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Dr. Animesh Bag, Raghunathan Fellow, on Race, Migration, and the Power of Print

Sep 22, 2026 | Fellows, India, News

Dr. Animesh Bag, Raghunathan Fellow, on Race, Migration, and the Power of Print

Dr. Animesh Bag, the Mittal Institute’s Raghunathan Family Fellow, is exploring how American print culture shaped perceptions of India and Indian immigrants in the early twentieth century. He is working with Prof. Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University Department of History. Dr. Bag’s research examines newspapers, magazines, missionary publications, and revolutionary writings to trace how ideas about race, immigration, and belonging were produced and challenged across borders. We spoke with Bag about what brought him to this research, what he is uncovering in the archives, and what these histories can tell us about race, migration, and representation today.

From Chile to Kerala: Exploring Fragmented Citizenship

Sep 22, 2026 | India, News, Students

From Chile to Kerala: Exploring Fragmented Citizenship

As a Mittal Institute student grant recipient, Tara Hein, a PhD student at Harvard, spent summer 2026 in Kerala, India, conducting research for her project, “Seeing like a Citizen: Fragmented Citizenship in Santiago, Chile and Kerala, India.” Her research explores how people’s experiences with the state—particularly when government services and institutions are highly visible but unevenly delivered—shape how they understand and engage with citizenship. Building on interviews conducted in Santiago, Chile, she traveled to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to further develop her research through interviews with residents in Kerala. She shares more about her summer in her grant report. 

Dr. Md Mafizur Rahman, Mittal Family Climate Fellow, on Exploring Climate Governance in Bangladesh

Sep 21, 2026 | Bangladesh, Fellows, News

Dr. Md Mafizur Rahman, Mittal Family Climate Fellow, on Exploring Climate Governance in Bangladesh

With a background in Public Administration and climate governance, Dr. Md Mafizur Rahman is examining how policies and institutions shape responses to climate change in Bangladesh. As a Mittal Family Climate Fellow at the Mittal Institute, he is working with Prof. Dustin Tingley, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Government, to explore these questions. Dr. Rahman brings together perspectives from political ecology and environmental justice to better understand how climate policies affect different communities and connect questions of governance to the lived realities of people experiencing environmental change. We spoke with him about his work and his hopes for his Harvard fellowship. 

Prof. Rahul Mehrotra’s Work on View in Mumbai and Kabul

Sep 20, 2026 | Afghanistan, India, News, Students

Prof. Rahul Mehrotra’s Work on View in Mumbai and Kabul

From Mumbai to Kabul, Rahul Mehrotra, Mittal Institute steering committee member and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization at Harvard GSD, showcased two sides of his work this summer. “Contextures” at TARQ in Mumbai explores the work of RMA Architects, while “The Architectures of Transition” in Kabul highlights 41 emerging architecture practices across South Asia and asks how architecture can respond to a region in transition.

Accountability Before Measurement: My Year at Harvard

Sep 14, 2026 | Community, News, Students

Accountability Before Measurement: My Year at Harvard

During his 2025-26 year as a Mittal Family Climate Postdoctoral Fellow, Sachin Kumar explored how artificial intelligence can strengthen climate action and accountability, with a particular focus on the needs and perspectives of the Global South. In this reflection, he considers how conversations with Harvard faculty, researchers, and practitioners reshaped his approach to the intersection of AI, climate, policy, and governance. From the classroom to seminars and conversations across the University, his time at Harvard expanded both the questions he is asking and the scope of his research. Here, he reflects on what he arrived with, what changed, and the ideas he will carry forward.

Faculty Funding for Climate Research on South Asia

Sep 9, 2026 | Announcements, Climate, Faculty, News

Faculty Funding for Climate Research on South Asia

The Mittal Institute is excited to announce a funding opportunity for faculty research on climate change in South Asia in the academic year 2026-2027. Harvard faculty members from any Harvard School are invited to propose impactful climate research projects or interdisciplinary collaboration through workshops that address the critical challenges of climate change in the region.

The Lost River: Water as Memory in Bangalore

Sep 3, 2026 | Climate, India, News

The Lost River: Water as Memory in Bangalore

Dr. Tulasi Srinivas, Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies at Emerson College and a Centenary Guggenheim Fellow, was a panelist at the Mittal Institute’s Annual Symposium, Living with Rivers, where she explored the relationship between rivers, design, and urban development. Drawing on her childhood in Bangalore, Srinivas reflects on how a waterway she knew only as a polluted drain was, in fact, a sacred river with deep historical and cultural significance. In the essay below, she traces her journey to uncover the lost Vrishabhavathi River—and reflects on how Bangalore’s transformation has turned a source of life and memory into a conduit for pollution.

Professor E. Annamalai on Metaphor, Meaning, and Classical Tamil

Sep 3, 2026 | Faculty, News

Professor E. Annamalai on Metaphor, Meaning, and Classical Tamil

Professor E. Annamalai, who will present this year’s Sangam Tamil Lecture Series, is a distinguished scholar of Tamil and Dravidian linguistics whose career has spanned more than six decades. We spoke with Dr. Annamalai ahead of his September 24 Sangnam Tamil lecture, “Classical Tamil Theories of Likeness to Convey Meaning,” in which he will talk about metaphor and metonymy as presented in our earliest grammar of the Tamil language, the Tolkappiyam.

Dr. Thiyagaraj Gurunathan, Bajaj Fellow, on Exploring Caste, Contagion, and Medicine in India

Sep 3, 2026 | Fellows, India, News, Students

Dr. Thiyagaraj Gurunathan, Bajaj Fellow, on Exploring Caste, Contagion, and Medicine in India

Dr. Thiyagaraj Gurunathan is the Jamnalal Kaniram Bajaj Fellow for Fall 2026, working with Prof. David Jones, A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine and Chair of the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. An early-career researcher at the intersection of health humanities and cultural studies, his work examines the cultural meanings of contagion in South Asia, particularly in India, with a focus on caste, disease, and outbreak narratives. During his fellowship at Harvard, he is drawing on his background in literature and cultural studies to advance his research toward the history of medicine. We spoke with Dr. Gurunathan about his research and his hopes for his fellowship. 

Presenting the Mittal Institute Fellows + Graduate Student Associates

Sep 2, 2026 | Graduate Student Associates, News, Students

Presenting the Mittal Institute Fellows + Graduate Student Associates

The Mittal Institute’s Cambridge Office fosters South Asian scholarship by hosting Fellows, Visiting Artist Fellows, and Graduate Student Associates. Fellows are scholars and practitioners who come to Harvard to utilize the university’s resources to contribute to self-driven, independent research. Graduate Student Associates (GSAs) are graduate and Ph.D. students from across the different schools at Harvard who conduct research focused on South Asia. This Academic Year 2026-27, we welcome 4 new Fellows and 22 new and returning GSAs.