NEWSLETTER
April 6, 2018
Murad Khan Mumtaz is a painter and PhD candidate at the University of Virginia studying the intersection of religion, literature, and historic expression in art via traditional Pakistani and Indian methods. "It is fascinating to see how the paper was prepared, what pigments were used, and how the drawing was built up layer by layer. Knowledge of the craft can also enhance a stylistic appreciation of an historical artwork, thus helping locate its school and period."
Pukar Malla , Executive Director of Daayitwa and SAI Nepal Programs Director, has spent his career conducting research and developing initiatives to bring self-sustaining entrepreneurship to Nepal. After working with Harvard faculty, Malla created several frameworks to help reach his goals, including a Trek. "During the Trek, the participants have a unique opportunity to reflect on what they have learned about leadership. The Trek will take participants through various moments — thrilling, peaceful, noisy, compassionate and more."
Neeti Nayak (GSD) and Sheliza Jamal (HGSE) curated a physical and online art exhibition, "SAI Spring Art Exhibition: Showcasing Research in South Asia through Visual Arts." The show focuses on 2D and 3D art and artifacts created by Harvard students who traveled to South Asia sponsored by Harvard SAI travel grants.
Our Director, Professor Tarun Khanna , says it is one of the greatest teaching experiences he has had at Harvard. If you are an undergraduate or recent graduate from South Asia, the Middle East or Africa — and the first in your family to attend college — you can apply for the Second Annual Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program, an amazing, fully-funded opportunity this fall. The deadline is May 15. APPLY NOW! 
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
 Mukund Thattai , a faculty member at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, posits what it will take to garner nation-wide support for science in India. " It is impossible to micromanage the long-term research agenda, so the only hope is to cast a wide net. A broad and deep scientific community is a valuable resource that can be called upon to give its inputs on a variety of issues. In this consultative process, it is crucially important to not privilege scientific experts over other participants in the discussion."  
Explore the digital publication for this exhibit on how women are portrayed in South Asian art. Furthermore, the Harvard course taught by Jinah Kim examines the presence of sensuous images of the female body in Indian art and its relationship to women’s status through a trans-historical lens. The exhibit includes images of goddesses, celestial maidens, courtly ladies, and ordinary women throughout history.
A Harvard study has found agricultural fires are to blame for about half of the pollution experienced in Delhi in October and November, a peak stubble burning season in Punjab. “On certain days during peak fire season, air pollution in Delhi is about 20 times higher than the threshold for safe air as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO),” said Daniel H. Cusworth , a graduate student at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
CAMBRIDGE EVENTS
Monday, April 9, 12-2 PM, CGIS South S250
This film is a portrait of poets, musicians, and artists who have turned their art into weapons of resistance during periods of heightened state repression and violence in India-administered Kashmir. By evoking the collective memory of a people and unwinding threads of their folk history, the featured artists and musicians in this film negotiate with questions of survival, resistance, and freedom.
Monday, April 9, 6-8 PM, CGIS South S020
Dastangoi, the lost art of Urdu storytelling, developed in 8th century CE around the adventures of an Arab hero, Amir Hamza. These stories became very popular in 19th century North India . Ankit Chadha , a writer and storyteller, has been a practitioner of Dastangoi since 2010. His writing varies from biographical accounts of personalities like Kabir, Rahim, Dara Shikoh and Majaaz to modern folk tales.
Wednesday, April 11, 4-5:30 PM, CGIS South S030
Partition left Pakistan almost bereft of manufacturing – importing most consumer goods, including matches, soap, cloth and yarn, and virtually all machinery. Gustav Papanek will discuss how Pakistan, in 15 short years, developed the industrial entrepreneurs who turned the country into a significant exporter of goods.
Thursday, April 12, 4:15-6 PM, Lower Level Conference Room, Adolphus Busch Hall
In 1997, the Runnymede Trust in London recognized Tariq Modood 's alternative definition of Islamophobia as anti-Muslim racism in the context of a multicultural society. In this presentation, Modood will argue that Islamophobia and Muslim studies should not marginalize Muslims as a group that stands apart from the society within which they live.
Thursday, April 12, 5-7 PM, CGIS South S250
SAI Visiting Artist Faiham Ebra Sharif is a freelance multimedia journalist and photographer. He will discuss his current project, Cha Chakra: Tea Tales of Bangladesh, which sheds light on the plight of the tea garden workers of Bangladesh who are among the lowest paid and most vulnerable laborers in the world, yet are strangely invisible to the global media.
Friday, April 13, 9:30 AM-6:30 PM, CGIS South S020
This spring marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Harvard Asia Center. To celebrate, the Center will be hosting a day of talks and panels featuring students, current and former Asia Center directors, and other distinguished speakers who have been instrumental in the work of the Asia Center. The event will be capped by a keynote address delivered by the Honorable Kevin Rudd.
IN-REGION EVENTS
Saturday, April 14, 5:30 PM, Multipurpose Hall, India International Centre, New Delhi
The Tenth Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Lecture marks a decade of Ambedkar University Delhi's engagement with public intellectual discourse in the city of Delhi. This year, Homi K. Bhabha , Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities,
Director of the Mahindra Humanities Center, will explore literary and cultural issues related to migration and refugees.
 
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Saturday, April 7, 10 AM-1 PM, Gutman Library 302
OPPORTUNITIES
BU College of Engineering and School of Public Health, Social Innovation
on Drug Resistance (SIDR) Program
Dr. Muhammad Zaman and Dr. Veronika Wirtz are seeking a postdoctoral associate for a project focused on social, behavioral, and policy factors contributing to antibiotic resistance in both human and veterinary sectors. The postdoctoral associate will be working with both Dr. Zaman and Dr. Wirtz on an interdisciplinary project studying the role of poor quality medicine on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
 
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
Lakshmi Iyer , Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, helped run a webinar on women in Indian politics. Iyer’s presentation addressed two questions: Does electing women to political office make any difference? How can women’s representation in political office be increased? Based on her extensive research of the issue, Iyer explained that the answer to the first question is: Yes, electing women to political office makes a difference in many metrics.