Dear friends of the South Asia Center,
I hope this note finds you as well as can be in these tumultuous times. As we come to the close of another academic year, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the many ways in which you continue to engage with and enrich the South Asia Center. If not for you, we would not be the intellectually and socially vibrant community that so many of us rely on to sustain us. It is your enthusiasm and support that allows us to fulfill our commitment to deepening public understanding of the histories, politics, economies, cultures, languages, religions, and societies of South Asia, a task that is more necessary than ever in this moment.
This year, the Center and affiliated faculty collaborated on several exciting events, featuring scholars, journalists, and writers from the United States, Europe, and India. Among other things, we had the opportunity to learn more about caste and the politics of political inclusion, the lives of working-class women in modern India, the political ecology of wetlands in India and Bangladesh, and Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu valley. We capped the year with a daylong workshop featuring original, cutting-edge research by our brilliant M.A. and Ph.D. students.
This year also marks the sixth anniversary of our summer Nepali language program, part of the South Asia Center’s Nepal Studies Initiative. This affordable program offers participants from around the world a chance to engage in immersive language learning.
We would like to thank the generous donors who make it possible for our graduate students to pursue brilliant and original research projects. Students who were awarded the Conlon, Varanasi, and IACS fellowships this year conducted archival and ethnographic research in India and Pakistan.
And, finally, it is my great pleasure to announce the next Director of the South Asia Center, Professor Christian Novetzke. Christian is Professor of International Studies and Comparative History of Ideas and serves as faculty in the South Asia Program and the Religious Studies/Comparative Religion Program. He teaches and writes about religion, history, and culture in South Asia, as well as theoretical issues in the study of religion in general and its intersection with historiography, publics, texts, performance, film, and politics. His work engages public ethics in relation to caste, gender, and power in the past and present. We are lucky to have him step into this role, and I look forward to seeing the many ways in which the South Asia Center will thrive and grow under his Directorship.
Once again, thank you for the many ways in which you continue to support our community at the UW South Asia Center. We look forward to welcoming you at our events next year.
Sincerely,
Radhika Govindrajan
Director, South Asia Center