SOUTH ASIA PROGRAM 2017 BULLETIN From the Director By Anne M. Blackburn As I write these lines on a warm representation from diverse colleges as Asia is the priority, and where teachers, summer day, Cornellians are well, as the Cornell Law School, on the students, artists, and research scholars Advisory Committee. refine one another’s understanding of anticipating the inauguration On the cover you find the compelling topics and research problems associated of Cornell’s next President, work of artist Tulku Jamyang, featured in with the region. We advocate for, raise our recent Nepal and Himalayan Studies funds for, and help to organize the study Professor Martha E. Pollack. Conference (p. 9). Tulku Jamyang tells of South Asian languages, recognizing The South Asia Program wishes us that the work “Disperse” – a random that language learning provides a critical scattering of the Tibetan alphabet – foundation for study and research. Professor Pollack a felicitous and is intended to remind viewers that the Language study makes it possible for successful presidency. language is at risk, no longer central undergraduate and graduate students in education, and lacking adequate to participate in South Asia Studies The 2016-2017 academic year was one institutional support. We have paired with more effectiveness and greater of the South Asia Program’s most Tulku Jamyang’s warning about dispersal subtlety. Some students study their active years in recent memory, marked and loss with the theme of this year’s first South Asian language at Cornell, by a vigorous seminar series (see p. 15), Bulletin, “Foundations,” to underscore while others add their second, third, or multiple arts events (see p.13–15), and both the power and the fragility of fourth, enhancing linguistic skills gained two major conferences (see p. 9–11). I language and area studies. through family life and earlier studies in congratulate the Program staff on their In the pages that follow, you find South Asia and its global diaspora. many successes during the first year of vivid signs of the vitality of the Cornell The intellectual energies of our fac- Daniel Bass’ tenure as Manager and the South Asia Program and South Asia ulty and students are extremely strong. first months of Valerie Foster Githinji’s Studies at Cornell. Our students, faculty, Thanks to them the Program is vital, work as Administrative Assistant (see and visiting colleagues develop powerful with an expanding array of public events p. 2). The South Asia Program Advisory pedagogical experiences and undertake and outreach activities, plus new ways of Committee has been active in helping creative research with wide-ranging connecting artists and intellectuals at to set new goals and priorities for the impacts. They work in multiple media Cornell with their counterparts across Program. We are all grateful to the and across disciplines to refine our South Asia and the South Asian diaspora. SAP Advisory Committee members for understanding of how people associated Our expanding number of visitors from their dedication and creativity: Anindita with South Asia are participating in, and South Asia through programs – such as Banerjee, Bronwen Bledsoe, Iftikhar reflecting upon, global processes. South the Fulbright Mid-Career Professional Dadi, Durba Ghosh, Dan Gold, Sital Asia Program faculty and staff are foun- Development Fellowships, the Fulbright- Kalantry, Karim-Aly Kassam, Neema dational to these efforts. We create an Nehru Academic and Professional Excel- Kudva, and Prabhu Pingali. It gives environment on campus where the study lence Fellowships, and the Cornell South me particular pleasure to see talented of historical and contemporary South Asian Studies Fellowships – testifies to SOUTH ASIA PROGRAM TABLE OF CONTENTS 170 Uris Hall Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853-7601 Cover Image: Phone: 607-255-8923 / Fax: 607-254-5000 FEATURES 3 OUTREACH 17 TRANSITIONS & TULKU JAMYANG sap@einaudi.cornell.edu Sri Lanka Studies Afterschool Hindi ANNOUNCEMENTS 23 Tibetan, born Nepal, 1977 Notes from the Field Program Disperse, 2015Gouache on paper, overlaid Refugee Conference Anne M. Blackburn, Director ACHIEVEMENTS 25 with rice paper perforated NEWS 7 Global Voices in by burning with incense Faculty Publications 33 3170D Uris Hall 8Education / x 32 in. Phone: 607-254-6501 NFLC Students' Blogs TCI scholars 2016-17 Acquired through the George and Mary amb242@cornell.edu Conference Reports UPCOMING FLAS fellows 2017-18 Rockwell Fund 2016.012 Development Forum EVENTS 20 Recently Graduated Photography courtesy Nepal Earthquake Students of the Herbert F. Johnson Daniel Bass, Manager Recovery 2017 Tagore Lecture Museum of Art Visiting Scholars Courtesy of the artist 170E Uris Hall Bombay Poets Phone: 607-255-8923 EVENTS 13 South Asian Studies Design: Scarlet Duba dmb46@cornell.edu FellowsArts Recaps SAP Seminar Series sap.einaudi.cornell.edu the visibility of Cornell’s South Asia languages we cannot recruit and retain March with representatives from other Program around the world (see p. 28). the most talented graduate students National Resource Centers and FLAS Yet, as Tulku Jamyang reminds us, and faculty, nor meet our responsibilities Fellowships recipients, meeting with our it is all too easy for even celebrated to Cornell’s undergraduates who are Senators and Congressional Representa- foundations to crack, for critical re- ever more global in their perspectives tives. It was a delight to receive a warm sources to disperse to the point of and ambitions. and responsive welcome from the office uselessness. Therefore, we must not rest During the past academic year, the of Congressman Tom Reed, as well as the on our laurels, but strive to preserve and South Asia Program has worked hard offices of Senator Chuck Schumer and expand the foundational strength of to approach budgetary threats to South Senator Kristen Gillibrand. South Asia Studies at Cornell. Asian languages from several angles: It is always easy to dwell on concerns Recent faculty retirements – emphasizing to Cornell’s higher admin- about the future, but we must not lose including Professors Shelley Feldman, istration the critical importance of less sight of the many powerfully positive Ron Herring, David Holmberg, Mary commonly taught languages for Cornell’s signs on the South Asia Program’s Katzenstein, Kathryn March, Mukul research and teaching missions and horizon. Thanks to the Director of the Majumdar, and Mike Walter – have prestige, developing innovative teaching Mario Einaudi Center for International removed talented teachers and graduate strategies to maximize language course Studies, Prof. Hirokazu Miyazaki, the student supervisors from our ranks, enrollments, and seeking external donor South Asia Program’s connections to hitting the social sciences particularly funding for Cornell’s most vulnerable Cornell’s Alumni Affairs and Develop- hard. The South Asia Program will work languages. We have made considerable ments office have been reinvigorated. The closely with Cornell’s colleges, depart- progress on all fronts, but the 2017-2018 South Asia Program has articulated an ments, and programs to secure faculty academic year remains a vulnerable ambitious development plan. South Asia hires connected to teaching and research period for Cornell’s South Asian Program faculty continue to develop on South Asia. The diminished pace of language program. We welcome donor new opportunities related to South Asia faculty hires at Cornell makes this more support of Cornell’s South Asia Program for their undergraduate and graduate difficult, but the South Asia Program and, especially, our language programs students, including innovative courses will do all possible to support innovative (see p. 29). offered on Cornell’s campus and engaged and interdisciplinary faculty hires Federal funding uncertainties learning and research opportunities across the University. compound the threats to our South Asian across South Asia. The South Asia As noted in last year’s Bulletin, languages as well as precious fellowships Program is working closely with Cornell Cornell’s new budget model, linking supporting graduate students at Cornell, Abroad to sustain and expand our the funding of Cornell’s individual since cutting the federal Department of existing off-campus programs in Nepal colleges in substantial part to student Education Title VI budget, which sup- and India. Our new South Asian Studies enrollments, puts considerable pressure port area studies at universities around Fellowships Program (see p.22) deepens on less commonly taught languages of the country through National Resource connections with colleagues across the South Asia. Budget-conscious adminis- Center grants and Foreign Language and South Asian region; we are delighted trators have begun to see lower-enrolling Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships, is a to welcome Fellows from Afghanistan, language courses as a liability. Threats major target of the Trump Administra- India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka during to language faculty salaries concern us tion’s 2018 budget. At the Cornell South the forthcoming academic year. Lastly, deeply because the South Asian language Asia Program, a long-time National the Cornell Library now houses the curriculum is foundational to undergrad- Resource Center and FLAS Fellowship Bombay Poets Archive, which we cele- uate and graduate student pedagogy at grant recipient, we are lobbying hard brate with the Bombay Poets Symposium Cornell. We argue that smaller class- with our consortium partners at the this September (see p.21). rooms do not indicate languages’ low Syracuse South Asia Center to save Title A bright future lies ahead for South value. Rather, we emphasize that without VI funding. As part of those efforts, Asia Studies at Cornell—if we ensure that breadth and excellence in South Asian we spent time on Capitol Hill this past our foundations are secure. We are pleased to introduce Valerie Foster Githinji, who joined the South Asia Program as our new Administrative Assistant in March 2017. Valerie has a broad background in international education, having taught in Ithaca Public Schools, BOCES, and Ithaca College for the past four years. Before that, she served as the International Outreach and Global Studies Coordinator at Hocking College in Ohio for two years. Valerie earned her B.A. in Anthropology from St. Lawrence University with concentrations in languages and Africa, an M. A. in Cultural Anthropology from Michigan State University with concentrations in African Studies and Kiswahili, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology & International Development Studies, from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, with research on poverty, climate variability, food and nutrition security, HIV/AIDS, and gendered vulnerability in Tanzania. Her dissertation was entitled, Everyday Social Dynamics and Cultural Drivers of Women’s Experiences with HIV/AIDS: Voices from Buhaya, Tanzania. We are pleased that Valerie has decided to cross the Indian Ocean from her previous interest in East Africa, to join the South Asia Program, where, in a few short months, she has already displayed great resourcefulness and dedication. 2 FEATURES Colombo skyline (Photo by Nethra Samarawickrema) A Global Leader in Sri Lanka Studies By Anne M. Blackburn W hile Cornell understandably prides itself on its many rich inter-disciplinarity owes something to Cornell’s distinctive exceptional qualities, one unique feature of the character, uniting the ethos of a land-grant college engaged in university often overlooked is that we are the only applied science with that of a university committed to research institution outside of Sri Lanka to offer a full curriculum for in the liberal arts. the study of Sinhala, one of Sri Lanka’s three official languages. Already in the early years of Sri Lanka Studies at Cornell, Moreover, Cornellians have the opportunity to study Tamil there was plenty of activity on both the “Arts Quad” and the (another of Sri Lanka’s official languages) plus Sanskrit and “Ag Quad.” In the College of Arts and Sciences, professors in Pali, languages central to the island’s rich literary and ritual Cornell’s Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics histories. This emphasis on the languages of Sri Lanka has – Gordon Fairbanks and Jim Gair – charted new territory in ensured a solid foundation for Cornell’s ongoing scholarship South Asian linguistics, resulting in foundational publications and applied research at the global heart of Sri Lanka Studies on the grammar and syntax of Sinhala, Tamil, and other South The multi-disciplinarity of Sri Lanka Studies at Cornell Asian languages. W.S. Karunatilleke, formerly a graduate is striking. Students – from Sri Lanka and the United States, student in Linguistics at Cornell, and then Professor of Linguis- as well as many other countries – have developed research tics at Sri Lanka’s University of Kelaniya, gained international expertise and dynamic careers across a wide range of fields. At renown as a scholar of Sinhala, Tamil, Sanskrit, and Pali. Cornell, Sri Lanka is connected to language pedagogy, applied During the Gair-Karunatilleke era, Cornell became the global linguistics, politics, architecture, agricultural economics, leader in teaching Sinhala as a foreign language, offering irrigation management and rice-cropping, history, anthropolo- academic year courses as well as summer intensive Sinhala gy, religious studies, labor relations, and the history of art. This study, until Cornell transferred the latter to the new national 3 consortium, the South Asia Summer Language Institute, in the early 2000s. Under Jim Gair’s leadership, the South Asia Program published a series of Sinhala textbooks, providing instructional materials for both colloquial and literary Sinhala to generations of scholars. Meanwhile, during the same period, researchers in the University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences developed new directions for the practice of agronomy and water man- agement in rural South Asia, shaped by commitments to area studies expertise and interests in linking the study of politics with the field of applied agriculture. A multi-disciplinary Rural Development Committee headed by Norman Uphoff (Govern- ment) and Gil Levine (Agricultural Engineering) undertook research and outreach activities in Sri Lanka as well as other South Asian countries. The Committee assisted the Agrarian Research and Training Institute in Colombo in implementing socio-economic aspects of the Gal Oya irrigation management project in the dry zone of Sri Lanka from 1979 to 1985. Uphoff and Levine, as well as Randy Barker (Agricultural Economics) and E. Walter Coward (Development Sociology), worked with Cornell students and Sri Lankan colleagues to introduce participatory irrigation management, leading to its confirma- tion as national policy in 1988. Cornell’s connections to Sri Lanka deepened as Uphoff subsequently worked to extend the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), developed in Madagascar, to improve Sri Lankan rice cultivation. Across campus, as Beyond the Taj (a digital collection of architectural photos from South Asia) powerfully attests, Professors Robert MacDougall and Bonnie MacDougall, from Cornell’s College of Art, Architecture, and Planning, undertook foundational work on Sri Lankan domestic architecture. Their Rice Paddy terraces in Kandyan Hills (Photo by Dennis McGilvray) work charted new territory at the intersection of architecture, geography, and anthropology. Remarkably, Bonnie MacDougall Lankan diaspora are involved in the South Asia Program’s also worked in Sinhala language pedagogy, developing a activities each year, while Cornell scholars working on Sri Sinhala textbook for Foreign Service use, and collaborated Lanka, including Bandara Herath, Daniel Bass, and Anne closely with Kamini de Abrew, famed instructor to Peace Blackburn, maintain close ties with major Sri Lankan Corps Volunteers in Sri Lanka, as well as the first cohorts universities and research centers on the island. Cornell lies of undergraduate students who attended the University of at the heart of Sri Lanka Studies in North America, sending Peradeniya through the Inter-Collegiate Sri Lanka Educa- Sinhala language courses via video-conference to other U.S. tional (ISLE) Program. universities, and receiving Tamil language classes from Another key player in Cornell’s Sri Lankan Studies Columbia University thanks to a Mellon-funded collaboration. initiatives during this time was Professor Ronald Herring. The Cornell South Asia Program remains the leading publisher Though focused primarily on politics and agrarian political of textbooks for the study of Sinhala, including new works economy in India from his base in Cornell’s Department of by Bandara Herath, Liyanage Amarakeerthi, and Theresa Government, Herring developed valuable comparative work on McGarry. Thanks to South Asia Curator Bronwen Bledsoe, Sri Lanka. This helped to encourage and support studies of Sri Cornell maintains the leading national library collection related Lanka by Cornell graduate students working in the disciplines to Sri Lanka, including books, films, and newspapers in Tamil, of political science and economics. As Acting Director of the Sinhala, English, and other languages. Cornell South Asia Program for a stint in the 1990s, and as This coming year the South Asia Program is delighted to Director of Cornell’s Mario Einaudi Center for International feature several key events related to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan- Studies between 1996 and 2002, Herring helped protect Canadian author Shyam Selvadurai offers our 2017 Tagore Cornell’s historical commitments to Sri Lanka Studies at a Lecture. Sri Lankan performance artists Ruhanie Perera and time of faculty retirements. Jake Oorloff from Colombo’s Floating Space Theatre Company The ties between Cornell and Sri Lanka’s major universities come to Cornell in Fall 2017 as South Asian Studies Fellows. We continue to deepen, thanks to fellowships offered through Sri are also honored to host this year’s Sri Lanka Graduate Student Lanka’s Fulbright Commission, as well as Cornell’s South Asian Conference in October, following its past success at The New Studies Fellowship Program and Tamil Studies Visiting Scholar School and Stanford University. Program. Scholars and artists from Sri Lanka and the wider Sri 4 Notes from the Field By Yagna Nag Chowdhuri Krishnamurti's Favorite Banyan Tree I have been drawn to the philosophers I study in my research project for many years. Jiddu Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi and Osho continue to capture the imaginations of those who strive for spiritual enlightenment and utopia. I wanted to discover these lives and legacies by visiting schools, ashrams and retreats associated with them. These spaces present revolutionary ways of living as well as belief in the ordinariness of achieving enlightenment. They do so through different pedagogies: intellectually engaging discussions on Jiddu’s discourses, communal eating and rituals of silence at Ramana’s ashram, and Osho’s active meditations. I began my journey at the however, founded as a residential humanity at large. As I watched the Krishnamurti Centre in boarding school near Madanapalle, sunset, I recalled one of the videos I had Chennai, Tamil Nadu. I Krishnamurti’s birthplace in southern seen of Krishnamurti talking to a group encountered Krishnamurti Andhra Pradesh. I visited the school of students during Astachal. He had first through the audio-visual in the winter and attended the annual a unique ability to communicate with medium, and was struck by meeting of Krishnamurti followers and children about a range of emotions and his simplicity, no-nonsense devotees. Because it is situated in a dry especially what it means to “care.” attitude and straightforwardness. valley in South India, the school has Over the next few months I While Krishnamurti’s legacy has been undertaken a large forestation project. discovered Krishnamurti’s relationship primarily felt in the field of alternative This school is especially beautiful, with to a newly independent India, his vision education, his work is aimed at the diverse species of birds and trees. of the new mind and his fearless attack creation of a “new mind,” a mind that I walked their grounds with a retired on any given definition of freedom might be truly free. He envisioned teacher, Mr. Patel, who had spent and education. He lived in a time true freedom as breaking away from the last year travelling across various of a newly emerging nation and the boundaries and memory. Krishnamurti schools in India. We sat disillusionments of freedom fighters I met many people who had been under Krishnamurti’s favourite banyan about what it meant to be really free. drawn to Krishnamurti’s fiery words tree and the teacher told me how much Many young people today still grapple and uncompromising attitude. Many Krishnamurti loved going on walks by with similar questions and are drawn felt healed after reading his books himself, observing the valley’s beauty. to him. They question the nature of the and watching videos on YouTube. As Mr. Patel too, stuck to his routine of family, school education, government I watched these videos with others, I writing letters to his friends, reading and the expected role of the individual looked around me to notice that they and walking up the hill to meditate. He in all of these. were all transfixed. Most admitted to not told me various incidents of magic and At the Krishnamurti Foundation fully understanding what he said, but spiritual insights he’d had on this hill. headquarters in Chennai, conversations felt transformed by merely listening to He remembered taking school children over lunch often ranged from what his words. To them, his words contained to observe the sunset from top of the Krishnamurti liked to wear to how a timeless truth. hill in a daily ritual called “Astachal” other spiritual philosophers of the The Rishi Valley School (Valley of (sunset on the hill). Krishnamurti had time responded to him. A man whose Sages School) had been Krishnamurti’s emphasized that children should have name came up repeatedly was Ramana dream. He had initially desired to a personal relationship to nature. In Maharshi. Ramana had proposed a establish a university on the lines of building that relationship, they would simple technique of asking oneself the those he had seen in America. It was, also learn to build relationships with question, “Who am I?” For him, this 5 The Rishi Valley technique was sufficient for spiritual The photo archives in particular are and are attracted to him for his rebel- enlightenment. I decided to visit the meant for devotees. They come and look lious stance against the “hypocrisy” of ashram outside Tiruvannamalai, Tamil at any photos of Ramana from different Indian society, speaking out against all Nadu, which is mentioned in numerous points in his life; standing next to ash- social taboos. I met Swamiji, one of the devotees’ memoirs and accounts. ram buildings, sitting with his favourite publishers of an Osho magazine, who I was struck by the abundance of animals or walking up the hill. The said that he came to Osho’s ashram at photographs of Ramana all across the archive is ever-expanding, with devotees the age of 14 and was enthralled by the ashram. Ramana was particularly fond donating any pictures they have collect- utopia that he encountered there. He of the medium of photography. Inter- ed over generations. Recently, family remembered that it was a space of great estingly, numerous devotees are drawn members of an amateur photographer creative forces. People came from all to his kind face and eyes as seen in the from the 1940s donated their collection over the world and lived in creativity and famous “Mani bust” photograph. I was of ashram photos. The archivist was a ecstasy. As he showed me his collection fortunate to speak with photographer, who had of old Osho books, magazines and many devotees, who feel a been drawn to Ramana in journals, Osho came alive to me. I saw deep connection with this the 1970s after seeing his glimpses of the “new man” that Osho photograph. There is an photograph at a shop. Later had imagined in Swamiji himself. abundance of photos at he moved to the ashram and I spent all my time reading, talking the ashram: of the various helped build the archive. and even dreaming about these figures. phases of the ashram The last leg of my I wondered about my own relationship being built, of travelers fieldwork, near Osho’s to them. Their followers remember them and devotees from all over ashram in Pune, Maha- as “Gurus”, “Masters” or “Philosophers”. the world and of ashram rashtra, was perhaps the They would state clearly to me that I was festivities. These photos most challenging as it doing this research because the time had give an insight into the involved being immersed come and I had “awakened” to the truth vibrant ashram life and the both intellectually and of life. I played dual roles, as a scholar persona of Ramana. also bodily. Osho’s “active and an admirer. I was critical but also In contrast to the many meditations” have made open to appreciating the inspiration and stories I have heard from The Famous Mani Bust a huge comeback and his hope that these figures stand for. I am historian friends about the books remain immensely excited to think more about this duality bureaucratic procedures involved in popular within the spiritual literature and which form of “knowledge” is more accessing the state archives, the ashram genre. Many followers see him as the valid, why and for whom. archives are open and easy to access. first and only “real modern guru,” 6 NEWS NEWS NILGIRIS FIELD LEARNING CENTER The Nilgiris Field Learning Center (NFLC) is a unique partner- ship that aligns Cornell faculty and students with experts and community members in the Nilgiris, the “blue hills” of southern India. Since it began in 2015, the NFLC learning community has explored nutrition and health, land use, and livelihoods in a region recognized for its biodiversity. Cornell’s Indian partner, the Keystone Foundation, works with indigenous communities in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve focusing on livelihoods, conservation, and market-based social enterprise. The vibrant Keystone campus is located in Kotagiri, a hill station in the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu. NFLC students have developed research skills in a collaborative, field-based environment, as shown in these excerpts from their Spring 2017 weekly blog. > HUMAN EXPERIENCES By Bridget Conlon At the production center in Bangalapadigai enjoying some ragi before fieldwork. We are now about halfway through our field- fueling our curiosities? It’s not all rosy—sometimes we drift into work phase, and I’m learning that fieldwork is uncomfortable conversations. For instance, we learned from not only about data collection. Spending time mothers that certain foods affect girl babies differently than in the field, I have adjusted to a new kind of they affect boy babies, so mothers are more careful about what “normal” that is very different from what I previously thought they feed to their boy babies. While discussing our interviews, of as “normal.” When confronted by new ideas and practices, I told Maga my own personal belief that the sex of a baby does I feel initially uncomfortable, but then I try to engage and not determine how the baby interacts with food. She disagreed adapt, and I find that I can enjoy experiencing the unfamiliar. with me, and rightly so. My belief blatantly opposed hers—one We were told that fieldwork would be exhausting and uncom- that has been passed on from grandmother to mother for fortable, and it’s true. At the end of each fieldwork day after who-knows-how-long. We have different ways of knowing, and getting back to our temporary residence in Bangalapadigai, this leads us to two very different sets of interpretations. Our my research team and I discuss our extensive notes, we cook next challenge will be to combine our thinking to find out what delicious dinners (well, they taste delicious because we’re all of the information can teach us about infant and young child so hungry), we clean the kitchen, and we get ready for bed. feeding in the Nilgiris. Some nights, I’m moderately delirious (one evening, I heard a During the Jeep ride away from Bangalapadigai yesterday, cow “Moo” and I thought it was an elephant). Fieldwork days around the hairpin bends, through the tea plantations, past bring endless information, and at night, I have little brainpow- bougainvillea bushes and under gulmohar trees, narrowly er left for analyzing my experiences. I’m simply undergoing dodging monkeys and cows, past people who stare at me as them, processing them, and allowing them to trickle into my I stare at them, serenaded by the melodies of Tamil pop at a memory bank. deafening volume, I began to wonder about the bizarre human During the ride back to the Keystone Foundation yesterday, experiences behind the hundreds of peer reviewed journal I began to reflect on the glimpses into people’s lives I had articles I have read in my undergraduate experience. I began to gained in just the past 3 1/2 days. I thought of the shy mothers wonder, what else did these researchers learn besides what they and the confident ones, the dozens of personal questions I had wrote for World Development or the Journal of Asian and African asked them, and the guilt I felt when a mother told us we were Studies? I wonder what they learned between the interviews, fo- taking too much of her precious time. I thought of the way cus groups, hours of observation, and GPS mapping. I wonder people look at me — a tall white American, the assumptions what they learned about themselves as human beings. Now I’m behind their gazes, and the way I predict their assumptions. I asking myself—what can I learn when I place equal importance thought of what it means to research Irula (local tribal) women on the “findings” that don’t belong in a research paper? in their twenties while working on a research team with Maga, a young Irula woman who is about to turn twenty. I began Originally appeared as NFLC Student's Blog 10 to wonder: how is this synergy of Bridget and Maga subtly and not-so-subtly pushing both of us to evolve, giving us new perspectives on our own worlds and the worlds of others, and 7 INVASIVE SPECIES IN THE NILGIRIS By Deepa Saharia Purple and orange lantana flowers line most roads in the Nilgiris. T he Keystone Foundation is run from a set of me, I have begun to reflect back on my own presence here as an red-orange buildings that cling to the side of a “invasive species,” an “outsider” of sorts.hill, amongst tea plantations and endless shades of In my lifetime as a student, I have been encouraged to drink green. Walking down the hill, along the road, I have in knowledge, to collect information, synthesize it, and use the found myself lost again and again in the depth of greenery. little bits of what I know to influence the world around me and When we first arrived here, after spending weeks in a wintery make decisions. I have experienced learning in a privileged city, I felt thrilled at the sight of purple and orange flowers, way, where my white skin allowed me to fit in with teachers’ towering trees, and wide shrubs along the roads. It was a sweet expectations and my heritage instilled me with a desire to work reminder to me that life is a consistent function of our planet hard so that my parents wouldn’t have to. I got to slide through and that the greyest of winters does not prevent growth. school, with the same aesthetic ease that allows the purple lan- But over the past week, as we have spent more time with tana flowers to take over, unnoticed. We are both products of a the ecologists and experts of the conservation team and post-colonial world, and I find my personal story represented in explored the landscape of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, I the invasive species of the Nilgiris. I am constantly wondering find myself examining the beauty around me. Naming and how much of my learning is overshadowing another species, recognizing the plants around me—the scotch brush, the undermining the words of my Adivasi classmates, feeding into lantana, the eucalyptus—has reminded me of the history of the narrative of post-colonial landscapes. this country and informed me of the profound challenges that However, the classroom here works differently, and though this landscape faces. The marangal (trees), poogal (flowers), I am as thirsty as the eucalyptus trees, I find myself trying to puthargal (shrubs) I admired are invasive species. With a more share, to connect, and to truly cross boundaries with my peers. layered lens in hand, I am starting to understand that these We, Cornell students and Keystone students, are here. We plants are also symbols of colonialism, globalization, and are present every moment, learning from each other and our suffocation of the Indian “way”. contexts and bringing our full selves into the process of sharing We saw the eucalyptus plantations sucking up the water of and critically analyzing this world. And despite the conflicts I Nilgiris wetlands and lantana consuming the open space of the face within myself, I am grateful to be able to communicate as native forests managed by Keystone in Kotagiri. What I believe honestly as translation will permit with people who should be to be beautiful greenery meant so much more to the people seeking to uproot the influence I have on this landscape. who have lived here. The impacts of colonialism and misguided federal policies on wildlife and human communities are Originally appeared as NFLC Student's Blog 03 astonishing. Hearing about the complexities of the landscape which we are trying to understand has furthered my internal confusion, nerves, and reservations about being in Kotagiri. In the deepening of my understanding of the greenery around 8 Detail of Crossing the Pass, Bringing Home the Salt by Tenzin Norbu Gurung (Courtesy of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art) Nepal & Himalayan Studies Community Engagement, Knowledge Circulation, and the Future of Scholarship By Austin Kramer, Sneha Moktan, and Robert Beazley On April 28-29, 2017 the South how Nepalis experience global warming. central themes of the conference: the Asia Program hosted “Nepal David Citrin (University of Washington) significance of Area Studies in academia and Himalayan Studies at continued the conversation with an today. Acknowledging that Area Studies Cornell: Community Engagement, analysis of global health infrastructures, should no longer just be based on the Knowledge Circulation, and the Future and Katherine Rankin (University of significance of particular geographic of Scholarship.” This conference assem- Toronto) concluded with her study of locations alone, Hutt cited examples bled an international group of diverse road-building in the Himalayas. of his research in Nepal to show how scholars and practitioners to consider The second panel examined political empirical research in Area Studies can the state of Himalayan Studies. and social transformations, and their inform larger theoretical discussions on The conference was designed to often unintended results. Amanda issues such as nationalism and identity. actively involve the speakers and Snellinger (University of Washington) Hutt emphasized the importance of participants in three overarching goals. began with an examination of youth in-depth knowledge of an area or First, it provided a focused space to culture in Nepal, and Cabeiri Robinson society being accompanied by excellence analyze salient contemporary research (University of Washington) followed in a particular discipline in relation to developments in Nepal and Himalayan with her research on tourism in Azad that region. Studies. Second, concern over the future Kashmir, Pakistan. Mahendra Lawoti On the second day, the conference survival of Himalayan Studies necessi- (Western Michigan University) looked featured two roundtable discussions, tated urgent synergetic communication at the drafting of Nepal’s Constitution, each with two sessions. The first to advance strategic initiatives to both and Philippe Ramirez (Centre National roundtable examined the current state safeguard and foster Himalayan Studies de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris) of institutions and programs for the in North America and globally. Third, analyzed blurred lines between ethnic study of the Himalayan Region. Chaired it was a celebration to acknowledge the groups in Northeastern India. by Mark Turin (University of British accomplishments of retiring professors The third panel looked at the Columbia), these sessions surveyed Kathryn March and David Holmberg intersection of identity and mobility in the ways in which Himalayan studies (Cornell Anthropology) as well as the the Himalayas and its diasporas. Mukta programs have found support and achievements of Shambhu Oja (Nepali Tamang (Tribhuvan University) ana- resources by reaching across regional, Senior Lecturer) and Banu Oja (Cornell lyzed Tamang kinship systems, followed disciplinary, and institutional lines, Nepal Study Program). by Heather Hindman (University of even as they continue to manage the On the first day of the conference, Texas) on the global Nepali diaspora. familiar challenges of finding funding, three panels engaged topics related Carole McGranahan (University of facing skeptical administrators, and to the many rapid transformations Colorado) discussed Tibetan refugees in decreasing enrollment. currently underway in the Himalayas. Canada, and Sara Shneiderman (Univer- Discussants during the first session The first panel discussed material sity of British Columbia) concluded with were Ashok Gurung (New School), transformations, highlighting the link her examination of Nepali concepts of Carole McGranahan (University of between the landscape and development. citizenship and migration. Colorado), Philippe Ramirez (Centre Sienna Craig (Dartmouth College) For his keynote at the end of the National de la Recherche Scientifique), examined these themes in relation to first day, Michael Hutt (School of Bronwen Bledsoe (Cornell Library), and traditional medicine, while Pasang Oriental and African Studies, Univer- Michael Hutt (School of Oriental and Yangjee Sherpa (New School) explored sity of London) reflected on one of the African Studies, University of London). 9 The roundtable’s second session featured Heather Hindman (University of Texas- Austin), Dili Ram Upreti (Tribhuvan University), David Citrin (University of Washington), Toby Volkman (Luce Foundation), and Shambhu Oja (Cornell University). David Holmberg (Cornell University) gave concluding remarks emphasizing the importance of collabo- ration between institutions, and the role that exchange programs play in creating those collaborations. The second roundtable focused on partnerships, collaboration, and reciprocity between institutions, scholars, and communities in the field of Himalayan Studies. Mukta Tamang (Tribhuvan University) introduced the afternoon roundtable by emphasizing the importance of ethics and reciproc- ity in collaboration. The first session Conference attendees outside the Kahin Center (Photo by Austin Kramer) focused mainly on student exchanges, University). Katherine March (Cornell face a continuing need for training study abroad, and service-learning University) made concluding remarks to reach those standards. At Cornell, programs, which have faced a number of on the importance of engagement and David Holmberg, Kathryn March, and administrative and financial challenges mutual conversation. Shambhu and Banu Oja over the years of late. Despite this, these types of For the second day’s keynote, Bandi- have established a firm foundation to programs are universally agreed to ta Sijapati (Social Science Baha, Kath- train new Himalayan scholars, but its be beneficial to both students and the mandu) spoke of how Nepali scholars future is uncertain. community, especially the Cornell are responding to the shifting landscape Other institutions have established Nepal Study Program, which has had a of social science research in Nepal, Himalayan Studies programs as well, profound impact on many scholars, both which is made complex and challenging but it is increasingly challenging to western and Nepali. Discussants includ- due to changing donor mandates, maintain funding. A top priority is the ed Marina Markot (Cornell Abroad), inflexible state policies, and resource need to build institutional connections Kristen Grace (Cornell Abroad), Laya constraints. Within this context, Sijapati and collaborations, as well as to explore Upreti (Tribhuvan University), Ken highlighted the increasing demand for consortium arrangements to support Bauer (Dartmouth College), Dambar applied research and the opportunities and preserve present Himalayan Studies Chemjong (Cornell University), and for using social research to achieve programs at home and abroad and James Lassoie (Cornell University). policy impact. Sijapati also expressed develop future programs. the need to build Nepali scholarship, and The survival of already in depth how scholars like Professors Kathryn and well-established programs is vital March and David Holmberg have and to ensure the viability and longevity of should continue to play a role in nur- Himalayan Area Studies. This confer- turing such scholarship. Remarking on ence initiated an important dialogue Sijapati’s keynote, Mark Turin (Uni- concerning these topics, which need to versity of British Columbia) stated that be nurtured and ongoing. It was the first scholars of the global north had much to step by an enthusiastic and dedicated learn from academic entrepreneurs like group of Himalayan academics, re- Suryaman Tamang presenting a plaque from the Nepali Prime Minis- her on how to agilely navigate through searchers, and practitioners to providing ter to David Holmberg & Kathryn March (Photo by Austin Kramer) the changing landscape of scholarship, the impetus for this dialogue and In the second session, the focus was on and not just produce scholarship, but mapping out its future course. individual and scholarly collaborations, also work that has policy relevance. The conference was co-sponsored and the importance of meaningful reci- Social science research in Nepal and by the Mario Enaudi Center for procity in partnerships with Himalayan the Himalayas is an ever-expanding International Studies, the Office of the scholars and communities. The second field, but for it to flourish, gain greater Vice-Provost for International Affairs, session participants included Katherine depth, and secure institutional support, Cornell Abroad, the Department of Rankin (University of Toronto), Bandita it must overcome many hurdles. While Anthropology, and the Association for Sijapati (Social Science Baha, Kathman- past seasoned Nepal scholars have Nepal and Himalayan Studies. du), Banu Oja (Cornell Nepal Study set high standards, young researchers Program), and Austin Lord (Cornell 10 Around Abhinavagupta: Aspects of the Intellectual History of Kashmir By Larry McCrae O n October 24-25, SAP hosted a conference entitled “Around Abhinavagupta: Aspects of the Intellectu-al History of Kashmir,” co-sponsored by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Department of Asian Studies. This conference presented the work of a large and prestigious international group of scholars dealing with a variety of philosophical, literary and religious transformations during the 9th to the 11th centuries, one of the most vibrant regions and creative periods in Indian intellectual history. Speakers focused especially on the works and legacy of the great Śaiva religious teacher Abhinavagupta, one of the most influential literary, cognitive, and ritual theorists in the Sanskrit tradition. The conference featured presentations by eighteen scholars from Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain, Italy, Israel, and the U.S. The papers dealt with a wide range of topics including epistemology, language theory, poetry, aesthetics, dramaturgy, ritual theory, and scriptural herme- neutics. The papers from the conference are in preparation for publication as a book. Hosting such a large and prestigious group of scholars here did much to promote Cornell as a serious center for pre-modern Indian intellectual and religious history, and the published volume to follow will sustain and deepen this impact. South Asia Development Forum I n Fall 2016, the South Asia Development Forum 15 universities in the U.S. participating featured a lecture by Prabhu Pingali, Professor in in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics Program, which provides a year of and Management at Cornell University, with a joint professional enrichment in the United appointment in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, States for experienced mid-career and the founding director of the Tata-Cornell Institute professionals from selected countries. for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). Prior to joining Cornell, On February 16, Humera Qasim Khan, he was the deputy director of the Agricultural Development Environmental Compliance Specialist, Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, from 2008 Chemonics International Inc., USAID to 2013. On November 16, Prof. Pingali spoke to a packed Contractor, opened the conversation room on “Promoting a More Nutritious Food System in India: with a discussion of her work on climate The Role of Smallholder Agriculture.” In this presentation he change and the environmental impact analyzed recent shifts in food policy and practices in India to of development in Pakistan. Gaytri Prabhu Pingali focus more on the nutritious quality of food, rather than the Devi, Program Coordinator of Jagori Rural Charitable Trust, sheer quantity of food produced. spoke next, focusing on the challenges facing sustainable In Spring 2017, three visiting Humphrey Fellows affiliated agriculture in Himachal Pradesh, India. Gopalakrishnan with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences spoke in the Veilumuthusamy, Counsellor of the Confederation of Indian South Asia Development Forum on “Markets, Climate Change Industry, India, concluded the forum with an analysis of the and Social Development Across South Asia.” Cornell is one of perils and possibilities of development in South Asia. 11 Photos by Tripti Poddar Cornell-Nepal Earthquake Recovery Partnership By Jennifer Nerby A fter the April 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal in Ithaca and met with Cornell students to discuss CNERP’s severely affected her research site of four decades, research on best practices. In May 2016, CNERP organized a Kathryn March, Professor of Anthropology, two-day workshop to receive feedback on students’ research, formed the Cornell-Nepal Earthquake Recovery featuring Arjun Kumar Karki, Nepali Ambassador to the Partnership (CNERP) in November 2015. For two semesters, United States; Scott DeLisi, former U. S. Ambassador to Nepal; March led a group of twenty graduate students from the and Donovan Russell, former Director of Peace Corps Nepal. Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA), and the Department In summer 2016, five CNERP students went on internships of City and Regional Planning (CRP) to develop community- to Nepal to continue collaboration with donors in Kathmandu, driven recovery projects with her community partners on and with community members on Phyukhri Ridge. Upon their Phyukhri Ridge, located in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. return to Cornell, CNERP students decided to refocus the In collaboration with March’s contacts in Nepal, CNERP group’s efforts on income-generation projects. In Fall 2016, students conducted research on topics including private CNERP students continued to work with the community on housing reconstruction, water and sanitation, education, value-added dairy, coffee, organic vegetable, and handicraft health, and income generation. production and marketing. CNERP students met with In April 2016, eight community consultants from Phyukhri experts on small business and entrepreneurship to identify Ridge came to Ithaca to work with CNERP. The diverse group best practices for the income generation projects. The next of consultants included engineers, local elected officials, and steps for CNERP are to conduct market analyses for the members of community women’s groups. The consultants community’s income generation projects and submit final toured local schools, health posts, and dairy production sites proposals to donors. 12 EVENTS Debaroti Chakraborty, front, performs in "Root Map," with Alejandra Rodriguez, Rosalie Purvis and Debasish Sen Sharma. Root Map An international collaboration By Linda B. Glaser When you’re creating a play about the shared experiences “playing with and across borders together.” The idea, she of people encountering borders, 7,837 miles between said, is that borders are arbitrary. “People don’t cross the collaborators is nothing – at least for Debra Castillo borders, borders cross people.” and Anindita Banerjee, Professors in the Department of Castillo, Osorio Gil, and others from Cornell traveled to Comparative Literature, who have been co-teaching the India to perform in January, which was the first time all the “Bodies at the Border” distance learning class for years. collaborators met in person. The Indian performance also The solution to having writers and actors on separate featured local actors from the Chaepani theater collective continents was simple: hold meetings and rehearsals via and a soundtrack created by Indian musicians. Skype. The international collaboration includes academics While in India, the Cornellians taught a week-long and artists with diverse cultural heritages across Asia, intensive theater workshop at Jadavpur University. “We Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. did several years of curriculum in one week,” covering These efforts were supported by the College of Arts and improvisation, masks and other theater elements inclu- Sciences and Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India. ded in “Root Map,” Castillo said. At the end of the week, The result was “Root Map,” an original theatrical the students put on a street performance – particularly collaboration about borders and migration, which had impressive, Osorio Gil said, because many of the its inaugural performance in January 2017 in Kolkata, students had chosen to do the workshop to get over followed by performances in March in Ithaca and in  debilitating shyness. El Paso, Texas. The play is an ensemble piece, interweaving Co-sponsors for the Cornell performance included stories from different cultures to explore the similarities the Latino/a Studies Program, Engaged Cornell, the people experience when encountering borders. The Society for the Humanities, the Mario Einaudi Center for international cast featured actors from Cornell and International Studies, and the South Asia Program. Kolkata, including Debaroti Chakraborty and Debasish Sen Sharma. Originally appeared in Cornell Chronicle (February 20, 2017) Carolina Osorio Gil, Latina/o Studies engagement coordinator, described the goal of the production as 13 Ingirunthu (Here and Now) On April 19, about 40 people gathered in Uris Hall for the Ithaca premier of Ingirunthu (Here and Now). This 2013 Tamil-language film was written, produced and directed by Tamil Studies Visiting Scholar Sumathy Sivamohan. Sumathy is Professor of English at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, as well as an  award-winning filmmaker, performer, playwright, poet, translator and academic. Ingirunthu, her debut feature film, features non-professional actors telling a story about a community whose voices are seldom heard in Sri Lankan society and politics, let alone in the U.S. In the film, a deaf and mute girl, a struggling mother, and a researcher from Colombo are thrown together on a vibrant tea plantation in Sri Lanka, against the backdrop of escalating social and political violence. The film is a multi-textured narrative about minority Up-country Tamil tea plantation workers who have lived on the margins of Sri Lankan society for generations, since their ancestors’ migrated from India in the 19th century. SAP Manager Daniel Bass, who has written extensively about Up- country Tamils, conducted a Q&A session with Sumathy after the film. Melody, Harmony, Melharmony By Ravi Patel On April 27, 2017, the Society for the Promotion of Indian The concert at Anabel Taylor auditorium was orga- Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth (SPICMACAY) nized into three parts. It started with Ravikiran’s melodic presented a concert, “Melody, Harmony, Melharmony,” performance, accompanied by Vishvak Kumaran on the co-sponsored by the South Asia Program and Cricket mridangam, bringing out the essence of Indian classical Club–Cornell, featuring world renowned virtuoso Chitravina music, with pieces in Raagas Hamsadhwani, Aahiri and Ravikiran and the Dolce Ensemble, a string quartet from Kaanada. Next, the Dolce Ensemble presented beautiful New Jersey. Ravikiran, a child prodigy, made his formal harmonic elements of music, including several Béla Bartók debut as a vocalist when he was five, but later switched to compositions, which synthesized Eastern and Western the chitravina, an exquisite 21-stringed slide instrument. European traditions, and even one Bollywood number. ‘Melharmony’ is a symphonic intermingling of Indian The final segment of the concert brought together Melody and Western Harmony, a concept that brings East and West, melody and harmony, string quartet and together chords and harmonies with the melodic progres- chitravina, as all the artistes performed together. They sions found in scale-based systems such as Indian classical played beautiful melhamonic pieces composed by Ravikiran music. Ravikiran is the principal creative force behind in Raagas Mohanam, Hindolam and Naatai. The evening Melharmony, which has been further developed by ended on a delightful high note, following this melharmonic Prof. Robert Morris, Professor of Composition at the symphony of two distinct and aesthetic styles of music. Eastman School of Music. University of Rochester, who was also in attendance. 14 Photography Exhibitions Sri Lankan filmmaker and photographer Waruni Anuruddhika spent the spring semester at the South Asia Program on a Fulbright Professional Development Fellowship. While at Cornell, she screened her 2014 film, “Children of Cemetery Dwellers” and displayed her photographs in two gallery shows. The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosted one exhibition, “Pattini; A Photographic Journey through the Ritualistic Worship of Goddess Pattini,” while the other “Look at Me” was Shrine to the Goddess Pattini (Photo by Waruni Anuruddhika) at the Willard Straight Gallery. Her film and photographs depict the rituals of Pattini goddess worship and portraits of Tamils who have lived in temporary housing at the public cemetery in Veyangoda, Sri Lanka since the 1950s. October 1: “A Sarod Concert,” Amaan Ali Bangash and SEMINARS & EVENTS Ayaan Ali Bangash 2016–17 October 2: “Strings Attached,” Carnatic Classical concert, Jayanthi and Kumaresh October 4: “The A to Z of Cornflakes,” Sharmini Pereira August 30: “Cosmic Correspondences: Astral Piety and (Sri Lanka Archive of Contemporary Art, Architecture and Painting at the Mughal Court,” Yael Rice (History of Art Design) and Asian Languages and Civilization, Amherst College) October 17: “Imagining Otherwise: The (Cyber) Goddess in September 12: “Subaltern Speak: An Indian Soldier’s Chitra Ganesh’s Comic Art,” Natasha Bissonauth (History ‘Travelogue’ of China, 1900–1901,” Anand Yang (History, of Art and Visual Studies, Cornell University) University of Washington) October 24: “Nehru, India and the Interwar World: An September 19: “The Afterlife of Islamic Architecture: International History of Anti-colonial Nationalism,” Michele Ethics, Ecology, and other Times in the Medieval Ruins Louro (History, Salem State University) of Delhi,” Anand V. Taneja (Religious Studies and Anthropology, Vanderbilt University) October 25-26: “Around Abhinavagupta: Aspects of the Intellectual History of Kashmir,” Conference September 23: “The Soloist Performs with an Orchestra of Events,” Rabindranath Tagore Lecture in Modern Indian October 31: “Culture and Politics in Pakistan: The Long Literature, Ranjit Hoskote (Poet, Author and Curator) Shadow of the Cold War,” Saadia Toor (Sociology & Anthropology, College of Staten Island) September 26: “Madness as Auguring Extinction,” Naveeda Khan (Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University) 15 November 7: “Realism, Fantasy, and the Representations March 13: “Do Financial Incentives Reduce Gender of Muslims in Contemporary Film Qawwali,” Nilanjana Discrimination? Conditional Cash Transfer Schemes for Bhattacharjya (Barrett Honors College, Arizona State Girls in India,” T. V. Sekher (SAP Fulbright Scholar and University) International Institute for Population Sciences) November 14: “The Planned and the Encroached: Modes of March 20: “Insurgent Comparisons: Early Communism in Creating, Managing and Resisting Spaces of Nonconformity Late Colonial India,” Manu Goswami (History, New York in the Planned City of Islamabad,” Faiza Moatasim (Asian University) Studies and History, Hamilton College) March 22: “Seeing vs. Being Seen: Conversion Beyond November 16: “Promoting a More Nutritious Food System Ambedkar, Islam among Non-Brahmins, and the Village of in India: The Role of Smallholder Agriculture” South Asia Meenakshipuram,” Matthew Baxter (Mahindra Humanities Development Forum, Prabhu Pingali (Applied Economics Center, Harvard University) and Management, Cornell University) March 27: “Signs of the Self in Stories in Pre-colonial November 21: “Madhesi and Adivasi-Janajati: Movement Bengal: Love, Sex, Marriage, War, and Self-Sacrifice, c. against the New Constitution of Nepal 2015,” Dambar 1650-1750,” David Curley (Department of Liberal Studies, Chemjong (Anthropology, Cornell University) Western Washington University) November 28: “Party Building in the Age of Universal April 10: “In the Shadow of Feminism: Men’s Movements in Entitlements: Lessons from India,” Thibaud Marcesse India Imagine Family, Violence and Action,” Srimati Basu (Government, Cornell University) (Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Kentucky) February 6: “From Revolutionary to Freedom Fighter: April 13: “Architecture of Fear vs. Space of Hope: Between The Making of Khudiram as National Hero,” Durba Ghosh Projected and Practiced Identities,” Birkramditya (History, Cornell University) Choudhary (Regional Development, Jawarhalal Nehru University) February 13: “Development, Democracy, and Technology in Contemporary Pakistan,” Shahzeb Khan, Shahnawaz April 17: “Reading Between the Lines: Indian Poetry in Amin and Syed Wasiq Abbas (Humphrey Fellows, Syracuse English and the Challenges of the Archive,” Emma Bird University) (English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick) February 16: “Markets, Climate Change and Social Development across South Asia,” South Asia April 19: Ingirunthu (Here and Now), film screening and Development Forum, Gaytri Devi, Humera Qasim Khan Q&A with director Sumathy Sivamohan (English, University and Gopalakrishnan Veilumuthusamy (Humphrey of Peradeniya) Fellows, Cornell University) April 24: “Power Cut Comedy and Network Connections in February 23: “Graduate Student Symposium,” Natalia Tamil Nadu, India,” Laura Brown (Anthropology, University diPietrantonio (History of Art, Cornell University), Osama of Pittsburgh) Siddiqui (History, Cornell University), Shoshana Goldstein (City and Regional Planning, Cornell University), Scott April 27: “Melody, Harmony, Melharmony” concert, Sorrell (Anthropology, Cornell University), and Kasia Chitravina Ravikiran and Dolce Ensemble Paprocki (Development Sociology, Cornell University) April 28-29: “Nepal and Himalayan Studies at Cornell: March 2: “Nepal Earthquake Recovery: Progress and Community Engagement, Knowledge Circulation, and the Challenges,” Bhushan Tuladhar (UN-Habitat) and Shriju Future of Scholarship,” Conference Pradhan (National Reconstruction Authority, Government of Nepal) May 1: “B1nary C0des: Dancing Dichotomies in Bangalore’s Gay Nightlife,” Kareem Khubchandani (Drama and Dance, March 2: “Root Map,” theatrical performance, Deborah Tufts University) Castillo (Comparative Literature, Cornell University) and Debasish Sen Sharma (Media Studies, Calcutta University) May 3: “Art as Ethnography: Troubling Narratives,” Sumathy Sivamohan (English, University of Peradeniya) March 6: “Space of Pattini Ritual as a Negotiation and Tension of Identity,” Waruni Anuruddhika (SAP Fulbright May 10: “Passport to the Future: Why International Scholar & Independent Filmmaker and Photographer Education and Languages Matter,” Mohamed Abdel-Kader (Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for International & Foreign Language Education, U.S. Department of Education) 16 OUTREACH Afterschool Language University Master’s student in Public Administration. Vanisha offered Hindi language and culture classes to seven K-6 graders at BJM in fall 2016. Vanisha taught kids the basic and Culture Program Hindi alphabet, as well as some commonly used phrases and words. She frequently used the phrases during interactive By Akida Aierken & Brenna Fitzgerald cultural activities, including Indian food tasting and Hindi song-learning, in order to deepen the children’s understanding. A s a way to expand our outreach efforts to expose K-6 By the end of the Hindi classes, students sang “Hum Honge students to a wide array of cultures and languages, KaamyaabI,” the Hindi version of “We Shall Overcome,” to the South Asia Program, in collaboration with the the school staff from India. When talking about students’ other area studies programs at the Mario Einaudi Center for participation and performance in class, Vanisha said “I was International Studies, initiated the Afterschool Language surprised that children are very receptive to new things at such and Culture Program. Through this program, SAP finds a young age, and they can easily absorb information like a graduate student volunteers to teach foreign languages in sponge.” Vanisha thinks that offering the afterschool language local afterschool programs. The six-week long classes focus on and culture program to elementary schools gives children teaching students language through engaging cultural activities exposure to cultural diversity, which will ultimately make them such as games, crafts, cooking, and dancing. more aware and tolerant of differences. To support volunteers in their lesson planning, the Einaudi Marie Vitucci, the Beverly J. Martin elementary school Center’s digitized lending library provides educational books, enrichment coordinator, has been offering the Cornell DVDs, and culture kits that include such items as traditional Afterschool Language and Culture program at BJM for more clothes, art, puppets, and textiles of different cultures from than two years. She feels that this type of enrichment program around the world. These resources, prepared by experts at gives children opportunities not possible in the regular Cornell University, are geared for use in K-12 and community elementary school curriculum. “It encourages 2-5 graders at college settings and were created to engage both educators BJM Academic Plus to learn both the culture and language and students in developing deeper understandings of foreign from a variety of countries.” In addition, Marie believes that the cultures and languages. program has a long-term impact on participants. “Kids will tell SAP and other Einaudi Center area studies programs have me everything they have learned including their names in other collaborated with Beverly J. Martin Elementary school (BJM), languages. The excitement and knowledge they gain is a great Greater Ithaca Activities Center, and Cayuga Heights Elementary way to encourage their interests as they develop into life-long School, recently offering Burmese, Hindi, and Thai language and learners.” One of the goals of the Afterschool Language and culture classes in their afterschool enrichment programs. Culture Program is to expose children to languages early in “I initially became interested in volunteering for this life and encourage them to continue second-language learning program because I wanted to increase children’s awareness when such options are available in middle and high school. about Indian culture,” said Vanisha Sharma, a Cornell Introducing Brenna Fitzgerald Brenna Fitzgerald works as Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Cornell Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, supporting both the South Asia Program and the Southeast Asia Program. She is a writer, editor, cultural educator, and yoga teacher who has lived, worked, and studied internationally in many countries including the Czech Republic, India, France, and Japan. Brenna holds a B.A. in history, with concentrations in visual studies and Asian studies from Cornell, an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction writing from the University of Arizona, and an M.A. in critical film studies from the University of Southern California. Her writing has been published in Creative Nonfiction, Ars Medica, Signs of Life, The Ithaca Times, and an anthology of travel writing called The Places We’ve Been: Field Reports from Travelers Under 35. She is a board member of the Ithaca City of Asylum, a community organization dedicated to providing sanctuary to writers whose works are suppressed, whose lives are threatened, whose cultures are vanishing, or whose languages are endangered. We are delighted to have Brenna bring her considerable talents to support the South Asia Program’s outreach efforts. 17 A panel on refugee students at local community colleges (Photo by Manoly Sisavanh) Conference focuses on REFUGEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS By Brenna Fitzgerald and Thamora Fishel Days after Ithaca received and curricular changes across campuses approval to welcome 50 new that foster global learning and encour-refugees from eight countries in age cross-cultural understanding. November 2016, the South Asia Program In addition to informational sessions co-hosted a conference on the campus on the cultural, historical, and refugee of Onondaga Community College experiences of three major recent in Syracuse to address refugees and refugee populations in central New York community college education. – the Karen and other ethnic groups The conference, titled “Internation- from Burma, Nepalis from Bhutan, alization and Inclusion: Refugees in and Somaili-Bantu refugees – concrete Community Colleges,” was partially models were presented for higher funded by the U.S. Department of education-refugee collaboration around Education’s National Resource research and student engagement. Center (NRC) grants to the South Asia A student refugee panel featured three Consortium partnership between SAP students whose higher education expe- and Syracuse University’s South Asia rience began in a community college. Center, and Cornell’s Southeast Asia Bethany Htoo, now a case worker for the Program. In addition to more than five Catholic Family Center, spoke about the Nepali Man with Drum (Photo by Lynne Brown) million dollars (over four years) that isolation she felt as a student at Monroe funds instruction in some of the least Community College in Rochester, New on their communities and concerns. commonly taught languages from these York. Muslima Ali, now a student at Uti- Likewise, the educators and social two critical regions of the globe, the ca College, said working as a residence service providers in attendance reported NRC grants support initiatives that adviser for international students has gaining as much from the networking foster internationalization at community given her a way to play a positive role at made possible by the conference as they colleges and schools of education, as a four-year campus. They said refugee did from the formal presentations. well as the training of K-12 teachers. students often fall between the cracks “The Cornell Southeast Asia The conference aimed to raise of support systems for international Program and the Cornell-Syracuse awareness of refugees’ experiences and students, first-generation, and minority South Asia Consortium are delighted to explore ways in which this awareness students – efforts generally linked to to help facilitate these conversations,” can be used to internationalize com- support refugees. said Anne Blackburn, SAP Director. munity college curricula and campus A significant portion of the audience “Our community college partners environments. Through a series of panels was made up of refugee students are very creative in fostering wider and workshops, participants explored from Ithaca, Utica, and other parts of global awareness on their campuses. the potential for internationalizing the state. These young people, many It is especially exciting to see how and enriching the community college of whom were tapped to facilitate a refugees can become catalysts for the experience for all students. The day structured break-out and brainstorming transformation of American education.” unfolded with discussions around best session, were encouraged and inspired Originally appeared in Cornell Chronicle practices for initiating administrative by participating in an event focused (November 22, 2016) 18 GLOBAL VOICES in Education By Brenna Fitzgerald In fall 2017, the South Asia Program, in collaboration with the Cornell Education minor and the Southeast Asia Program, will launch “Global Voices in Education,” a dynamic series of speakers stimulating conversations on and from international voices in the field of education. Sharing the global perspectives of Cornell faculty engaged in international service learning, Fulbright English Teaching Assistants, cultural educators and human rights advocates, school teachers teaching about global migration, and many others, this series will prepare future teachers to engage students in international issues and to help them become global citizens. This speaker series will offer real-world experiences and practical pedagogies to assist tomorrow’s teachers to engage with students in a globalized classroom. “Cornell’s South Asia Program is delighted to support the inaugural Global Voices series. This contribution to teacher education is made possible by Title VI funding from the U.S. Department of Education, which supports outreach activities to strengthen the pipeline of K-16 educators ready to work with students in contexts of increasing cultural diversity and international connection,” said Anne Blackburn, SAP Director. According to Bryan Duff, Director of the Education minor at Cornell, “the Common Core has its heart in the right place: ensuring that all youth can read, write, and reason mathematically at a level needed for success in introductory college courses. But this drive for a common baseline of academic proficiency obscures what I think is an equally important goal of U.S. schools: helping youth learn to peacefully coexist, deliberate with, and—let’s dream for a second—even draw strength from interacting with people who might be very different from them. If you agree that schools should be sites of growth through exposure to diverse people and ideas, then this speaker series is for you.” 19 UPCOMING EVENTS 2017 TAGORE LECTURE “Writing Myself into the Diaspora” Shyam Selvadurai Rabindranath Tagore Modern Literature Lecture Series September 8, 2017 4:30 p.m. Kahin Center, 640 Stewart Ave Reception to follow S hyam Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1965. He came to Canada with his family at the age of nineteen. He has studied creative writing and theatre and has a BFA from York University, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Funny Boy, his first novel, was published to acclaim in 1994 and won the WH Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award and in the U.S. the Lambda Literary Award. It was also named a Notable Book by the American Library Association, and was translated into eight languages. His second novel, Cinnamon Gardens, was translated into nine languages. It was shortlisted for Canada’s Trillium Award, as well as the Aloa Literary Award in Denmark and the Premio Internazionale Riccardo Bacchelli in Italy. Shyam is the editor of an anthology, Story-Wallah: A Celebration of South Asian Fiction, published in Canada and the US. His novel for young adults, Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and is the winner of the Lambda Literary Award in the U.S., the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award, and Silver Winner in the Young Adult Category of ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award. He served as Festival Curator for the Galle Literary Festival for two years. His fourth novel, The Hungry Ghosts, published in 2013, was shortlisted for Canada’s prestigious Governor Gen- eral’s Award for Fiction and longlisted for the DSC South Asia Literature Prize. His latest work is a comprehensive anthology of Sri Lankan literature, Many Roads through Paradise. In this lecture, Shyam Selvadurai reads from his novels Funny Boy and The Hungry Ghosts and talks about what it means to be a writer working from the hyphen between Sri Lankan and Canadian. This lecture series is made possible by a gift from Cornell Professor Emeritus Narahari Umanath Prabhu and Mrs. Sumi Prabhu. 20 THE BOMBAY POETS Archive at Cornell T he Bombay Poets thought of themselves as brothers With the recent gifts of Mehrotra and Jussawalla, the Bombay of the Beat Poets — free, colloquial, iconoclastic — Poets Archive was born. In 2017, the collection is expanding to and together they brought literary modernism to include the papers of the late Dilip Chitre, bilingual in English Indian poetry in the second half of the 20th century. and Marathi. Hopefully the papers of Gieve Patel, Bhalchandra Not all were actually from Bombay, but that is where they Nemade, Arun Kolatkar, and others will follow too. The Bombay converged, settled, and celebrated the city’s neighborhoods, Poets Archive includes manuscripts, draft and printed editions, eateries, and back lanes. Indian poetry in English had previ- diaries, “little magazines,” correspondence, ephemera, and ously been flowery, “full of thee’s, thou’s, and nightingales,” but some audio-visual materials. For preliminary inventories, see the the Bombay Poets wrote direct and gritty verse, primarily in Finding Aids for the Mehrotra and Jussawalla collections. idiomatic English, Marathi, Gujarati, and Hindi. To celebrate this new archive, the South Asia Program will In 2015 two eminent figures of Indian poetry in English, host a one-day symposium on Bombay, Poets, and Archives on Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Adil Jussawalla, donated September 15, 2017 at the A.D. White House, featuring Arvind their personal papers to the Cornell University Library in a Mehrotra and Viju Chitre. Two panels of academic papers will remarkable match of abilities, ambitions, and assets. The poets address not only literary topics but other sorts of archives for had been concerned for years about where their literary legacy subjects as varied as Dalits, sex work, and Indian cinema, in the could endure. No Indian institution appeared to possess both Bombay context. A display on Bombay and its poets runs from the facilities and the will to preserve the papers for future September through November in the Kroch Asia Library. These generations. Archives in South Asia are seldom flourishing events are co-sponsored by Cornell’s South Asia Collection, the affairs, and the Bombay Poets’ youthful penchant for being Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Society for obstreperous and irreverent might not have helped their case. the Humanities, as well as Rutgers University. At Cornell however, the archival enterprise is strong and deeply By some happy coincidence, Mehrotra named a little rooted. The Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections magazine he began in 1967 Ezra. Perhaps the Bombay Poets and runs a state of the art operation. The South Asia Collection Ezra Cornell’s University were fated to meet; we have much to has long had a strong circulating collection, but little by give each other. way of archival material. The poets needed facilities and know- how, Cornell needed content, and Ithaca-based academics made the match. 21 2017–18 South Asian Studies Fellowships We are proud to welcome to campus the inaugural group of South Asian Studies fellows. Each of the following five scholars, researchers and artists will be in residence at Cornell for two months during the 2017-2018 academic year. They will be working with Cornell students and faculty on their research, utilizing Cornell’s numerous academic resources, and presenting their work to the Cornell community. SAP will announce details about the 2018 fellowship completion in Fall 2017. AZIZ SOHAIL Fall 2017 Independent curator and writer, Karachi, Pakistan Visual & Cultural Production in 1990’s Karachi RUHANIE PERERA AND JAKE OORLOFF Fall 2017 Floating Space theatre company, Colombo, Sri Lanka Archiving Practice: Reflecting on Floating Space Theatre Company’s Performance-Making Approaches and Politics in the Context of the Conflict and Cultural Landscape of Sri Lanka TARANGINI SRIRAMAN Fall 2017 Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India Itineraries of Evidence: Refugees and their Displaced Documents of Identity AZIZ ALI Spring 2018 National Manager, Natural Resources Management, Aga Khan Foundation, Kabul, Afghanistan Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Assessments in the Emerging Scenario of Climate Change in North-Eastern Afghanistan 22 TRANSITIONS James Wells Gair linguistics at Cornell, a special emphasis on (1927–2016) where he remained until Sinhala and Tamil, but also his retirement (2000). including Hindi, Dhivehi, James Wells Gair, Professor Jim Gair helped to Malayalam, and Pali. He Emeritus of Linguistics build and sustain the South had a hand in authoring and former Director of the Asia Program, directing it foundational texts in collo- South Asia Program, died from 1970 to 1977, initiating quial and literary Sinhala, at age 88 in December our ongoing consortium Buddhist literature in Pali, 2016. with Syracuse University. and colloquial Jaffna After receiving a BA His extensive scholarship Tamil, all of which are still magna cum laude (1949), steered the program to its used by language-learners and then an MA (1956) continuing commitment across the globe today. in English from the to Sri Lankan studies, and James Gair’s intensely University of Buffalo, its pre-eminent place for inquisitive mind led him James Gair attained a Sri Lankan studies in the to voracious reading, PhD in Linguistics (1963) world, establishing the first passionate hobbies of from Cornell University and only Sinhala language cooking (he became and then an honorary program in the western a master South Asian Doctor of Letters from the hemisphere. He was also chef, with a Sri Lankan University of Kelaniya in a founding member of cookbook underway when Sri Lanka (1993), where he the Association for Asian he died), culinary herbs, was awarded the title of Studies, and served on the travel, cars, as well as “Sahitya Chakravartin,” that board of directors for the the intense enjoyment of is, “A Benevolent Emperor American Institute for Sri children riding carousels. of Literature.” Immediately Lankan Studies. on completing his PhD, James Gair studied Originally appeared in Cornell Chronicle (January 17, 2017) James Gair became an and taught several South assistant professor of Asian languages, with Dipali Sudan moved to Ithaca where he myriad cuisines, to which (1934–2017) had taken a position as an anyone who has ever attend- assistant professor in the ed her dinner parties can Dipali Sudan, former Senior College of Engineering. attest. Always intrepid, she Lecturer in Bengali, died She later taught at Cornell let precisely nothing stand at home in June 2017, at the herself, first in the Dance in her way. Never having age of 82. An accomplished Department and then, after sailed in her life, she was dancer of Odissi, Manipuri, an injury prevented her an avid fan of the Ithaca and Bharat Natyam styles, from performing, as Senior Yacht Club; never having a passionate teacher of Lecturer of Bengali. watched a football game, Bengali, and renowned for When she first arrived she was the mainstay of her her dinner parties, Dipali in Ithaca, she had no idea Cornell football club. She Sudan moved from metro- how to cook (according was gracious, talented, and politan Calcutta in 1959 to to her husband). Frankly courageous and is deeply Ithaca. speaking, she replied, I was mourned by her family. Dipali Sudan was trained to be a diplomat’s Originally appeared in Ithaca Journal educated at Loreto House wife—no cooking involved (June 8, 2017) and Presidency College, there. Always one to rise to University of Calcutta, the occasion, however, she where she earned her B.A. determined to master the and M.A. In 1959 she met mysterious art of American her future husband, Ravi, cooking, succeeded beyond and after a whirlwind her wildest dreams, and courtship and wedding, she proceeded to conquer 23 ANNOUNCEMENTS Durga Dances On Durga Bor came to Cornell skilled in Indian dance, and her enthusiasm for the arts has enriched the lives of many. Durga By Brownen Bledsoe retired in 2016 after 22 years at Cornell, serving in multiple roles relating to South Asian affairs, especially the performing arts. Academics, students, school children, and countless others have profited from her energy, expertise, and practical know-how. The Odissi style of classical Indian dance is Durga’s specialty, learned in India, performed and taught by her at Cornell and elsewhere, and adapted in innovative performance projects. One memorable event was her 2011 collaboration with Ithaca College faculty and the novelist Kiran Nagarkar on “There is Only One God and Her Name is Life: Reimagining Kabir.” In her classes for the Departments of Theatre and of Athletics here and there she taught Indian dance to students of every sort including, once, a whole college soccer team. Durga has a rich network of contacts in the Indian music scene, thanks in part to her husband, the Dutch musicologist Joep Bor. She arranged dozens of concerts in her years with the South Asia Program, often working with SPICMACAY and other Cornell student groups. But really, every day was an event for Durga, always on the go as the K-12 outreach coordinator, SAP newsletter editor, and office all-rounder. In retirement, Durga continues to enjoy a rich family life with musical people. A grandmother since July 2017, she hikes, swims, kayaks, skis, does her dance practice daily, and applies her critical ear to the local music scene. Durga loves to go out and dance, especially to son Dion’s band, the Notorious Stringbusters. Durga plans to travel to India, Indonesia, and Australia in the coming year—after Grassroots, of course. Kennedy endowment funds An endowment bequeathed by Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, professor of physical anthropology at Cornell for 41 years, evolutionary biology lectures will fund a lecture series and visiting professorship in human By Kathy Hovis evolutionary biology bearing his name. Kennedy, known for his field studies of early humans and their predecessors in South Asia, as well as his work with forensic anthropology, died in 2014 at the age of 83. The Arts and Sciences Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Anthropology are managing the endowment, which totals more than $1 million. Kennedy joined the Cornell faculty in 1964. He taught in the Departments of Anthropology, Asian Studies, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Field studies took Kennedy to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, California, and Illinois – almost always with his collaborator and wife of 44 years, Margaret. Originally appeared in Cornell Chronicle (July 26, 2016) 24 ACHIEVEMENTS SELECTED SAP FACULTY PUBLICATIONS 2016–17 Anindita Banerjee. “Screening Daniel Boucher. “Gāndhārī Sital Kalantry. Women’s Human H. S. Herman, Saurabh Aviation, Mediating Memory: and the Early Chinese Buddhist Rights and Migration: Sex-Selective Mehta, W. B. Cárdenas, A. M. Andrei Kavun’s Kandahar.” Translations: Reconsidering Abortion Laws in the United States Stewart-Ibarra, and Julia L. Russian Aviation, Space Flight, and an Old Hypothesis in Light and India. Philadelphia: University Finkelstein. “Micronutrients and Visual Culture, Helena Goscilo of New Finds.” Cross-Cultural of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. Leptospirosis: A Review of the and Vlad Strukov, eds. London: Transmission of Buddhist Texts: Current Evidence.” PLoS Neglected Routledge, 2016, 250-269. Theories and Practices of Translation, Ravi Kanbur and Lucas Ronconi. Tropical Diseases 10, no. 7 (2016): Dorji Wangchuk, ed. Hamburg: Enforcement Matters: the Effective e0004652. Daniel Bass. “Incomplete Department of Indian and Tibetan Regulation of Labor. Discussion Integration: Local Government, Studies, Universität Hamburg, Paper No. 11098. London: Centre S. L. Huey and Saurabh Citizenship and Tamil Identity in 2016, 25-50. for Economic Policy Research, Mehta. “Stunting: The Need the Up-country.” Sri Lanka: The 2016. for Application of Advances Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of Daniel Boucher. “Translation.” in Technology to Understand War, Amarnath Amarasingam and The Oxford Handbook of Classical Ravi Kanbur. Intra-Household a Complex Health Problem.” Daniel Bass, eds. London: Hurst, Chinese Literature (1000 BCE-900 Inequality and Overall Inequality. EBioMedicine 6 (2016): 26–27. 2016, 129-146. CE). Wiebke Denecke, Wai-yee Li, Discussion Paper No. 11719. and Xiaofei Tian, eds. New York: London: Centre for Economic S. Lee, Saurabh Mehta, and D. Amarnath Amarasingam and Oxford University Press, 2017, Policy Research, 2016. Erickson. “Two-Color Lateral Daniel Bass, eds. Sri Lanka: The 494-509. Flow Assay for Multiplex Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of Ravi Kanbur. W. Arthur Lewis and Detection of Causative Agents War. London: Hurst, 2016. Julia L Finkelstein, the Roots of Ghanaian Economic Behind Acute Febrile Illnesses.” A. V. Kurpad, T. Thomas, Policy. Discussion Paper No. 11720. Analytical Chemistry 88, no. 17 Alaka M. Basu. “Zika, Sex and K. Srinivasan, and C. London: Centre for Economic (2016): 8359-8363. Reproductive Health.” Economic Duggan. “Vitamin B12 Status Policy Research, 2016. and Political Weekly 51, no. 9 in Pregnant Women and their B. K. Natamba, Saurabh Mehta, (2016): 93–94. Infants in South India.” European Ravi Kanbur and Andy Snell. J. Achan, R. J. Stoltzfus, Journal of Clinical Nutrition. April Inequality Indices as Tests of Fairness. J. K. Griffiths, and S. L. Young. Arnab Basu, Nancy Chau, Gary 12 (2017). Discussion Paper No. 11930. “The Association between Food Fields, and Ravi Kanbur. Job London: Centre for Economic Insecurity and Depressive Creation in a Multi-Sector Labor Julia L. Finkelstein, J. D. Haas, Policy Research, 2017. Symptoms Severity among Market Model for Developing and Saurabh Mehta. “Iron- Pregnant Women Differs by Social Economies. Discussion Paper Biofortified Staple Food Crops for Karim-Aly S. Kassam, Leanne Support Category: A Cross- No. 11386. London: Centre for Improving Iron Status: A Review M. Avery, and Morgan L. Ruelle. sectional Study.” Maternal & Child Economic Policy Research, 2016. of the Current Evidence.” Current “The Cognitive Relevance of Nutrition 13, no. 3 (2017): e12351 Opinion in Biotechnology 44 (2017): Indigenous and Rural: Why Is Arnab Basu and Nancy Chau. 138-145. It Critical to Survival?” Cultural Eswar Prasad. “A Middle New Developments in the Economics Studies of Science Education 12, no. 1 Ground.” Finance & Development of International Labor Standards. L. M. De-Regil, Julia L. (2017): 97–118. 54, no. 1 (2017): 30. Singapore: World Scientific, 2017. Finkelstein, I. Saeterdal, D. Gaitán, and J. P. Peña-Rosas. Mukul Majumdar. Eswar Prasad. Gaining Currency: Kaushik Basu. “The Economics “Fortification of Wheat and Decentralization in Infinite Horizon The Rise of the Renminbi. New York: and Law of Sovereign Debt and Maize Flour with Folic Acid for Economies. Singapore: World Oxford University Press, 2017. Risk Sharing: Some Lessons from Population Health Outcomes.” Scientific, 2016. the Eurozone Crisis.” Review of Cochrane Database of Systematic Lucinda Ramberg. “Backward Law & Economics 12, no. 3 (2016): Reviews 4 (2016): CD012150. Lawrence McCrea. Futures and Pasts Forward: Queer 495–506. “Abhinavagupta as an Intellectual Time, Sexual Politics, and Dalit Durba Ghosh. “Gandhi and Historian of Buddhism.” Around Religiosity in South India.” GLQ : Kaushik Basu. “Globalization of the Terrorists: Revolutionary Abhinavagupta: Aspects of the A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies Labor Markets and the Growth Challenges from Bengal and Intellectual History of Kashmir from 22, no. 2 (2016): 223-248. Prospects of Nations.” Journal of Engagements with Non-Violent the Ninth to the Eleventh Century. Policy Modeling 38, no. 4 (2016): Political Protest.” South Asia: Eli Franco and Isabelle Ratié, eds. Eric Tagliacozzo and Shawkat 656-669. Journal of South Asian Studies 39, Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2016, 263-286. Toorawa, eds., Hajj: Pilgrimage no. 3 (2016): 560-576. in Islam. Cambridge; Cambridge Kaushik Basu and Joseph E. Lawrence McCrea. University Press, 2016. Stiglitz, eds. Inequality and Growth: Durba Ghosh. Gentlemanly “Appayyadīksita’s Invention of Patterns and Policy. Volume I: Terrorists: Political Violence and the Śrīkantha’s Vedānta.” Journal of Norman Uphoff and Frank Concepts and Analysis. New York: Colonial State in India, 1919-1947. Indian Philosophy, 44, no. 1 (2016), Dazzo. “Making Rice Production Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Cambridge: Cambridge University 81-94. More Environmentally-Friendly.” Press, 2017. Environments 3, no. 2 (2016): 12. Kaushik Basu and Joseph E. Lawrence McCrea. “Two Stiglitz, eds. Inequality and Growth: Ronald Herring and Robert Cultures in Indian Epistemology Mary N. Woods. Women Architects Patterns and Policy. Volume II: Paarlberg. “The Political Economy of Aesthetic Meaning.” The in India: Histories of Practice in Regions and Regularities. New of Biotechnology.” Annual Review Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Mumbai and Delhi. London: York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. of Resource Economics 8 (2016): Indian Aesthetics and the Philosophy Routledge, 2017. 397-416. of Art. Arindam Chakrabarty, ed. Anne M. Blackburn. “Buddhist London: Bloomsbury, 2016, 25-41. Technologies of Statecraft and Millennial Moments.” History and Theory 56, no. 1 (2017): 71–79. 25 TATA-CORNELL INSTITUTE for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) Scholars Tata-Cornell Scholars include a Vidya Bharathi Rajkumar Maureen Valentine multidisciplinary group of Cornell PhD student, Applied Economics and PhD candidate, Animal Science Management Maureen Valentine is a third year PhD graduate students who are in the Vidya Rajkumar is a second year PhD candidate in the department of Animal process of earning their PhD or student in the Applied Economics and Science who is continuing as a TCI Master’s Degree and who are actively Management department. Her research scholar after completing her Master’s interests lie in the fields of development degree with the program. She completed engaged in applied and field-based economics and public policy. She current- one year of fieldwork in the Indian state research aligning with TCI’s key ly researches labor saving technologies in of Odisha where she conducted an exper- research priorities. You can learn agriculture for the Indian context. iment, “Sustainable Livestock Feeding Systems in the Face of Intensifying Goat more at: tci.cornell.edu. Tanvi Rao Production.” PhD candidate, Applied Economics Rohil Bhatnagar and Management Shiuli Vanaja PhD student, Food Science Tanvi Rao is a fifth year PhD candidate in PhD candidate, Applied Economics Rohil Bhatnagar is a first year PhD the Applied Economics and Management and Management student in the field of Food Science and department. Her primary research Shiuli Vanaja is in her third year at the Technology. His research interests lie interests are in the field of development Dyson School of Applied Economics and in bridging the gap between nutritional economics and applied econometrics. Management. In the 2016-2017 academic intake and optimal health. He aspires to For her dissertation, she is studying the year, she was in rural Jharkhand, India alleviate the state of persistent micronu- demand for different types of higher to research the socio-economic impacts of trient malnutrition by utilizing scientific (post-secondary) education in India. newly-installed water treatment systems strategies to develop affordable and As a TCI Scholar, she also researches on women’s time savings. nourishing food therapies. the determinants of maternal nutrition outcomes in India. Vidya Vemireddy Jocelyn Boiteau PhD candidate, Applied Economics PhD student, International Nutrition Payal Seth and Management Jocelyn Boiteau is a first year PhD student PhD student, Applied Economics Vidya Vemireddy is a third year PhD in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. and Management candidate in the department of Applied She is interested in studying agriculture Payal Seth is a second year PhD student Economics and Management. Since Fall and nutrition linkages, specifically how in Applied Economics and Management. 2016, she has led an extensive data collec- changes in food systems impact women’s As a TCI Scholar, her fieldwork focuses tion effort in Chandrapur, Maharashtra roles in agriculture and contribute to on linkages between sanitation and for her thesis project, “Impact of women’s nutrition outcomes. Her research project nutrition. Working with the local partner time allocation patterns in agriculture on focuses on the current state of food loss NGO, Grameen Development Services, time-saving food choices and nutrition in in India. Payal is examining a behavior change rural India.” methodology known as Community-led Kathryn Merckel Total Sanitation. She is analyzing the Anthony Wenndt PhD student, International Nutrition bearing of this behavior change and of PhD student, Plant Pathology and Katy Merckel is a second year PhD the construction of toilets on the sanita- Plant-Microbe Biology student in the Division of Nutritional tion practices, diarrheal incidence, and Anthony Wenndt is a second year PhD Sciences. She is interested in studying the safety of women in rural Uttar student in the School of Integrative Plant maternal and child nutrition in India, par- Pradesh, India. Science. He is interested in the biology ticularly the ways in which education and and ecology of toxigenic fungi infecting empowerment influence the consumption Naveen Sunder crop plants and the impacts of mycotoxins patterns of mothers and their families. PhD candidate, Economics on food security and nutrition. He plans For her field-based research, Katy will Naveen Sunder is a fourth year PhD to engage with smallholders in India study behavior change messaging for candidate in the Economics department. to characterize the extent of mycotoxin orange-flesh sweet potatoes in rural His primary research interests are in the contamination in village-level food villages in Uttar Pradesh, India. field of development economics, health systems, and to develop context-specific economics and applied econometrics. As survey methodologies for sustainable, a TCI Scholar, he researches socioeco- scalable mycotoxin management. nomic topics such as agriculture-nutrition linkages and transitioning toward nutrition-sensitive food systems. 26 2017–18 Naadhira Ali Lavanya NottDegree: MPS, International Agriculture Degree: MA, Asian Studies FOREIGN LANGUAGE and Rural Development Language: Bengali AND AREA STUDIES Language: Hindi Research Interests: Intellectual History and Research Interests: Traditional Cropping Social Movements in Modern South Asia (FLAS) FELLOWS Systems and Underutilized Crops in Semi-Arid West Africa and South India Kelsey Utne Degree: PhD, History Anya Gedrath-Smith Language: Hindi Degree: MRP, City and Regional Planning Research Interests: Commemoration and Language: Nepali Public History in Modern South Asia Research Interests: Land Use and Environ- mental Planning, Sustainable Community Ayal Weiner-Kaplow Development and Food Systems. Degree: MPA, Cornell Institute for Public Affairs Raashid Goyal Language: Nepali Degree: PhD, Near Eastern Studies Research interests: Disaster Mitigation and Language: Persian Preparedness in South Asia Research Interests: Formation of Islamic Legal Thought and Dogma, Islamicate Literature Austin Lord Degree: PhD, Anthropology Language: Nepali Research Interests: Energy, Disaster, In- frastructures, Risk, Vulnerability, Finance, Anticipation RECENTLY Andrew Amstutz, PhD, History, “Finding James Allan Lax, MA, Asian Studies a Home for Urdu: Islam and Science in “Modern Religious Movements of Colonial GRADUATED Modern South Asia” South Asia: The Origins of Revival and STUDENTS Reform” Christina Casey, PhD, History, “Subjects and Sovereigns: The Husbands and Wives Jennifer Nerby, MPA, Public Adminis- who Ruled British India, 1774-1925” tration, “Disaster Management in Nepal: In Theory and in Practice” Rumela Sen, PhD, Government, “Bullets to Ballots: Maoists and the Lure of Democracy Nils Seiler, MA, Asian Studies “Silver in India” and Mother-of-Pearl: Some Comments on Perception and Doubt in Premodern Eloisa Stuparich, PhD, East Asian South Asia” Literature, “Treading The Frontiers of Hinduness: Yogi Naraharinath in 20th Jacob Stock, MRP, City and Regional Century Nepal” Planning, “Conceiving an Emancipatory Technology: Spatial-data Infrastructure, Stephanie Coker, MPA, Participatory Governance, and Indian Public Administration Urban Development” Kaitlin Emmanuel, MA, Asian Studies, Bridget Conlon, BS, Agriculture Sciences “Lionel Wendt: Between Empire and Nation” Suryakumari Samyuktha Kannan, MS, Applied Economics and Management, “Developing a Multidimensional Framework for the Evaluation of Women’s Self Help Groups” 27 2016–17 VISITING SCHOLARS Waruni Anuruddhika, Gaytri Devi, Program developed countries. As a Fulbright an independent Sri Coordinator, Jagori scholar, he said he “was looking for a Lankan filmmaker and Rural Charitable Trust, vibrant, conducive and multi-disciplinary art photographer, was a India, was a Hubert H. environment with a lot of scope for inter- Fulbright Professional Humphrey Fellow. Devi disciplinary interactions and academic Development Fellow. She is interested in developing exchange,” which he was happy to find began her career as an art photographer livelihood opportunities for women at Cornell. in 1996, and branched out to filmmaking by enhancing their agricultural skills, in 2011. While at Cornell, she conducted enabling market access, and providing research for a photographic book on educational programs for their children. Sumathy Sivamohan, ritual worship of the goddess Pattini Professor of English at the by a marginalized community in University of Peradeniya, Veyangoda, Sri Lanka. She stated that Humera Khan, Sri Lanka, was the she was “really happy about the rich Environmental Tamil Studies Visiting liberal culture and resources that Cornell Compliance Specialist, Scholar in the spring provided me throughout my stay” and Chemonics International semester. An award-winning filmmaker, “its welcoming atmosphere took my Inc., USAID Contractor, performer, playwright, poet, translator heart.” She concluded that spending Pakistan, was a Hubert and academic, she has worked in the areas a semester in Ithaca was “the greatest H. Humphrey Fellow. Khan is interested of gender, dispossession, the displaced, experience in my life.” in environmental impact assessment, and the fraught question of “nation.” climate change adaptation and mitigation, Her creative work emphasizes the idiom and economic appraisal techniques. of conversation and colloquiality, while Sanjeeb Baral, While in Ithaca, she was involved in the experimenting in form and style. While Project Manager of Tompkins County Climate Protection at Cornell, she taught one course in Asian the Budhi Ganga Initiative (TCCPI) and was affiliated Studies, “Formations of Tamil Identity Hydropower Project, with the City of Ithaca’s Planning in Postcolonial Sri Lanka: Intersections Nepal, was a Hubert and Economic Division, conducting of Class, Caste and Gender in Telling the H. Humphrey Fellow, a research study on “Monitoring and Story of the Tamil.” focusing on water management and Mapping of Environmental Noise in hydropower. the City of Ithaca.” She concluded that “the fellowship prepared me to take up Gopalakrishnan meaningful leadership roles once back in Veilumuthusamy, Matthew Baxter came my home nation,” and provided numerous Counsellor at the to SAP as a Visiting “opportunities for a rich exchange of Confederation of Indian Scholar from Harvard information among other fellows, faculty, Industry, India, was a University, where he was students, and professionals.” Hubert H. Humphrey a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Fellow. His work focuses on green supply the Mahindra Humanities chain, climate change, and emissions as it Center. He works on South Asia as a T.V. Sekher, Professor relates to shipping industry and logistical comparative political theorist, focusing on in the Department of management (warehouse design, cost Tamil-speaking South India and Non- Population Policies and reduction, and training). Brahmin politics. While at SAP, Baxter Programs, International worked on a book manuscript tentatively Institute for Population titled, The Politics of Embrace: On the Non- Sciences, Mumbai, spent Brahmin Self-Respect Critique of Gandhian a year at the South Asia Self-Rule. After an “exceptional” year at Program as a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow. Cornell, he described the South Asia Trained in Demography and Sociology, Program as “a wonderful place to work his research interests include social through and develop one’s own work, and demography, gender, population aging, to help others do the same.” and public health. Sekher’s current research examines Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) schemes as strategies to empower girls and women in less- 28 Giving to the South Asia Program The South Asia Program (SAP) welcomes your support! Gifts from Cornell alumni and other friends of SAP are a key resource for the Program, allowing us to protect foundational strengths (see “From the Director”), while also expanding South Asian Studies at Cornell in innovative ways. Gifts to SAP can be made easily via Your Gift to Cornell at giving.cornell.edu. As shown in the image, use the menus to direct your gift to the South Asia Program as a one-time or recurring gift. Should you wish to direct your gift more specifically (for instance, towards language lecturer endowments), please contact Director Anne Blackburn at amb242@cornell.edu. Professor Blackburn will also help to coordi- nate larger gifts with appropriate offices at Cornell. The South Asia Program (SAP) is an interdisciplinary hub for Cornell students, faculty, staff, community members, and academic visitors, located in the Mario Einuadi Center for International Studies. SAP coordinates teaching, research, and campus activities concerning the area comprising the nations of the Indian subcontinent: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The South Asia Program maintains distinctive strengths and dedicated expertise in several key areas, especially South Asian humanities; social, scientific, and applied research on South Asia; and the languages and cultures of Nepal and Sri Lanka. With the Department of Asian Studies, SAP is cultural and performance events to campus on a regular basis, committed to teaching a number of modern and enriching Cornell and the surrounding communities. SAP also classical South Asian languages, including Bengali, has a significant outreach program which makes training on Hindi, Nepali, Pali, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Sinhala, Tamil, Tibetan, South Asia available to educators at K-12 schools, community and Urdu. Additionally, Persian is taught in the Department of colleges, and schools of education. Near Eastern Studies. Our special resources include a library Since 1983, Cornell has collaborated with Syracuse collection of more than 448,668 printed monographs and University as a National Resource Center for South Asia, one 9,859 serial titles in hard copy; 54 faculty in 22 departments of only eight nationally, sponsored by the U. S. Department and colleges teaching 88 Area Studies courses and 55 language of Education. SAP facilitates summer intensive language courses at levels from beginning to advanced; and extensive opportunities for students from Cornell and other universities outreach materials including films, web-based curricula, and on the Cornell campus, at the South Asia Summer Language hands-on teaching aids. Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and at the SAP sponsors a weekly seminar series with presentations by American Association for Indian Studies language programs in local, national, and international scholars, and organizes or co- India. The South Asia Program also nurtures Cornell Abroad’s sponsors numerous conferences and workshops every year. SAP offerings in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. collaborates with student organizations to bring South Asian Find out about SAP events and activities throughout the year by liking us on Facebook @SAPCornell, or following us on Twitter @SAPCornell 29 it is in loss and loneliness, one finds words of solace, without which, none may live and die.  in childish play, and in the child, one stoops, just a little, to accommodate pain. The political is strained, half breathing, lines the tongue with lashing words, standing free and tall, among alien corn. it is in that wonder of clarity and magnanimity, i have to concede speech and talk of betrayal as a blink of eye, as a new found time, unremembered, here, there, life’s breath. fling forging nouns, into the far flung corners of birth and death, departing from beaten tracks of heavy tread, live out the vanishing moments as limn, time pass, still and flirtatiously wavering. in silence is born, not loss, but distance, between the hearer and the speaker, and in my words hang that ominous gasp of a life foreshadowing death, not yet dreamt of, b u t d re a d e d s till.   sumathy, may 2017 30 Roadside Attraction, Warakapola, Sri Lanka (Photo by Daniel Bass) SOUTH ASIA PROGRAM 170 Uris Hall Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853-7601 Phone: 607-255-8923 / Fax: 607-254-5000 sap@einaudi.cornell.edu sap.einaudi.cornell.edu 31