SAI names 2007 grant, internship recipients

May 17, 2007

Adam Parker ’08 and Travis Wood ’07 film fishermen in tsunami-hit Tamilnadu, India, on a South Asia Initiative grant.
Photo courtesy of the South Asia Initiative

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The South Asia Initiative (SAI) recently announced its study grants for Harvard graduate and undergraduate students. Sixteen students have also received SAI internships.

The graduate student grant recipients, including their research projects, are as follows:

Tata Study Grants

Sana Aiyar, South Asian diaspora in colonial Kenya and postcolonial Britain
Tariq Ali, the professionalization of economics in Indian universities
Michael Allen, intensive summer Sanskrit study in Pune
Mary Anderson, religious representation in Ajanta and Ellora caves
Rita Banerjee, post-WWII poetry and ideas of aesthetics
Garga Chatterjee, documentation and analysis of post-1975 student political activism
Alison Comfort, impact of community-based health insurance schemes
Antara Datta, war, violence, and displacement during the 1971 Bangladesh war
Ujala Dhaka, spaces of multireligious engagement in the city of Mumbai
Victoria Fan, sustainability evaluation of SEWA Health Cooperative’s primary income-generating activities
Aliya Iqbal-Naqvi, an intellectual biography of Abu’l Fazl Mari Jyvasjarvi, Buddhist and Jain nuns in premodern India
Mana Kia, negotiations of affiliation and difference within Persianate culture Kris Manjapra, Indian modernity, 1920-1960
Arthur McKeown, the life of the 15th century abbot of Bodhgaya, Sariputra
Vipin Narang, comparative study of the sources and consequences of “middle power” nuclear doctrines, with India and Pakistan as critical case studies
Paul Niehaus, developing new financial products to improve access for the rural poor and testing economic theory
Ketaki Pant, an archival and ethnographic study of the East Africa diaspora in western India
Sandhya Polu, public health policy formation in British India from 1892 to 1939, emphasizing the interplay between the international public health arena and the decision-making process in India
Semil Shah, a comparative analysis in the advancement of two economic enterprises — the new special economic zones in India and the township and village enterprises in China
Nico Slate, connections between African-American and South Asian freedom struggles
Fabrice Smieliauskus, field experiment in rural India on selecting and motivating volunteers to improve community nutrition
Gitanjali Surendran, Nangiar Koothu, a women’s dance/drama form in Kerala, India

SAI-Asia Center Study Grant

Stephanie Spray, an ethnographic research and video project with a cast of itinerant musicians in Nepal

The undergraduate student grant recipients, including their research projects, are as follows:

Tata Study Grants

Nitesh Banta ’08, investigation of the barriers faced when integrating a noncorporeal punishment approach to classroom management in Bhagad
Kristijonas Bartkus ’08 senior honors thesis research into rural well finance and strategies to overcome suboptimal investment outcomes
Simi Bhat ’08, thesis on environmental identity in internally displaced persons of Kashmiri origin
Caroline Gogolak ’08, Indian textile industry
Neha Gupta ’09, human rights law internship; public interest casework regarding gender, caste, and religious minorities, people living with HIV/AIDS
Aneesh Kulkarni ’09, study business plan and expansion proposals with nongovernmental organization (NGO) providing emergency medical services infrastructure in suburban India
Aria Laskin ’08, the implications of Indian nationalist publications produced by British and Indian feminists
Daniel Littlejohn-Carillo ’08, a comparative study of revolutionary movements’ adaptation to government in Nepal and Cuba
Irina Mladanova ’08, socioeconomic impacts of the IT industry in Bangalore Joshua Neff ’08, study of the impact of tourism on local development in Arunachal Pradesh, India
Francisco Perese ’09, franchising microfinance banks in India: a study of sustainability and implementation
Alexandra Perkins ’10, study at a language school for two weeks; volunteer with an NGO to promote environmental sustainability and women’s rights Neesha Rao ’08, American Christian missionaries in India

SAI Study Grants

Nasser Hussain ’08, Islamic religious revival among young British Muslims, exploring the generation gap and political participation
Aditi Mallick ’06, an exploration of primary health-care policy and delivery in Nepal
Astha Thapa ’08, summer thesis research in Nepal on its political history and prospects of democratic consolidation in the future
Rajiv Venkataramanan ’08, the effects of ethnic chauvinism and ethnic nationalism on orphaned children in Sri Lankan conflict

The following students have received internships through SAI.

Victor and Tara Menezes Service in India interns:

Mary Allison ’09, BASIX microfinance, Hyderabad
Jessamin Birdsall ’10, Kachhwa Hospital, Uttar Pradesh
Michael Codini ’08, South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center, New Delhi
Pamela Freed ’09, Ujjivan, Bangalore
Paayal Gupta ’08, Indicorps preventive health, Rajasthan
Yingying Huang ’09, Indicorps India service initiative, Gujarat
Anjuli Kannan ’09, Indicorps relevant rural technology, Rajasthan
Anna Kendrick ’09, Indicorps India service initiative, Gujarat
Katherine Prescott ’09, BASIX microfinance, Hyderabad
Dillshoda Yergasheva ’09, Mann Deshi microfinance, Maharashtra

SAI Film Internship recipients:

Lillian Erlinger ’10, Naseem Makiya ’08, and Andrew Wesman ’10

SAA.-SAI Ghungroo Internship recipient:

Neel Butala ’09, SEWA, Ahmedabad

Study in India Grants recipients:

Catherine Bevilacqua ’09 and Nan Ransohoff ’09