Last week, Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University in India — visited the Mittal Institute for an informal lunch with faculty and doctoral students. At the lunch, Dr. Mehta discussed the creation of Ashoka University, its commitment to the liberal arts, and the plans for its future.
On December 7–8, 2018, the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, and the Harvard Art Museums organized “TRACE: Artisanal Intelligence, Material Agency, and Ritual Technology in South Asian Art” — a symposium that brought together scholars of South Asian art, history, and culture.
If a university wants to be taken seriously today, it’ll need a global outlook. That’s the key message Professor Mark C. Elliott, Vice Provost for International Affairs at Harvard University, conveyed during a talk in New Delhi on Monday, February 11, as part of the India Seminar Series.
Each year, the Jaipur Literature Festival brings together dozens of world-class writers, humanitarians, businesspeople, entertainers, and politicians for a five-day program in global literacy in Jaipur, India. This year, five faculty members from across Harvard University were invited to speak at the event.
“Welcome to the start of another busy, transformative year at the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University. The Mittal family’s generosity will enable us not only to continue our quest to research and understand the region and its relationship with the world, but will also allow our faculty, students and affiliates to push even further to produce new and useful knowledge.”
Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School, and Director of The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University, was in Bengaluru for a fireside chat about his new book.
Professor Ali Asani’s course explores traditions of Islamic spirituality in South Asia through the lens of three genres: the qawwali, concerts of mystical poetry; sufiana kalam, Sufi romantic epics and folk poems; and the ginans, hymns of esoteric wisdom recited by the Satpanthi Ismailis.
In July 2018, The Government of India’s policy think tank NITI Aayog invited feedback on their blueprint for a “National Health Stack” – the tech spine required to support India’s recently announced National Health Protection Scheme extending coverage to 500 million people. In response, an interdisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners from across Harvard and India have published a paper “Reimagining Health Data Exchange: An API-enabled Roadmap for India,” in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, building on 18 months of deliberations following an initial workshop in September 2016, sponsored by a grant from the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies.
Curious about how artists make traditional Indian Miniature paintings? Check out our video of the demonstration and workshop led by artist and art historian Murad Mumtaz Khan, organized as part of Professor Jinah Kim’s Painting in India Course (HAA184x Painting of India) at the Harvard Art Museums Materials Lab.
If you’re the first in your family to attend college and you’re based in South Asia, the Middle East or Africa, apply now for our Second Annual Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program. It’s a collaboration with an important alumni organization, the Harvard Business School Club of the Gulf Cooperation Council, to create a fantastic, fully-funded opportunity for talented students.
A fascinating conversation from our 2018 Symposium between Professor Ashok Gadgil (UC Berkeley), Professor Tarun Khanna (The Mittal Institute; Harvard Business School) and Professor Asim Khwaja (Harvard Kennedy School) – they talk about how difficult it is to solve life-or-death problems, even with great resources, and the kinds of things you have to do in order to get things done. The podcast is published in two parts.