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Building Brotherhood: Inside Harvard’s South Asian Men’s Collective

Oct 7, 2026 | News, Students

Building Brotherhood: Inside Harvard’s South Asian Men’s Collective

Now in its 11th year, the South Asian Men’s Collective (SAMC) brings Harvard College students together through weekly dinners, open conversations, mentorship, and its annual summit in New York. At the heart of the organization is a close-knit community where students can connect with others who share similar experiences and talk openly about identity, friendship, and life at Harvard. We spoke with three SAMC student leaders about the organization, what brotherhood means to them, and what they’re looking forward to in the year ahead.

Mukulika Banerjee: Lessons in Democracy from an Indian Village

Sep 29, 2026 | India, News

Mukulika Banerjee: Lessons in Democracy from an Indian Village

What can life in an Indian village teach us about democracy? In the upcoming Oct 14 talk, “Why Democracy Needs Cultivation: Lessons from an Indian Village”, Professor Mukulika Banerjee of the London School of Economics and Political Science draws on more than 20 years of ethnographic research to explore the connections between democracy, citizenship, farming, and everyday village life. Professor Banerjee’s research focuses on democracy, elections, citizenship, and political life in South Asia. She is the author of Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India and Why India Votes?, and her work offers a close look at how democratic practices take shape in the everyday lives of citizens. We spoke with her about her research ahead of the talk, which is co-sponsored by the Mittal Institute and the Asia Center at Harvard University.

Reclaiming Indigenous Histories Through Art: Artree Nepal at the Mittal Institute

Sep 29, 2026 | Arts Program, Nepal, News

Reclaiming Indigenous Histories Through Art: Artree Nepal at the Mittal Institute

This week, we welcomed Artree Nepal, an Indigenous artists’ collective, to the Mittal Institute for a conversation about art, identity, and Indigenous cultures in Nepal. The collective brings together five artists from different Indigenous communities: Lavkant Chaudhary (Tharu), Mekh Limbu (Limbu), Subas Tamang (Tamang), Hit Man Gurung (Gurung), and Sheelasha Rajbhandari (Newa). The artists spoke about what motivates their work and their efforts to explore and reclaim Indigenous histories, knowledge, and cultural practices through contemporary art. They also shared their work on Tikā Chedna Angana, or “A Garden of Body Markings,” which explores traditional body-marking practices, including tikā, leela, and godana, and their significance for Indigenous communities, particularly women. The conversation offered a fascinating glimpse into Nepal’s rich cultural diversity and the ways artists are using creative practice to keep cultural knowledge and traditions alive while reimagining them for new generations. 

Union Health Secretary of India at Harvard

Sep 24, 2026 | India, News

Union Health Secretary of India at Harvard

The Mittal Institute co-hosted a conversation with Punya Salila Srivastava, IAS, Union Health Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, on major developments in public health in India. Secretary Srivastava provided an overview of India’s healthcare landscape and recent progress, including reductions in maternal mortality and progress toward Universal Health Coverage. Drawing on examples from across India’s health system, she highlighted efforts to leverage technology to improve health outcomes, strengthen pandemic preparedness, expand access to affordable care, and engage communities in advancing health programs.

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.