SAI Director, Tarun Khanna: “We’re never less than busy and relentlessly ambitious at SAI. Our indefatigable Executive Director, Meena Hewett, and her team work hard with faculty, students, researchers, fellows, alumni and regional partners from Harvard and beyond. Our approach is expansive and inclusive, and we try to exceed expectations, those of others and our own.”
To say that 2017 was a pivotal year for the Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute (SAI), Harvard University, would be an understatement, thanks to a generous $25m naming gift from Lakshmi Mittal and his family.
The Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University, wishes our friends and supporters a new year filled with peace and happiness! Our offices will be closed from December 22, 2017 to January 2, 2018, during which time there will be no newsletter.
“I am a product of two very substantial migrations: my grandparents, young and barely literate, moved to East Africa in the early 20th century. My parents went to the UK, years later. These are not simple transitions. It has always been important for me to know as much as I can about these histories.”
My recommendation for anyone applying to Seed for Change is to get feedback from as many people as possible, at all stages of the project. Even if someone is not an expert in your field, they may be able to offer you valuable insight. Each time Sakhi received feedback, we streamlined the project pitch. Feedback shapes your priorities and reveals what about your project makes sense and seems possible.
Professor Jinah Kim’s seminar, Women in South Asian Art, took over Harvard LMSAI’s Instagram account for the week – to highlight the course exhibition, Women in South Asian Art, at the Harvard Art Museums. Open until January 7, 2017.
The 25 selected candidates are from all over India and represent research backgrounds ranging from pharmacology to rice genomics. The intensive two-week workshop includes daily lectures and hands-on sessions, culminating in a valedictory event featuring a key note by Dr. Vijay Raghavan (Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, India.)
“I hope that with this endowed gift, this tradition will continue for a long, long time and that there will be people who in the same way that I can say today, feel magically touched by all the things that this institute does.”
Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School
“When I was 18, I traveled to Pakistan as part of a university debating team. We crossed the border on foot and reached Pakistan just in time to see the flag ceremony between the two countries. After growing up hearing about Pakistan as an unknown and dangerous place, it was the most incredible experience in my life to visit Pakistan, to meet the people and find out that we share so much in common.”
Ameya Kilara, MPA 2018
We presented the latest in our major research project about the Partition of British India in 1947, at the Asia Society in New York on Nov 30, 2017. The video of the event, featuring leading faculty and researchers from Harvard and beyond, is now available.
SAI offers Language Study Grants, Research Grants and Internships Grants. Applications are due on February 15, 2018.
“Now, with the resurgence of nationalism in many parts of the world, there is even more impetus to understand the origin, impact and complexity of nationalisms in South Asia, and their connection to migrations, which is a major human experience and a shaper of modernity.” -Nabil Khan, Visiting Scholar