Last summer, Nosher Ali Khan (Harvard College ’23) traveled to Hunza, a valley within the mountains of Karakoram in Pakistan — a place where poetry and music have built the identity of its people. There, he met with folk music artists and listened to their music, developing a project to film their music and share it with the world.
Last year, the Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program received 6,093 total applications from 115 countries spanning the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, South Asia, and US students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Selected students joined the Crossroads Virtual Program via Zoom to attend an interdisciplinary seminar series uniquely designed for them, curated to encourage their individual professional and academic aspirations. The Crossroads Virtual Program featured 13 fascinating and insightful lessons given by senior Harvard faculty across a range of disciplines.
The Seed for Change (SFC) competition aims to develop a vibrant ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India and Pakistan through an annual competition run by the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University. Grant prizes will be awarded to interdisciplinary student projects that positively impact societal, economic, and environmental issues in India and Pakistan. Applications for the 2021 cycle must be submitted by February 26, 2021.
Each semester, the Mittal Institute offers grants to Harvard students to further their research, language study, or internship opportunities. This semester, 14 students were awarded grants to carry out projects during the 2021 Wintersession, ranging from research on a timeline of South Asia history from the dawn of Indus valley civilization until 1947 CE, to language studies on Sinhala, Bangla, Kashmiri, and more.
Are you a Harvard student looking to fund your language study, internship, or research on South Asia next summer? Applications for our graduate and undergraduate grants are open for Summer 2021! Be sure to apply by Friday, February 12, 2021 at 11:59 PM.
By Kalpana Mohanty, Doctorate of Philosophy ‘25. In a household with a Tamilian mother and a Bengali father, the common language at home was English. As a result, I had an asymmetric grasp of Hindi where I was able to understand the language almost fluently, but unable to speak it back with the same fluency. My three months of intermediate Hindi lessons at Zabaan, suggested by Professor Maya Jasanoff, was incredibly valuable in helping me rectify this.
Every year, the Mittal Institute supports Graduate Student Associates (GSAs) from across the different schools at Harvard who are enrolled in a PhD program and whose research is focused on South Asia. We are now accepting applications for our next round of GSAs at the Mittal Institute.
By Victoria Andrews, Summer 2020 Student Grant Recipient. I began my Sanskrit language training with the South Asian Summer Language Intensive (SASLI) during the summer of 2020. The unusual circumstances of the 2020 pandemic prompted me and the summer program to modify our plans for remote learning. In any other year, for my studies, I would have traveled to and lived in Madison, Wisconsin for the duration of the summer Sanskrit intensive. However, this year, I was able to video into my classes from Cambridge. Embarking on this linguistic endeavor has already proved fruitful for my studies this fall.
Each year, the Mittal Institute’s Seed for Change (SFC) competition for Harvard students aims to develop a vibrant ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India and Pakistan. Grant prizes are awarded to interdisciplinary student projects that positively impact societal, economic, and environmental issues in India and Pakistan. As a result of COVID-19, we have all had to make adjustments to our daily lives, and Harvard students are continuing to learn in new and creative ways. In light of this, the Mittal Institute recently offered SFC Exploratory Grants to students who are currently working on ideas or a project that addresses intractable problems in India and Pakistan.
By Divya Saraf. This past summer, with COVID-19 restrictions in place, I utilized the research grant awarded to me by the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute to investigate the postcolonial effects of the so-called “Company Painting” style, which was developed in the Indian subcontinent over the 18th and 19th centuries under the “patronage” of the British East India Company. The paintings were a result of British attempts to survey, record, and display Indian culture for British citizens, and the paintings have been instrumental in shaping public perceptions of India abroad.
By Nosher Ali Khan. Hunza is a valley located amongst the mighty mountains of the Karakoram in Pakistan. Amidst its rich history, ancient shamanistic traditions, and recent Islamic influence, poetry and music have always been an essential part of Hunzukutz’s (people of Hunza) identity. As a Hunzukutz myself, I was always aware and fascinated by the enormous influence our music has in our daily life and how it shapes our identity. To document the local music and enhance my understanding of the subject, I worked with the Mittal Institute to create a web-series of local folk music.
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.