences, memoirs, wills and pamphlets left behind by the mem-

bers of the different groups, who were all connected to each other, provides an unusually rich and

complicated view of the workings of the Company during its end and of the Raj during its early turbu-

lent years. These documents, examined in combination with the extraordinary richness of reportage by

the vernacular Bengali press, help us to understand the relationships of both antagonism and alliance

between the Indian intelligentsia and the Christian evangelical missionaries and colonial officials. These

encounters gave rise to a richly creative arena of social and political self-fashioning, where new cultural,

linguistic, political and religious forms of experience could originate while older forms were rejuvenat-

ed and incorporated within these newer genres.

As always, I am deeply grateful to the South Asia Institute for its generous support of my research. I

thank SAI’s benefactors, members and staff, who have, over the last three years, made my pre-

dissertation archival research possible. Both my own intellectual progress and the development of my

dissertation project are, in a very large part, due to the unstinting encouragement I have received from

SAI. Thank you all, so very much.

46

Jahnabi Barooah | Master of Theological Studies | HDS

American Institute of India Studies Sanskrit Immersion Program, Pune

Thanks to generous funding from Harvard’s South Asia Institute, I was able to enroll in the American

Institute of Indian Studies’ two-month intensive Sanskrit course in Pune, India. I went into the program

expecting to make good progress in my Sanskrit studies. Gladly, it exceeded all my expectations!

The course of study there covered several aspects of language study: grammar, reading, writing and

speaking. Everyday we would devote nearly an hour to chanting grammatical paradigms in the tradition-

al style. On occasion, we even had to recite them

backwards. This was a beneficial exercise for me.

Now that I’m back in Harvard, I plan to devote time

each week chanting paradigms, both backward and

forward.

I made good progress in reading Sanskrit literature.

In the program, we read from different genres: story

literature, epic, drama, classical poetry, literary theo-

ry and religious texts. I especially enjoyed the read-

ings from classical poetry—a selection from

Kālidāsa’s Kumārasaṃbhava (“The origin of the

young prince)—and literary theory—a selection from

Mammaṭa’s Kāvyaprakāśa (“The light of poetry”).

Both texts are germane to the higher studies I hope

to do in Sanskrit literature and literary theory in the near future, and complemented my academic pur-

suits at Harvard thus far. In addition, I was able to read one-on-one two of my favorite Sanskrit texts:

Kālidāsa’s Śakuntalam and Jayadeva’s Gītagovinda. Several aspects distinguished reading at the AIIS pro-

gram from reading here at Harvard. First, we were not translating to English. Instead, we were re-

phrasing complex sentences into simpler sentences in Sanskrit. This propelled me to learn new Sanskrit

words daily. It encouraged me not to automatically translate to English when I encounter unfamiliar

Sanskrit words, and this is something that I have carried forward into my studies here at Harvard.

During the course of the program, we were asked to maintain a journal in Sanskrit. Initially, I was ap-

prehensive about composing in Sanskrit but towards the end of the program, I really came to enjoy it.

In the process of writing of my final project—a retelling of the disfigurement of Śūrpaṇakhā as found in

Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa—I think I began the process of understanding why certain features are ubiquitous-

ly seen in the Sanskrit literature that I’m familiar with. These include: stories within stories, long com-

pounds and retelling of incidents from epic literature.

The entire program was conducted in Sanskrit and we were expected to speak only in Sanskrit in the

classroom. This certainly took some getting used to but overall, I’m grateful that spoken Sanskrit was

incorporated into the program. In this regard also, I made steady progress. On our final day there, we

each had to give 15-minute presentations in Sanskrit. I did this confidently, something I couldn’t have

dreamed of before starting the AIIS program.

Given the intensive nature of the program, I barely had any time for sightseeing. But I did take a week-

end off to see the Ajanta and Ellora caves and the famous Parvati Hill in Pune. I am tremendously grate-

ful to Harvard’s South Asia Institute for generously supporting my language learning over the summer.

47

Kyle Belcher and Daniel Feldman | Master of Urban Design | GSD

Urban Redevelopment in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka

This past summer we had the opportunity to

see post-conflict rebuilding efforts firsthand in

Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka. We hoped that by doc-

umenting the current conditions of the city

and comparing that to the city before the

country’s brutal civil war we could identify

underutilized civic assets that could be inte-

grated into a future master plan. It was our

understanding before our arrival that the mili-

tary i.e. government was supporting and not

directing the city’s post-war development.

Therefore, if we could help map the city’s existing infrastructures and development patterns we could

provide the community a tool to aid in their rebuilding effort.

Once on ground we would come to realize that while the governments’ actions imply indifference to-

wards redevelopment in Kilinochchi, the entire process is in fact highly controlled and regulated from

military offices in Colombo. Unfortunately, the controlling aspect of the development is focused more

on specific piecemeal projects and main transportation corridors, but a strategic and/or comprehensive

master plan for the city doesn’t exist.

Compared to an American context there is no participa-

tion or self-determination within the local population

with the rebuilding efforts of their town. And because of

the strong military presence and tension that remains

between the government/military and the local popula-

tion, it is in fact against the public interest to participate

in large discussions about the town’s development. As

frustrating as that condition was to witness, these types

of insights to how a place rebuilds can only be observed

from being on the ground and interviewing locals.

We are thankful to have had this amazing experience. It

is one thing to discuss these issues in the abstract within

a classroom; it is another to have conversations with

local officials in their effected community. The Tamils

we met throughout the country were also very honored

to have students from an American university not only

visit their home but more importantly share their sto-

ries and their struggles with a new audience. Learning

first hand the stories of what it meant to be in Kilinoch-

chi during the war was reveling and impactful, and moti-

vates us to pursue new ways of engaging and supporting

the war survivors. We return to Harvard even more

motivated to find new ways of empowering the commu-

nities in their rebuilding efforts, and look for new ways

to continue our work in Sri Lanka.

Learning first hand the stories of

what it meant to be in Kilinochchi

during the war was reveling and

impactful, and motivates us to

pursue new ways of engaging and

supporting the war survivors.

The team is greeted with a

traditional Sri Lankan welcome

ritual.

48

Sourav Biswas | Master of Landscape Architecture | GSD

Productive Landscapes of Peri-urban Kolkata: Mapping the resource-recovery processes in the

East Kolkata Wetlands

This summer, the South Asia institute grant enabled me to study one of the most fascinating examples

of living-systems infrastructure - the East Kolkata Wetlands. As the largest sewage-fed aquaculture sys-

tem in the world, the East Kolkata Wetlands absorb upto 1000 MLD (Million Liters per Day) of Kolka-

ta’s sewage into a network of more than 250 fish ponds or bheris that utilize the city’s waste as a food

source to produce about 13,000 tons of fish every year. Spread over 4,000 ha, the fisheries form an

integral part of the city’s ‘Waste Recycling Region’ - a special area of 12,500 ha that falls under the East

Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority. The region provides direct livelihood to around 80,000 peo-

ple engaged in fishing, agriculture, and waste recycling. As the urban footprint expands eastward, this

ecosystem encounters unprecedented social, economic, and ecological challenges placing East Kolkata

Wetlands (EKW) as an important site for multi-disciplinary academic research.

EKW is a complex socio-ecological system

that emerged through a unique combina-

tion of infrastructural decisions made in

the 1930s that led to the creation of an

east-flowing sewage outfall; a series of hy-

drological shifts that transformed a river to

a salt marsh to the freshwater wetland

today; and economic incentives to land-

lords who saw the unique mixture of regu-

lar sewage supply and wetland conditions

as an opportunity to grow fish commer-

cially. Today, the EKW has to be under-

stood as a constructed hydrological sys-

tem whose ecological regimes are con-

trolled by fishermen co-operatives in a

micro-scale and whose long-term viability

is affected by institutional decisions to-

wards infrastructure a metropolitan scale.

My research intent for this summer was to

understand the system adequately to represent the processes affecting the EKW at the scale of the fish

pond, the scale of the metropolital sewage network, and at the scale of the larger watershed to which

it belongs.

EKW only emerged as an important academic topic internationally as recently as 2002 when it was

recognized as a site of ‘international importance’ by the Ramsar Convention. Any kind of ecological

research on the traditional practices of the EKW was pioneered by Dr. Dhrubajyoti Ghosh who

helped me develop the bibliography to guide my own research. Going through the existing research, I

was unable to visualize the system spatially and geographically since they are mainly developed by ecol-

ogists or hydraulic engineers. By carrying out my own mapping exercise, I hoped to make apparent the

resource-recovery practices within the pond itself and highlight its connection to a larger metropolitan

network.

EKW is almost larger than the city of Kolkata itself and it is easy to feel disoriented during a site visit

where the ponds I mapped from Cambridge appeared much larger in person! Keeping the scale of the

49

site in mind, my study plan involved selecting upto three fisheries co-operatives in order to understand

specific practices and ecological concerns. It can be virtually impossible to find specific fisheries on your

own and I was grateful for the assistance offered by South Asia Forum for Environment (SAFE) for

guiding me through EKW and connecting me to fisherman and managers for interviews. I also learnt a

lot from Sashidulal Ghosh who is a fisheries owner himself and uses his ponds as a laboratory to im-

prove traditional aquaculture practices through scientific observation. He was also a former member of

the EKW Management Authority - a special governing body formed in 2006 that has allegedly failed to

live up to its important role in ensuring the integrity of the Waste Recycling Region.

As I closely documented the practices of three fisheries named Natar Bheri, Sukanto Nagar, and

Ghushighati, I began to understand the traditional practices of sewage-fed aquaculture as carefully man-

aged eutrophication - where sunlight, plankton, and sewage water interacted in a stabilization pond

carefully curated and regulated by a community of fishermen to convert ‘waste’ into a source of nutri-

tion for fish. First-hand accounts of activities from pond-bed preparation to harvesting cycles revealed

the rich complexity of traditional knowledge. While it was impressive to learn how ecologists are sci-

entifically validating the importance of practices that emerged through trials passed down from genera-

tions of fishermen, it was all the more impressive to witness the scale and rigor at which these practic-

es are implemented.

However, the livelihood of this region and the hydrological integrity of EKW is threatened by unprece-

dented rates of siltation in the canals and growing pressures of urbanization. In this scenario, tradition-

al practice should be supplemented by scientific feedback - a process that Sashidulal Ghosh has begun

in his own pond. But EKW also has to be understood at multiple scales so institutional support may

help counter the issues that fisherman cannot solve with their own resources and so an informed wet-

land policy can ensure the health of the ecosystem. EKW is a rare instance of a living-systems infra-

structure sustained by community-based management and its multi-faceted benefits as infrastructure,

ecosystem and social benefits has to be depicted and defended through unprecedented multi-

disciplinary effort. My contribution to this effort will emerge through visualizing my learnings from this

system via original maps and compiling my findings through a videographic essay. The subsequent essay

will form a part of an ongoing personal project to create a hydrological atlas of India through water-

shed mapping and highlights of similarly complex hydrological issues.

50

Todd Brown | Master of Theological Studies | HDS

Sanskrit Language Study in Kathmandu: Buddhist Textual Materials

With the help of funds provided by an SAI Summer Re-

search Grant I was able to travel to Kathmandu, Nepal for

seven weeks to learn intermediate-level Sanskrit transla-

tion skills by focusing on reading early Buddhist textual

materials with traditionally and critically trained instructors

from within both the Buddhist and Hindu religious tradi-

tions. I was also able to journey to Himachal Pradesh, India

for an intensive weeklong teaching on a single Buddhist

Sanskrit text given by a highly accomplished and respected

geshe in the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

Before arriving in Kathmandu I had the opportunity to at-

tend a teaching given by Geshe Lhakdor on Atiśa’s Bodhi-

pathapradīpa (Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment), a highly

influential text within Tibetan Buddhism. The teaching was

arranged and presented in the traditional Tibetan manner

at a former monastery which is now home to Deer Park

Institute for the Study of Classical Indian Wisdom Tradi-

tions (DPI). These teachings—which focused primarily on

Tibetan interpretations of the text—were supplemented

by illuminating discussion groups comparing the original

Sanskrit manuscript to the Tibetan translation, and instruction in classical metrical chanting of the San-

skrit text. Both sessions were led by Raji Ramanan, the senior translator at DPI.

Once in Kathmandu I began my intensive language studies. First, in the Boudhanath district with Punya

Purajali—professor of Buddhist Studies at Lumbini University, teacher and translator at Rangjung Yeshe

Institute, and practicing Buddhist within the Tibetan tradition—for a period of two weeks. The remain-

ing, and majority, of time was spent in the Patan area with Nirajan Kafle, a native Nepali Sanskrit schol-

ar raised as a Brahmin who began his Sanskrit language study, in traditional Hindu fashion, at the age of

twelve. I focused on a single text while working with both teachers—the Prajñāpāramitā Chapter of

Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra (Introduction to the Practice of Enlightenment) along with its accompanying

commentary by Prajñākaramati.

My two teachers’ approaches to translating and interpreting texts were quite similar in many regards

(such as expressing the importance of strong grammatical knowledge and precise readings of structure

and syntax), but were markedly divergent in other areas. Punya Parajuli introduced me to the im-

portance of sources external to the text in the process of translation. He was very knowledgeable in

traditional Tibetan translations and interpretations of the text, making me aware of the value that the

Tibetan readings offer for translating texts, but also stressing the importance of having a critical aware-

ness and cautioned attitude of reading Tibetan translations onto original Sanskrit texts. Nirajan Kafle,

on the other hand, provided no external resources except dictionaries and attempted to discover the

meaning of a text within the text itself. We would read many verses of the root text trying to gain a

“feel” for the text even before returning to read Prajñākaramati’s traditional commentary. Nirajan also

problematized the notion of strict “dictionary readings” of texts, showing me nuances of traditional

translation practices that could not be found in available Sanskrit-English dictionaries.

51

Gregory Clines | PhD | Department of Religion | GSAS

Participant In The Third Braj Bhasha and Early Hindi Workshop

This past summer, with the help of the generous funding from Harvard University’s South Asia Insti-

tute, I was able to attend the Third Braj Bhasha and Early Hindi Workshop, held in the beautiful hills of

Bansko, Bulgaria. The workshop brings together scholars and graduate students from diverse disci-

plines and backgrounds – religious studies, history, comparative literature and linguistics, ethnomusicol-

ogy, etc. - who all do work in early modern north Indian vernacular languages. This year, participants

came from multiple universities in the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Poland, the Czech

Republic, India and Japan.

The workshop, which lasted from July 28th-August 7th, was both intensive and deeply enjoyable. Two

or three reading sessions were scheduled per day, each led by an established scholar with expertise in

his or her chosen text. Readings spanned languages and genre. We read an Old Gujarati text that ex-

pounded the virtues and vices of a true or fallen Vaishnava devotee. We romped with Krishna through

the forests of Braj while reading Surdas’ playful poetry. We read and analyzed historical poetry that

documents one Bundela king’s struggle against Mughal domination. Each new text and genre served to

help sharpen my working knowledge of early modern vernacular languages while at the same time high-

lighting the myriad ways in which those languages were employed and utilized in early modern north

Indian society.

The trip, though, was not all work. There was a desire among participants to become familiar with and

appreciate the culture of our Bulgarian hosts. To this end, two half-day trips were planned, the first to

Rila Monastery, the most famous Eastern

Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria, and the

second to a local winery. The hills sur-

rounding Bansko, we learned, had been

used for winemaking since before the

Romans, though with Bulgaria’s entrance

into the European Union 2007 came new

economic attempts to invigorate the in-

dustry. These trips served as a way not

only to better understand the socio-

political history and culture of our hosts,

but also helped the group itself to bond

independent of our academic work.

The workshop was especially helpful and important for me because it was really my first opportunity

to meet and associate with many of the preeminent scholars of early modernity in India. My doctoral

dissertation will focus on early modern Jain narrative literature and the role Jains played in the larger

literary world of early modern India, and this workshop served as an opportunity for me to ingratiate

myself into that academic milieu. Many of the scholars whom I read for my general exams this past

spring – Allison Busch, Imre Bangha, Thomas de Bruijn, Monika Horstmann – were present at the

workshop; all showed excitement about my project and a keen interest in helping me as I continue to

formulate the dissertation. These types of connections are key for any young scholars, especially for

those at a place like Harvard, where there is relatively little work being done on the early modern pe-

riod in India.

52

The opportunity to learn a diversity of methods in approaching texts from these two Nepali scholars;

the experience of being able to work with a single text for an extended period of time; and the imme-

diate access to traditional Buddhist learning communities with which to discuss the text one is actively

translating and interpreting were all invaluable learning experiences that will inform my future scholar-

ship. And finally, the opportunity to experience living abroad in the historically important and culturally

exciting areas of South Asia, and to meet and befriend so many people from other cultures and tradi-

tions is always an irreplaceable event.

Namita Dharia | PhD | Department of Anthropology | GSAS

Ethnography of Workers within the Real estate and Construction Industry (RCI) the National Capital

Region (NCR)

The South Asia Institute summer research grant was used for two different purposes in relationship to

my dissertation research. The first, to do supplemental fieldwork for two chapters of my dissertation

and the second, to explore the possibility of a collaborative conference with locals at the field site near

Gurgaon, National Capital Region, India.

In the first case, I met with road and bridge engineers to explore the Indian road construction technol-

ogies and the possible changes within them in recent years. In these interviews we discussed the cen-

tral types of road making technologies including casting bitumen and concrete roads. We spoke of

changes in governmental approaches to roads and increased emphasis on pedestrian transport and

mass transit systems through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. This data pieces

into my chapter on urban ecologies in NCR that etches how road construction perpetuates urban de-

velopment and transforms the social life and space along the roads being constructed. For my second

chapter on money, primarily black money and its relationship to formal banking sectors I interviewed

bankers and developers who explained regulations placed by the Reserve Bank of India and means

through which formal and informal funding intersect within the real estate sector. It is interesting to

note that several argued that the Reserve Bank of India’s refusal to let banks fund the purchase of land,

as a safety measure to avoid speculation, seems to have backfired into the large sums of black money

the real estate sector deploys in its construction activity. This enhanced my chapter hypothesis that

formal and informal financial structures are indeed part of the same coin.

The second part of my fieldwork involved speaking with my existing contacts on the potential of a col-

laborative conference to bring my research back to the area studied. I spoke with village elders and a

local planner on possibilities. We arrived at the idea of setting up an urban awareness camp for youth

next summer that would involve inviting students from high schools and undergraduate colleges in the

area to a workshop with urban scholars and rights activists. The intention of this is threefold 1. To

work across the intense class and urban-rural divide that grips Gurgaon by inviting students from a va-

riety of schools and colleges. 2. To increase awareness about rights, legislation, and use of urban space

within the city. 3. To bring together the viewpoints of not only academic scholars but a variety of peo-

ple who study urban space including planners, rights activists and local leaders. I am currently in the

process of drafting a grant proposal to fund the same.

I thank the South Asia Institute for its continued support of this dissertation research.

53

Vineet Diwadkar | MLA & MUP | Landscape Architecture /

Urban Planning and Design | GSD

Modelling Mumbai: Human Architectural Currencies

My aim this past summer was to continue collaboration with anthropologist Vyjayanthi Rao on Model-

ling Mumbai, a research project combining ethnography, video documentation and graphic visualization

of the processes underlying Mumbai’s contemporary urban form.

Mumbai’s contemporary urban form is characterized by the simultaneous explosion in the growth of

informal settlements as well as high-rise constructions. This field visit permitted me to investigate how

these contradictory forms of building and settlement were enabled.

Although the Municipal Corporation (MCGM) has issued very few permits for greenfield construction,

the city has turned into a vast construction site, with high-rise “towers” and road works under con-

struction in every neighborhood, sanctioned under the rubric of “redevelopment” targeting informal

and dilapidated settlements. The systematic rise in informal settlement in Mumbai is linked to the in-

troduction of planning tools such as the use of restrictions on built up area to control population den-

sities. Regulations on land ownership and controls on built space on all urban plots were introduced

through the MCGM’s first Development Plan in 1964 and remain in force de jure. Yet, since the 1990s

when economic liberalization allowed increased flows of capital, new development control regulations

(DCRs) have introduced systematic exceptions into the MCGM’s Development Plan. These bypasses

grant incentives to private developers undertaking the redevelopment of informal settlements or slums

and other forms of dilapidated housing stock. The basic formula involves resettlement of residents

into rehab housing units, free of cost to them as

well as to the state authority sanctioning rede-

velopment. In exchange, developers receive the

right to sell a preset amount of floor space on

the commercial market.

Through interviews with a number of residents

within existing and relocated slums, we saw that

these algorithms for redevelopment and reset-

tlement have generated an urbanism based on

new typologies of a parameterized architec-

ture. Interviews with slum rehabilitation archi-

tects, construction managers and activists con-

firmed this assessment. Redevelopment rules

grant exceptions to normal development re-

quirements governing building heights, open spaces and setbacks, in order to make the project viable

for private sector implementation. These exceptions have partitioned urban space between luxury de-

velopment and high-rise slums, leveraging low construction costs and high real estate prices, reaping

fortunes for developers and political capital for ruling parties. Incentive floor space is consumed either

on site or transferred for use at even higher value sites often at a great distance from the original FSI-

generating site. Such transfers create a unique exchange value system between vulnerable citizens and

architectural development.

54

Our initial studies of redevelopment sites across Mumbai reveal new spatial partitioning between low-

and high- quality and cost buildings, creating a new visual grammar for mapping emerging forms of so-

cial stratification and urban subjectivity. In this emerging city, the frenzy of redevelopment activity has

introduced construction as a weapon in a social war that places architecture and spatial design at its

center. Although citizens’ rights to shelter and basic amenities are collateral to this process of land

capitalization, over time, the assertion of various citizen groups have created new forms of political

turbulence. Dilemmas about planning and infrastructural deficits and their resolution by using people

as currency interact with one another to create unique political situations in Mumbai and other Indian

cities where this formula is now increasingly being applied.

The research project builds on our existing archive of materials on the subject. This archive, assembled

over the past two years, includes original geospatial (GIS) data and maps, 3D models, diagrams, images,

video and interviews. The goal of the proposed project is to turn this archive into a visual presentation

that clarifies the underlying processes of slum urbanism.

Following this past summer’s field visit, we will be able to present Modelling Mumbai through pamphlet

and web-based formats to reach what we expect to be three audiences: those interested in Mumbai

and India (researchers, activists, architects, planners, etc); those investigating similar conditions and

forms in other sites worldwide; and those developing methodologies for emergent research practices.

55

Kanishka Elupula | PhD | Department of Anthropology | GSAS

Ethnographical Engagement with Caste in Modern Spaces: The Social Lives of Dalits in the Private Cor-

porate Sector

I spent six weeks in India to conduct preliminary research for my dissertation prospectus. This was

made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the South Asia Institute. My research interests include

the politics of the marginalized in India and the social lives of Dalits (former untouchables), especially

those who have overcome various economic barriers and are working in private corporate workspac-

es. My primary goal for the summer was to interview several Dalits in corporate work spaces in or-

der to get an idea of their experiences in India’s liberalizing market economy. The position of Dalits in

corporate spaces is somewhat peculiar because, on the one hand, their new occupations distance them

from less successful social peers, and on the other they are not fully integrated with their professional

peers who generally come from higher social strata. I divided my time between Hyderabad and New

Delhi which are two large cities in southern and northern India respectively. Most Dalits who work in

corporate settings do not want to be identified as Dalits and they are not very enthusiastic about being

interviewed. Most of them who agreed to interview did not wish to be named. Having lived in India for

most of my life, I have observed how inequalities and differences based on caste and other social insti-

tutions play out in educational institutions and corporate organizations. But I felt that because of a

growth in “Dalit politics” and with help from my contacts who are or were student leaders and politi-

cal activists at top universities, I would be able to find a large number of Dalits who work in corporates

and were willing to be interviewed.

The Indian media and elite discourses are full of stories about the “race to the bottom” which posits

that everybody in India wants to claim a lower caste status and play the victim, in order to gain govern-

ment largesse. While I never really subscribed to that view, the summer experience reminded me once

again that a lower caste status continues to be a source of stigma, and most people who can conceal

their lower caste status usually do so. This is especially true of people in “modern” spaces like private

corporate workspaces. Benefitting from caste based quotas in public sector education and employ-

ment, a small section of Dalits now find themselves in private corporate jobs. Given the hostility many

corporate establishments openly express towards affirmative action in India, Dalits in these organiza-

tions typically try to conceal their caste identity. Thus, an environment of constant underlying tension

shapes the social relationships that Dalits form in this space.

I conducted many informal interviews with Dalits in this space, besides talking to academicians and stu-

dent activists. This has helped me gain various insights into the corporate work space where caste in-

teracts with modern values and reproduces itself, often in new and subtle forms. I tried to find Dalits

working in large global corporates, like the top consulting, accounting and audit firms. But it turned out

to be very difficult to find such Dalits, as they are likely to be few in number and also very likely to hide

their caste identities. I had a very interesting experience interviewing one Dalit who changed his last

name to a typical upper caste name, when he worked at a firm in Gurgaon. He said that he was treated

with more respect than at any other time in his life and people were generally friendly. He also had the

interesting experience of listening in on conversations that were disparaging of lower caste people,

especially Dalits. I interviewed several others who were successful in concealing their caste status, be-

cause they worked in places far away from their homes, where their names were unfamiliar to others.

They had a similar experience of listening in on conversations of upper caste people that they wouldn’t

normally hear. Some talked about how they were not actively discriminated against but never really felt

like they were among peers because of their different sensibilities. On the whole the experience was

enriching and has provided me with sufficient insights to take my research further. I am thankful to the

South Asia Institute for making this possible.

56

Laurel S. Gabler | MD | HMS

Beyond the Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care Trial: A Qualitative Look at the Community Mo-

bilization Component of the EmONC Trial

With the support of the South Asia Institute grant, I was able to spend 6 productive weeks this sum-

mer in Nagpur, India, conducting research on community empowerment efforts to improve maternal

and neonatal health outcomes. I worked directly with the Lata Medical Research Foundation (LMRF)

under Dr. Archana Patel, a pediatrician and the head of LMRF.

In many countries, a high percentage of women still die during childbirth, and many children do not

survive past the neonatal period. The NIH-funded Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC)

trial was a large, multi-site, cluster randomized control trial aimed at reducing maternal and neonatal

mortality and morbidity by improving access to quality services. In order to achieve this goal, two-

hundred and eleven community facilitators in ten intervention groups received community empower-

ment training on approaches for increasing local engagement with these issues. These facilitators were

then responsible for carrying out phase-wise meetings with local stakeholder groups to help them

strategize about how to address their communities’ most pressing maternal and neonatal health con-

cerns. The facilitators at each of these 11,494 meetings recorded notes, which had not been examined

since the conclusion of the trial in 2011.

I went to Nagpur this summer

with the intention of better un-

derstanding the process and im-

pact of the community mobiliza-

tion and community capacity

building component of the

EmONC trial. I hoped to use

existing qualitative data and site

visits to help me learn more

about the trial, and to help me

design a more extensive study to

assess the longer term impact of

community mobilization pro-

grams. During my time there I

had the opportunity to visit 5 of

the 10 EmONC intervention clusters and hold discussion sessions with the community facilitators who

were responsible for carrying out the community meetings that took place during the trial. I talked to

them about their knowledge of emergency maternal and neonatal care and recognition of danger signs,

their experiences conducting community meetings, their understanding of community mobilization and

community capacity building, the skills they gained from participating in the trial, their current commu-

nity participation and ways in which they currently solve problems in their communities. I am now in

the process of analyzing the findings from these field visits and supplementing them with readings as a

preliminary step in the design of a much larger qualitative study to assess the ways in which such com-

munity mobilization training can have longer-term impacts on village level health workers involved, and

to assess the impact that this empowerment ultimately has on health outcomes. I am working on a

proposal for this project to be submitted to the Global Network, which will carry it out at each of the

global sites.

57

In addition to conducting discussion groups in the EmONC clusters, I also held discussion groups in 4

of the non-EmONC clusters to get a sense of how the health workers in those clusters compare to

the health workers who were trained as facilitators for EmONC. I will be using observations from

these discussion groups along with observations from the EmONC cluster discussion groups to help

the Lata Medical Research Foundation write a one-page report on the impact of community mobiliza-

tion training. This will be presented as part of a proposal LMRF is submitting to the government to se-

cure funding to carry out training with health

workers across the region.

In addition to these discussion groups, I exam-

ined existing qualitative data from the

EmONC community meetings that had yet to

be analyzed by anyone. I am still in the process

of analyzing the data from 800 meeting logs,

211 planning matrices, and notes that were

taken by field research officers observing the

meetings. In addition, I completed analyses of

389 maternal and neonatal death audits that

were collected during the trial but had never

been analyzed, and I have been using data

from LMRF’s extensive Maternal and Neonatal

Health Registry to verify the completeness of

the death audit data set. I am now in the pro-

cess of using all this data to help with the

preparation of a manuscript on the EmONC

community mobilization process.

Finally, I spent a lot of time with LMRF’s statistician looking at some of the data from the Maternal and

Neonatal Health registry to see if there are any site-specific outcomes worth investigating further that

demonstrate the impact EmONC had on the communities in which it was carried out. Specifically, as

potential outcomes of interest, I was looking at the location of deliveries, the person performing the

deliveries, whether or not a mother or neonate with complications was referred from the community

level, and whether or not there were any delays in the referral process.

In addition to my EmONC research work, I contributed my knowledge of qualitative research to

LMRF’s weekly seminar series and taught a session on qualitative research and qualitative data analysis

to the staff at the LMRF office. Finally, perhaps the most exciting thing about the summer was the pedi-

atric rounds I was allowed to attend several times at the local government college. There I got to see

so many interesting and heartbreaking cases I know I will never see on the wards of the hospitals here

in Boston, and I got to learn a lot about how to work in resource limited settings when you cannot do

an MRI or CT scan to diagnose a lesion. More, I came back to medical school this year with a new ex-

citement for the type of medicine I want to practice, – pediatric ID in underserved regions of the

world – and an even greater appreciation of the ways in which the broader environment impacts

health.

58

Andrew Halladay | Master of Theological Studies | Islamic Studies | HDS

American Institute of Indian Studies Urdu Language Immersion Program, Lucknow

My primary goal for this summer was to deepen my understanding of early twentieth-century Urdu

literature with an aim towards pursuing doctoral work in the field. In particular, I sought to explore

literary representations of the experiences of Indian Muslims at the twilight of the British Raj. To that

end, I undertook a study of literary magazines—the primarily vehicle for literature at the time—to dis-

cern the extent to which prominent writers both contributed to, and reacted against, the contempo-

rary political debates that culmi-

nated in Partition.

I maintain that the project is

important for two reasons.

First, while scholars have

acknowledged the centrality of

post-Partition literature in con-

structing experiences of Parti-

tion itself, they have given rela-

tively little attention to the Ur-

du literary landscape immediate-

ly before 1947, which was a

space upon which political de-

bates were frequently interpret-

ed, embraced, and challenged.

Second, my reading of these

publications has unmasked rich

literary rivalries that are ripe for

further scholarly inquiry. Be-

yond offering a lens through

which to better understand con-

temporary political debates, these competitive relationships point to a continuation of the tradition of

rivalry that was central to the earlier mushaira tradition. In this way, the Urdu literary journal—

representing though it did the ascendancy of a Western medium and literary forms—preserved and

even encouraged one of the pillars of this earlier, and much more thoroughly studied, literary tradition.

I am grateful to the South Asia Initiative for enabling me to capitalize on my experience in India. In ad-

dition to more formal training and guidance under the auspices of the American Institute of Indian

Studies in Lucknow, SAI funds enabled me to utilize archives and resources that would otherwise have

been inaccessible. The SAI grant, therefore, was critical in allowing me to both further develop my lan-

guage skills and to refine my project in light of local resources. This privilege of studying through an SAI

grant has, accordingly, left me well placed to further develop my area of scholarly interest—both over

the coming academic year and, I hope, during future doctoral study.

59

Abbas Jaffer | PhD | Department of Anthropology | GSAS

Digital Media and Pakistani Rock Music

In the summer of 2014, I undertook digital research and began my yearlong fieldwork on bands in La-

hore. My cyberethnographic included mapping connections of music groups together via their personal

social networks online and through personal communication, putting together a map of the major sites

for contemporary music in the city (e.g. studios, performances spaces), and analyzing online conversa-

tion around music videos and singles published online (e.g. threads and comments). I was particularly

keen to draw out the salient connections between how bands represent themselves via digital media

and how they attempt to cultivate an online community of listeners.

What I learned about the membership of these bands and how their music is distributed was invalua-

ble. Personal connections between musicians, public relations heads, media personalities and corporate

sponsors play an outsize role in which groups gain the largest amount of public exposure via online and

mass media. I discovered how the now defunct record-labels and distributors have been replaced by a

much more ad-hoc distribution system, and I aim to understand this further as I continue my fieldwork.

As for the geographic aspects of music scene, I combined online geographic information of the location

of big studios and performance venues with knowledge gained about home studios and informal venues

from interviews. While I have so far confirmed my initial thinking that recording and performance is

mostly limited to the Defence and Gulberg areas of the city, urban sprawl has result in home studios

and performance spaces popping up on the urban periphery, particularly toward the west near the Ravi

river. This, in turn, I found to bear a strong relationship to elite settlement patterns in the city and re-

flected how rock and pop bands are integrated into elite leisure culture.

This summer I was particularly keen to investigate how actively musicians themselves were involved in

the conversations around what they produced. My biggest finding was that rather that an online

'community management' model, the dialogue was largely among the fans with little direct participation

by the bands, outside of publishing new content. At the same time the digital public around this music

seemed to be expanding itself through new online marketplaces (e.g. Tazee.pk) and social media

groups. I was able to observe how enthusiasts and commentators had launched newspaper columns in

Dawn and The Express Tribune, new online fora had been inaugurated, and how Lahori audiences

were also sharing music in vernacular languages they didn’t necessarily understand like Pashto and Dari.

The generous support of the South Asia Institute allowed me to think more carefully through the is-

sues of digital-spatial relations and the city in Pakistan, the intersection of corporate sponsorship and

prestige among indie bands, and to outline a program of interviews, event participation and observation

during Academic Year 2014-2015. I am deeply grateful for the research opportunities I had this sum-

mer, and I hope to give back to the community of research and practice on South Asia at Harvard

comprehensively upon my return from the field.

60

Kayla Kellerman | Master of Theological Studies | HDS

American Institute of Indian Studies Advanced Hindi Language Program

This summer, with the generous help of the South Asian Institute’s Summer Research Grant, I have

had the great pleasure of spending nine weeks advancing my educa-

tion in Jaipur, India. In Jaipur, I participated in the American Institute

of Indian Studies advanced Hindi program where I was able to gain

not only the needed language skills for my academic research, but

also irreplaceable experience about how to thrive in all aspects of

India. As Masters of Theological Studies student at Harvard Divinity

School, I primarily focus on modern Hindu narratives that originated

in north India; thus, learning Hindi maintains a vital role in my studies.

AIIS’s rigorous Hindi program provided priceless speaking, reading,

and writing practice in which my own language ability improved rapid-

ly. Since the beginning of the program, I have gone from reading

short children’s stories to full novels. However, most importantly I

was able to acquire the tools to not only obtain the devotional texts

related to my field in their native language, but also translate them.

Thanks to my amazing stay in India, I am currently working on trans-

lating devotional poetry of famous Hindi poets, Kabir and Mirabai.

Outside of the classroom also proved to be equally imperative to my

growth as a student of South Asia. Living in a large city like Jaipur, gave me the opportunity to learn

how to navigate the busy, sometimes chaotic streets of India and the opportunity to speak with many

natives of all different backgrounds. From having

Hindi conversations with various Rikshaw wallas

to locals who make their living by charming

snakes, I have gotten to know South Asian cul-

ture on a very personal level. Throughout the

program, AIIS additionally offered us many chanc-

es to visit different areas of India so that we im-

mersed ourselves in important features of Indian

culture. I particularly took full advantage of this,

traveling to Pushkar, Tilonia, Agra, and Udaipur

and seeing the Taj Mahal, many temples, floating

palaces, forts, and other significant spiritual spots

like the Pushkar Lake. Having seen all these mi-

raculous places, I felt completely immersed in the

Indian community. Not only was I able to contin-

uously practice speaking Hindi, but also I really got to know the people there, allowing me to under-

stand better the basis for which the literature I study comes from. One of the best experiences I had

with the AIIS program, however, was staying with my host family that they provided for me. In staying

with my host family, I developed strong relationships with my host parents and my three host sisters.

Even though there was potential to have a language barrier, with a mixture of Hindi and English, I

learned about their history and background; both of my host parents being retired professors of art.

Today, I am still in touch with all of my family and am already making preparations to visit them in the

hopefully near future.

Outside of the classroom also

proved to be equally imperative to

my growth as a student of South

Asia...Not only was I able to

continuously practice speaking Hindi,

but also I really got to know the

people there, allowing me to

understand better the basis for which

the literature I study comes from.

61

Joseph Kimmel | Master of Theological Studies | HDS

The Kingdom of God among Nepalese and American Clergy

This past summer I received a grant to fund a theological research project based in Kathmandu, Ne-

pal. The purpose of the project was to compare the conceptualization and practice of the Christian

theological tenet of the “kingdom of God” between two groups of Christian pastors: one group based

in the Cambridge, MA area and another in and around Kathmandu. The idea that Christians in South

Asia must necessarily develop a theology that differs in important respects from that which is es-

poused by Christians in other parts of the world has been argued strongly by theologians like the Sri

Lankan Jesuit liberation theologian, Aloysius Pieris. Pieris contends, for instance, that theological con-

cepts like the kingdom of God, in order to be intelligible and useful in a South Asian context, must

emphasize facets (such as a value for religious traditions outside of Christianity) that may not appear

as strongly in Western understandings of the concept. The purpose of my project was not so much to

substantiate Pieris’ argument but to see if real differences in theological understandings can be identi-

fied between Christian leaders in two different cultural contexts—to see if in fact the kingdom of

God, specifically, appears differently to Christians in Nepal and America.

After interviewing six Christian pastors in the Cambridge area last spring (a number I intend to in-

crease through additional interviews this fall), I spent the end of May and all of June 2014 in Kathman-

du, Nepal, where I interviewed eight Christian church leaders. Besides background demographic ques-

tions (e.g., denomination, annual church budget, highest level of education/theological training), my

interview protocol consisted of questions

including:

How do you understand the phrase ‘the

Kingdom of God’?

How would you explain the phrase to a

small child?

Do you/your church have a role in God’s

Kingdom? If so, how do you understand

your role?

Where is the Kingdom?

What is the relationship of the Kingdom of

God and non-Christians?

How have you developed your understand-

ing of this concept (based on what sources

or experiences)?

Each interview lasted approximately 45 minutes and was audio recorded to aid in data analysis. After

conducting each interview, I then transferred the individual’s responses in summary form onto a

spreadsheet through which the answers of all the interviewees could be easily compared. This com-

parison revealed several notable results:

1) In response to the question about how one understands the phrase ‘the Kingdom of God,’ while

American pastors endorsed a variety of features—from social justice activities to evangelism to coop-

eration among Christians—Nepalese pastors overwhelmingly (75% of respondents) interpreted the

phrase in the specific sense of evangelism/conversion of non-Christians.

62

2) Similarly, when asked about their or their church’s role in God’s Kingdom, the vast majority of Nep-

alese pastors interpreted these roles in terms of evangelism efforts (again, 75% of respondents)—i.e.

that their and their church’s purpose in the Kingdom of God is to “share the Gospel” with non-

Christians. By contrast, only 33% of American church leaders mentioned evangelism as an aspect of

their (or their church’s) role. American pastors tended to endorse a variety of purposes centered

around social service ministries, from offering homeless ministries to supporting campaigns for LGBTQ

rights. Additional differences were seen in the comments of two Nepalese pastors who suggested that

their role was to “encourage other Chris-

tians.” Providing such encouragement was not

mentioned by any of the American pastors.

3) In regard to positive or negative associations

with the phrase the “Kingdom of God,” multi-

ple American pastors expressed at least a par-

tially negative association, with one church

leader describing the term as an

“anachronism” that may be “destructive” due

to the negative connotations that may be asso-

ciated with patriarchy and oppressive mon-

archs. No Nepalese clergy members interpret-

ed the phrase even partially in a negative light;

all Nepalese pastors interviewed described it in

strongly positive ways, with descriptors like

“Heaven on Earth” and “God’s presence in a

person’s life.”

4) Differences in understanding can also be seen in terms of the relationship between non-Christians

and the Kingdom of God. Regarding this issue, American pastors expressed a variety of views, with

some contending that one can enter God’s Kingdom only after making a decision of “faith” to become

a Christian, while others argued that the Bible itself supports the inclusion of all people in this Kingdom

and referenced specific biblical passages to support this view. On the other hand, not one Nepalese

pastor interviewed believed that non-Christians are members of God’s Kingdom. In this position, they

reflected the beliefs expressed by those American pastors who stressed a decision of faith—a conver-

sion to Christianity—as critical for entering the Kingdom.

To account for these significant differences in understanding, a couple explanations may be suggested.

First, Christianity has been practiced in Nepal for only the last several decades, and the version of

Christian theology that has predominated stems from the conservative beliefs of the Protestant mis-

sionary organizations which have exerted a strong influence over Nepalese Christians. As a result of

the short period of time and especially due to the dominating influence of a few, theologically conserva-

tive missions organizations, Christian theology in Nepal has not developed the mix of liberal and con-

servative strains present, for example, among American Christian communities. Second, historically

Christians in Nepal have been persecuted and exist even today as a small and vulnerable minority

against which protests are occasionally directed by extremist Hindu factions. In such an environment,

cultivation of a plurality of theological views may not be seen as valuable. Instead, theological unity and

solidarity in the face of a common threat may be privileged. This need for unity and mutual support is

underscored by the comments of the Nepalese pastors who valued “encouraging other Christians” as a

significant aspect of their role in the Kingdom of God.

A Nepali Pastor outside his church

63

These preliminary results point to significant differences in how Christian leaders from different cul-

tural and socioeconomic backgrounds interpret the same theological concept. One notable similarity

is that while arriving at somewhat different conclusions about the nature of God’s Kingdom and their

role in it, both groups of pastors cited the same sources—the Bible and personal experience of God

and ministry—behind these conclusions. Both American and Nepalese pastors, both liberal and con-

servative clergy members, supported their claims by pointing to the Bible and to their experiences of

God and of ministering to people. Further research, therefore, could probe more deeply into the in-

tersection of these sources with cultural, social, and economic factors. Incorporating the fields of soci-

ology, anthropology, and cultural psychology, one might investigate, for instance, why the interpreta-

tion of a certain biblical passage about God’s Kingdom may differ so radically between two sets of

people.

Ian Mccormack | PhD | Department of Religion | GSAS

The Contributions of the Regent Sangye Gyatso to Buddhism and Polity in Tibet

The primary purpose of this venture was to retrieve texts that are central to my dissertation re-

search. More specifically, the trip allowed me to visit a number of libraries and archives in pursuit of

texts (mostly xylograph) authored by the Desi Sangye Gyatso (1653-1705), the political leader of Tibet

for around a quarter of a century and, along with his mentor and sponsor the fifth Dalai Lama, one of

the architects of the political-religious ideology of the Ganden Phodrang government, not to mention

its buildings, rituals, and bureaucracy. As I mentioned, the Desi's texts were until recently largely una-

vailable, and even now many of the extant copies are incomplete or insufficient in many ways. For in-

stance some are missing folios or very poorly reproduced; others are handwritten tracings of the orig-

inal prints and therefore replete with errors. Others are not available at all.

Due to the poor standards of cataloging and a general reticence (or indifference) to sharing collec-

tions of texts, even the knowledge of what is available, and where, is incomplete. Therefore this trip

served as a fact-finding as well as a retrieval mission. Based on research performed before and during

this trip, I have since been able to build a most comprehensive bibliographical record not only of texts

Sangye Gyatso is known to have authored but also the number and locations of extant copies around

the world.

According to the criteria established in the initial proposal the trip was entirely a success and followed

almost exactly the proposed format. The duration of the trip was roughly three weeks, from July 21

until August 11. I spent time at the following sites:

Tibet House Library, New Delhi

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala

Bihar Research Society Library, Samkrtyayan collection, Patna

Central University of Tibetan Studies Library, Sarnath

Nepal National Archives, Kathmandu

Additionally I directly benefited from interaction with a number of individuals including Mangaram

Kashyap (Library of Congress, New Delhi); Tashi Tshering (founder, Amnye Machen Institute, New

Delhi); Ngawang Tshepak (head librarian, Sarnath); and Shankar Thapa (professor, Tribhuvan Universi-

ty, Kathmandu).

By far the most important aspects of the trip were the texts retrieved in Sarnath and Nepal and the

64

personal conversations with Tashi Tshering, whose bibliographical and historical knowledge of Tibetan

literature is peerless. In Dharamsala, I located an important verse text by the Desi on the previous lives

of the fifth Dalai Lama as well as his lengthy commentary on the same. In Sarnath, Ngawang Tshepak

personally and generously gave me not only a xylograph copy of the Rna ba'i bcud len (a text on the

fifth Dalai Lama's death and its public concealment) but also a cursive manuscript of an abridged ver-

sion of the text. This text was granted from the private collection of one Rikya Rinpoche of Tawang

(now in Arunachal Pradesh), the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, which Ngawang Tshepak (also from

this area) had personally retrieved. As far as I am aware this is the only copy of this manuscript in ex-

istence and it is a crucial resource for further studies of this text. The Nepal National Archives is a

veritable treasure trove and may merit a return trip. Their collections include tens of thousands of mi-

crofilmed texts as a result of some fifteen years of photographing under the Nepal German Manuscript

Project, representing the bulk of the private collections in monasteries and households in and around

the Kathmandu valley. There is unfortunately hardly any cataloging here which necessitates the slow

process of combing through fifteen years of microfilm documentation. In this collection I located high-

quality photographs of three crucial texts, of which henceforth no reliable textual witnesses have been

available: the Lo gsar 'bel gtam, a text on political speechmaking; and two versified 'khrungs rabs or ac-

counts of past lives, of the fifth Dalai Lama and the Desi himself, respectively. I spent a good deal of

money having these texts printed but the state of facilities at this archive is dismal and the copies are

almost illegible. Therefore I am still in the process of ordering copies of the film itself, which is an un-

fortunate but necessary expense. In the meantime I have my own personal transcriptions of key passag-

es. In Bihar, after much formality and much patient negotiation of the museum bureaucracy, I was

granted the rare privilege of being able to view texts from the preciously guarded (and slowly disinte-

grating) Samkrtyayana collection, which includes two texts by the Desi. One of these, the tshogs mchod

bca' bsgrigs, is a very important text for my research. At this facility no photography was allowed, and

photocopying would not have been possible even if it were allowed; I was only cleared to view the

texts under constant and multiple supervision. Therefore I spent two afternoons painstakingly copying

out as much of the text as I could. I subsequently learned that the university of Sanskrit and Tibetan in

Sarnath has been able to forge preliminary relationships with this archive towards the purpose of even-

tually scanning these materials, so there is a distant possibility that they will become available in the

future, although I would honestly not expect this to happen anytime soon. I also used this trip as an

opportunity to purchase a significant amount of Tibetan-language publications not available in the U.S.

The trip met every goal from a research perspective although given the constraints of time and money

there were not any opportunities to do much more. Apart from several days recuperating from illness

in Dharamsala (caused likely by the combination of jetlag, overnight bus travel, and the jarring transi-

tion from 105-degree Delhi to the damp 65-degree perpetual rain of the Himalayan foothills in mon-

soon season) I spent the entirety of my trip either in a library or traveling to one by train, bus, or

plane. However the materials I obtained are central to my research, and this alone, not to mention the

benefit of personal connections made and firsthand knowledge gained of important text collections,

entirely justifies the effort.

65

Aditya Menon | PhD | Department of Comparative Literature | GSAS

American Institute of Indian Studies Intensive Sanskrit Summer Program, Pune

I was not new to me. Sorry, that was a typo, but it might be telling. After all, “finding yourself” seems

to be essential to study-abroad narratives. Similarly, the study of a new language can take you to fea-

tures of language that had remained invisible to you even as you used them. Sanskrit is anything but

"new" and, as an Indian citizen, I was not really studying “abroad”. In fact, what I had meant to type

was this: I was not new to Pune. My

parents live in the area, and I have

visited them every summer. There

was a difference, though—I was living

in the city proper for the first time,

and (also for the first time) officially

doing something productive, a San-

skrit course at the American Institute

of Indian Studies. I had just done a

year of completed my first year in the

Comparative Literature program at

Harvard, and further language study

felt necessary.

The program was ideal in its combina-

tion of regular classes and self-study.

Every week had scheduled time for

grammar, conversation, journal writ-

ing and reading. In small groups, we

worked through excerpts from vari-

ous canonical texts. What I enjoyed

most might have been a play by Bhasa;

the alternation of lyricism and banter

made the language come alive in what

felt like its “natural” setting. There

was just enough irregularity to leave

room for interpretation, keeping us

alert to linguistic contexts and to the

subject matter. At one point, our teacher switched in to English to tell us about the “subtle feminine

jealousy” we were missing. Before enrolling in the program, I had not known that classes would be

conducted in Sanskrit. At first this was very frustrating, but it must have helped me start thinking in

Sanskrit. It felt a bit ridiculous to use the arbitrary-sounding Pāṇinian terms in place of phrases like

“past passive participle”, but it made me wary of oversimplifying the concepts.

Sanskrit has made me hyperaware with regard to compounds. The English word “self-study”, which I

used above as a literal translation of svādhyāya, is ambiguous. Does it signify study by oneself or of

oneself? As for svādhyāya, Wikipedia will inform you that it has “several meanings, including study of

the Vedas and other sacred books, self-recitation, repetition of the Vedas aloud, and as a term for

the Vedas themselves. . . Some translators simply use the word ‘study’ without qualifying the type of

study’.” My svādhyāya consisted of reading the Bhagavad Gita in one-on-one sessions with a profes-

sor. For a final project, I tried to read the Gita through Pāṇini’s kāraka scheme— a “deep case”

structure, that often (but not always) maps on to the inflection of words. The resulting essay was a

Aditya with his Sanskrit Class at the American Institute

of Indian Studies

66

mess, partly because I wasn’t sure whether I was using Pāṇini to make sense of Kṛṣṇa or vice versa,

partly because it had more typos than anything I have ever written. I claimed that the Gita undermined

the common-sense association between grammatical agent, real agent and individual self. Not to trans-

late the Gita’s metaphysics into pedagogy of self-study, but I began to feel that another (but related)

“selflessness” could be desirable for a student. One of our instructors at AIIS invited us to question his

explanations without worrying that he would take offense. Another urged us to listen to what the lan-

guage had to tell us, rather than seeing it as a mere instrument. In effect, both were asking us to set

aside a petty sense of self.

Daily group recitations helped me find a Sanskrit voice that was not just my own. Many of the verses

were funny; some felt funnily appropriate to our situation. At least one was explicitly about pedagogy.

In Sheldon Pollock’s translation: “A guru transmits knowledge to the dull / no less than to the bright /

but he can neither make nor break / their aptitude for learning, / and a great difference in outcome /

arises between them. / A polished gem can reflect an image; / a clump of dirt cannot.” Jahnabi, the oth-

er Harvard student in our (very bright) group, took issue with the way this verse pretends that

“aptitude” is the only prerequisite for learning. I agree that the message is problematic if it entails irre-

sponsibility on the part of teachers and suggests that students are born good or bad. But the verse can

be inspiring if we linger over the punchline. Across traditions, the image of the polished mirror signifies

spiritual receptivity. Learning by heart is one way to polish the mirror.

I was not new to me. So much for finding myself, or rather an image of self-as-Sanskrit student. More

importantly, I lost and found a pair of shoes. We were at Kolhapur, a town that hadn’t really figured in

my consciousness except as the source of a kind of footwear known as Kolhapuris. The synecdoche

had clouded my vision of the place, as if I had been seeing Oxford primarily as a place for Oxfords. But

Kolhapur turned out to be a major site of pilgrimage. During our trip to the shoe market, I got bored

and strayed back to the temple. I circumambulated the sanctum barefoot and then stepped out of the

temple only to find that my shoes were missing. After many minutes of searching, and a couple of

phone calls, I realized that they had not been stolen; I had simply left them at another entrance. I felt

silly, but sensed something like grace in the fact that the temple had many gates. Now I could relish the

irony of having lost shoes in a town of shoes, secure in the knowledge that they had never been lost

after all.

67

James Reich | PhD | Committee on the Study of Religion | GSAS

Research on the Intellectual History of Art and Aesthetics in India

With my grant from Harvard's South Asia Institute, I spent my summer traveling across India, visit-

ing archives and photographing manuscript copies of many texts related to my research.

My PhD dissertation is concerned

with the intellectual history of art

and aesthetics in India. I study a

number of theoretical texts written

in Sanskrit over 1,000 years ago. At

the time these texts were written,

and for hundreds of years after,

they circulated around India in the

form of hand-made manuscripts,

either scratched onto dried palm

leaves or written with ink on birch

bark, to be distributed to royal, per-

sonal, or monastery libraries. Be-

cause of the climate in India, the

physical copies of these books only

lasted a few hundred years before

being rendered illegible by mold or

insects, and so they had to be copied and recopied many times throughout the centuries since they

were written. This means that the texts we receive as modern readers are the end result of a long

game of telephone, with mistakes creeping in here and there and then getting reproduced in all future

copies. To responsibly produce a modern edition of a Sanskrit text, one needs to collect all the vari-

ous versions of the text available around India, carefully compare and weigh the variations, and de-

cide which are the mistakes and which are the original author's words.

Although many of the texts I work on have been published, the editions have often been put together

carelessly, using only a few of the available manuscripts. Sometimes it is difficult to tell which manu-

scripts were used, and it is often difficult to tell what decisions the editor made, because no other

variations are recorded. For this reason, it was necessary for me to travel to India myself and begin

collecting copies of the manuscripts of the texts I study, which are scattered in various state and uni-

versity archives across the continent. Though a new edition of these texts is still a long way away,

having copies of the manuscripts will allow me to cross-check the text in the editions I have and

make sure there are no important alternative versions of the text, a task that's especially important

when parts of my dissertation sometimes hinge on interpreting a few words or phrases. The grant

allowed me to travel to four different archives, in Chennai, Tirupati, Mysore, and Trivandrum, and

access their materials. Not only was it helpful to see the manuscripts, but just seeing the conditions

in which Indian history is preserved brought me closer to the materials I study. The smell of thou-

sands of dried, dusty palm leaves that have been brushed with lemon-grass oil as a preservative is

impossible to describe and impossible to forget. In addition to this, I was also able to spend a week in

Trivandrum with an expert at the archives studying paleography, which will help me immensely in

reading the manuscripts, which are often written in old and outdated scripts. Finally, traveling around

south India allowed me to see large parts of the country I had never seen before, and to explore its

culture, architecture, landscape, and religion in ways that will be helpful to my career as an academic

for years to come. All this made the trip immeasurably valuable for me, and I am grateful to Harvard's

South Asia Institute for giving me the means to take it.

James with Mr. P.L. Shaji, expert paleographer and manuscriptologist at the Trivandrum Oriental Institute.

68

Heather Sarsons | PhD | Department of Economics | GSAS

Dowry Payments and Female Welfare in India

I spent the summer in Delhi, India, piloting a survey designed to better understand marital practices

and their implications for female wellbeing in India. I piloted the survey with another student who is

studying at the Kennedy School. We wanted to better understand how parents and children make

choices about whom a child will marry and which “spousal qualities” they trade off on. For example,

would parents rather marry their child

to someone with a university degree

who is of another caste or someone

who has not completed high school

who is from the same caste? While the

choices people make are not so dichot-

omous, it is important to understand

what small tradeoffs might be made if

we want to consider how marriage

norms impact a woman’s wellbeing.

Our survey went through numerous

iterations, starting out as a broad sur-

vey designed to gather as much infor-

mation as possible about women’s mar-

riage and fertility histories, their thoughts about current marriage practices, and their beliefs about

how marriage is changing. We eventually narrowed in on specific topics and conducted fewer but

more in-depth interviews. The data we collected is currently being entered but we did notice some

broad trends while conducting the interviews that will serve as a launch pad for a more directed

study. Spending this summer conducting broader and open-ended interviews allowed us to narrow

our question and think about how we will best design our future study.

While both of us have worked in India before, this was also the first time we had run our own sur-

vey. We became very aware of all of the things, small and large, that can go wrong when doing field-

work. The grant from SAI gave us the opportunity to run a small pilot survey that gave us the experi-

ence we needed so that our future surveys are run more smoothly.

The grant from SAI also made it possible for us to hire experienced surveyors. This was especially

important as we were asking sensitive questions and so needed people who could conduct the inter-

views thoroughly and professionally. I am immensely grateful for the financial and logistical support

that the South Asia Institute provided, before, during, and after our trip.

While both of us have worked in India

before, this was also the first time we had

run our own survey. We became very

aware of all of the things, small and large,

that can go wrong when doing fieldwork.

The grant from SAI gave us the

opportunity to run a small pilot survey that

gave us the experience we needed so that

our future surveys are run more smoothly.

69

South Asia in the

words of our Grant Recipients

southasiainstitute.harvard.eduCGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA