NEWSLETTER
June 8, 2018
The Visiting Artist Fellowship is an eight-week program, based in Cambridge, that connects artists from South Asia to Harvard’s intellectual resources. The Fellowship provides a platform for conducting independent research that explores critical issues in South Asia through the lens of art and design. Apply now!
2018 Mittal Institute Visiting Artist Kabi Raj Lama is a contemporary print maker based in Kathmandu, who primarily works with lithography and the Japanese mokuhanga (woodcut) medium. His work examines themes of natural disasters, trauma and healing through art. In this interview, we discuss how he first discovered printmaking, his personal encounters with natural disasters and what he has been up to at Harvard.
The Mittal Institute’s Seed for Change Program (SFC) awards grant prizes to interdisciplinary student projects that have a positive impact on societal, economic and environmental issues in India and Pakistan. We spoke to Gina Ciancone from Green Screen, this year's winning team for India. She discussed the genesis of the project and gave advice to students thinking about entering next year’s competition.
The Mittal Institute has awarded 22 grants to support student projects over the 2018 Summer Session. These include 17 graduate students and five undergraduate students who will travel to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan for research and internships.
M.R. Sharan , PhD candidate at the Kennedy School, Harvard University, presented joint work with Chinmaya Kumar , University of Chicago, on elections in Bihar at this seminar on May 29, 2018 in New Delhi. Sharan and Kumar’s work investigates how political reservation in favor of Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Bihar affects inequality in private wealth and access to public goods.
For the Mittal Institute's Partition Project, 40 student volunteers came together last week for their first orientation as ambassadors to collect oral stories from the survivors of Partition.
Are you from South Asia, the Middle East or Africa? Are you a current or recent undergraduate? Are you the first in your family to attend college? If so, Crossroads is a unique career development opportunity to spend nearly a week in Dubai, all expenses paid, learning from Harvard professors, alumni and local business leaders in September 2018. Apply now!
Over the summer, we will be sending out a biweekly newsletter, as many students and faculty head off to work, rest, and play until the Fall semester. If any current Harvard students, alum or faculty would like to write a blog about their summer research, please email TheMittalInstitute@gmail.com
Rahul Mehrotra , Professor of Urban Design and Planning at Harvard GSD, received a special mention at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the 2018 Venice Biennale. He was lauded "for three projects that address issues of intimacy and empathy, gently diffusing social boundaries and hierarchies."
How do we quantify the global informal economy and its impact on cities in the developing world?
Martha Chen , Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, co-authored a new report investigating this question. It is part of a larger effort to study the sustainable development of cities in the developing world.
A new study co-authored by Jennifer Leaning , Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at HSPH, Satchit Balsari , Research Fellow at FXB, and others reassess the death toll of Hurricane Maria, highlighting the discrepancy between their findings and those reported by Puerto Rico's government.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
Seeking TFs and a Head TF for Societies of the World 47: Contemporary Developing Countries: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Intractable Social and Economic Problems . This multi-disciplinary, university-wide course is jointly offered with FAS, GSAS, HBS, HGSE, HKS, HLS, and HSPH, and is coordinated by Prof Tarun Khanna (HBS), and Dr. Satchit Balsari (HMS), and co-taught by several other faculty from around the university. 
FLASHBACK FRIDAY
On March 26th, 2015, the Mittal Institute screened the controversial BBC documentary  India’s Daughter , by Leslee Udwin. The film captures the story of the brutal rape and murder of a young medical student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012. Banned by the Indian Government, the film has raised questions about India’s attitude towards gender violence. A panel discussion moderated by Dr. Jacqueline Bhabha, FXB Director of Research, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, HSPH, followed.