What were BII Faculty doing over break?

January 27, 2016

Our faculty was busy over the Winter break!  More updates to come. . .  

Lina Fruzzetti, Professor of Anthropology, has recently arrived at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where she will be a JNIAS, or Jawaharlal Nehru Institute for Advanced Studies Fellow. On February 15 of this year, she will deliver a seminar entitled "Constructing Gender in West Bengal: Expectations and Outcome."

Vazira Zamindar, Associate Professor of History and Co-Founder of South Asian Studies, participated in the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival - The Great Partition - in Jaipur this January.

Leela Gandhi, John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English, addressed the Italian Parliament on nonviolence on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women last Fall. Read more about her keynote address. 

Bhrigupati Singh, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, has been on research sabbatical as a Visiting Faculty member at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (AIIMS). His book Poverty and the Quest for Life: Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India was the subject of a panel discussion sponsored by the American Institute of Indian Studies and Oxford University Press earlier this month.

Prerna Singh, Mahatma Gandhi Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies, delivered lectures last Fall at Harvard University and UChicago in regards to her new project that seeks to understand the differences in the Indian and Chinese states' abilities to attain public health goals. In January 2016, she participated in the Third Annual International Conference on Law, Governance, and Development at Azim Premji University. She is scheduled to speak at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and the India-China Institute at the New School, NYC in February.

Ashutosh Varshney, Director of the Brown-India Initiative and Sol Goldman Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, has been working in India over the Winter break. In December he delivered a lecture entitled "India's Democracy: Resilience and Inadequacies" at the 2nd L.C. Jain Memorial Lecture in Bangalore. This month he was a speaker on "Caste and Religion in the Era of Economic Growth" at the Observer Research Foundation (Delhi).

In January 2016, Prof. Varshney delivered a talk on "Where is Indian Politics Headed?" for the Asia Society India Centre, Mumbai, in association with J.P. Morgan. He also delivered a lecture, "India's Democracy: Electoral Vibrancy, Liberal Deficits," at Ashoka University, just outside of Delhi.