Category : Announcements

An Infrastructural Revolution Along the Indo-China Border

Aug 13, 2020 | Announcements, Associates, In Region, India, News

By Raile Rocky Ziipao. In the light of the Indo-China face-off in Ladakh that led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Galwan Valley, there is now an acute urgency to focus on border infrastructure. From a policy perspective, India needs an infrastructural revolution at its borders for national security, to fortify against external threats, to bring connectivity to unconnected territory, and to maintain peace and prosperity.

Learn to Solve Social and Economic Problems in the Developing World this Fall with GENED 1011

Aug 13, 2020 | Announcements, News, Students

Over 5 billion people living in developing nations face seemingly insurmountable institutional voids that the entrepreneur must overcome to be successful. Contemporary Developing Countries: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Intractable Problems teaches you to apply interdisciplinary tools to address challenges ranging from limited access to education and health, lack of water, sanitation and uncontaminated food, lack of financial services, deep-seated corruption, and now, the raging pandemic.

Numair Abbasi: The Everyday Encounters Art Exhibit

Aug 12, 2020 | Announcements, Arts Program, Fellows, News

Spring 2020 Visiting Artist Fellow Numair Abbasi is a Pakistani artist whose practice draws on popular culture and anecdotes to challenge how gender is socially constructed and performed. In this video, he discusses the work behind his virtual exhibition, Everyday Encounters, with the Harvard Ed Portal.

Podcast: Rethinking the Museum Experience During and Post-COVID-19

Jul 30, 2020 | Announcements, Arts Program, Faculty, News

A recent panel discussion at the Mittal Institute, “Rethinking the Museum Experience During and Post-COVID-19″ — moderated by Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art at Harvard University — explores how art institutions can remain nimble enough to respond to uncertainties, such as COVID-19, adapting their approach to tackle similar situations in the future. How can art institutions engage their patrons as partners in the sustainability of museums?

Veronica Vargas: South-to-South Collaboration and South Asia’s Role in Vaccine R&D

Jul 30, 2020 | Announcements, Associates, News

Veronica Vargas, PhD, is an economist who focuses on health economics, global health, and health policy. As a research affiliate with the Mittal Institute and visiting scholar at Harvard University for the past three years, she has explored the research and development (R&D) of novel vaccines and drugs in both South Asia and Latin America. More than ever, this expertise has become essential in the understanding of global needs for R&D in the face of a pandemic and additional neglected diseases around the world.

Video: Dadabhai Naoroji and the Birth of Indian Nationalism

Jul 23, 2020 | Announcements, Faculty, In Region, India, India Seminar Series, News

The Mittal Institute’s recent panel webinar, “Swaraj: Dadabhai Naoroji and the Birth of Indian Nationalism,” was moderated by Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University, in discussion with Dinyar Patel, Assistant Professor at S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research.

Hasna Moudud: Oriental Winds of Change and the Silk Road to South Asia

Jul 16, 2020 | Announcements, Associates, News

We spoke with Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud, a Research Affiliate at the Mittal Institute and the author of numerous books, including “Where Women Rule: South Asia,” and “Mystic Poetry of Bangladesh.” For decades, she has journeyed the Silk Road to learn more about the connections and exchanges of goods, ideologies, and knowledge across centuries and continents, and shared with us some of her discoveries along the way.

Video: The Labor of Fashion, the Global COVID-19 Crisis, and the Politics of Resistance in Bangladesh

Jul 15, 2020 | Announcements, Bangladesh, News

Through the lens of a contemporary case study, the panelists explore the geopolitics of how vaccines are developed, the funding and distribution methods that are critical to the effort, and the global alliances that facilitate this in the world today, focusing on the South Asia context. They discuss the mechanics and commerce of vaccine development and the critical role that science and business can play in combating pandemics such as COVID-19.

Video: Crowdsourcing Memories of the 1947 Partition of British India

Jul 14, 2020 | Announcements, Bangladesh, Faculty, Fellows, India, News, Pakistan, Partition

“There is nothing as epochal as the cataclysmic event that was visited upon the people of South Asia when decolonization occurred and the British withdrew during the dismantling of the British empire. That forced event — that trauma — continues to shape the lives of two billion of the world’s seven billion people today,” says Professor Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School and Director of the Mittal Institute. Despite the abundant historical and political scholarship on the Partition of British India in 1947, there are still gaps in our understanding of the event — and the Mittal Institute’s research team set out to change that.

Announcing the Seed for Change Exploratory Grant Program

Jul 2, 2020 | Announcements, News, Students

The Mittal Institute recognizes that as a result of COVID-19, we have all had to make adjustments to our daily lives. We also know that students are doing their best under the circumstances to continue learning in new and creative ways. In light of this, we’re offering a one-time SFC Exploratory Grant to students who are currently working on ideas or a project that addresses intractable problems in India and Pakistan.

An Artist’s Journey from Nepal to Cambridge, and Back

Jul 2, 2020 | Announcements, Arts Program, Fellows, In Region, Nepal, News

“The southern border of Nepal, along India, was created 150 years ago by external parties,” says Sagar Chhetri, a visual artist from Nepal and a former Visiting Artist Fellow at the Mittal Institute. When that border was created, communities were cut in two. “[In Nepal], the ruling caste tried to unite all the peoples of the country to create one single Nepali identity. But in the populous open border region, Nepalis and Indians share marital ties, cultures, languages, and histories. With the promise of federalism during the decade-long civil war in Nepal came stronger rhetoric and ideology based on ethnic identity,” he said.

Video: Science, Business, and Vaccine Development to Combat the Pandemic

Jul 2, 2020 | Announcements, Faculty, In Region, India Seminar Series, News

The Mittal Institute’s recent panel webinar in collaboration with Harvard Business School India Research Center and Harvard Business Publishing, “Science, Business, and Vaccine Development to Combat the Pandemic,” was moderated by Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School and Director of the Mittal Institute.