CSAS Newsletter 

Aloha,
We know the week before spring break is especially busy but we have some exciting events coming up next week and we hope you will join us. Next week is the Rama Watumull Collaborative Lecture Series Visiting Scholar Kalindi Vora (details below), and the Keya Ganguly talk co-hosted by the Center for Biographical Research and the Department of English (details below). 

We are also excited to share the talk titles and abstracts for our keynote speakers at the upcoming 2025 CSAS Spring Symposium! One of our guests – Former senator Mona Das – will be joining us on campus!

We hope to see you next week!

From CSAS, 
Nandini Chandra, Director
Mari Martinez, Coordinator

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UPCOMING SPRING 2025 CSAS EVENTS

• March 10-11: Rama Watumull Collaborative Lecture Series Visiting Scholar Kalindi Vora, in collaboration with the Department of Geography, will give a talk entitled “Data Work as Care Work” and a seminar on methods entitled “Interdisciplinary and Transnational Research.”
• March 13: Keya Ganguly talk co-hosted by the Center for Biographical Research and the Department of English.
• April 2-4: CSAS Annual Spring Symposium, “Prominence and Power: Party Politics and Transnational South Asia” (Online)
• April 11: Visiting Scholar Abdul Haque Chang will give a lecture entitled “Divergence and Alterity: Shrines, sacrality, and performing arts in South and Southeast Asia.” In collaboration with the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. 
• May 30-June 1 Asia Pacific Dance Festival & Conference: Stay tuned for more about the Kathak troupe to be featured at this fantastic festival, along with South Asia-related presentations at the Conference.

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THIS WEEK !! – Rama Watumull Collaborative Lecture Series – Dr. Kalindi Vora – Yale University
Co-sponsored by The Department of Geography and Environment
and the Center for South Asian Studies 

ABOUT– Kalindi Vora is Professor and Chair of Ethnicity Race and Migration, and Professor of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and of American Studies with an affiliate appointment in History of Science and Medicine at Yale University. 

For more information visit: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/csas/2025/01/31/rama-watumull-collaborative-lecture-series-march-10-11/

THIS WEEK !! – Brown Bag Biography with Keya Ganguly
“Religion and Revolution: Aurobindo Ghose and Indian Independence”

Co-sponsored by Co-hosted by the Center for Biographical Research, the Department of English, and the Center for South Asian Studies

ABOUT: Keya Ganguly is Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota.
For more information visit:  https://manoa.hawaii.edu/csas/2025/02/27/keya-ganguly-talk-march-13/

Spring Symposium Keynote Speaker Talks!

For more information visit: 
https://csas2025springsymposium.wordpress.com/2025/03/07/keynote-speaker-talks/

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Accepting Applications for Spring 2025
Rama Watumull Collaborative Lecture Series (UH Faculty ONLY)

If you are a UH Mānoa faculty member and have someone you would like to invite please see details below on how to apply we are now accepting applications for spring 2025! 
For more information please vitis our website: https://tinyurl.com/4e39v6ve

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CSAS Student and Faculty News

CSAS Students, Student Alumni, Faculty and Affiliate Faculty – We want to know what you’re doing!

We want to know what you are or have been doing. To update us so we can feature you in our newsletter email csas@hawaiil.edu with your information!

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AIBS Fellowship Applications for Bangladeshi Citizens are Now Open!

AIBS Bangladesh Citizen Fellowship
AIBS is now accepting applications for both Bangladesh Graduate Student Fellowships and Professional Development Fellowships for 2025. For more information about the eligibility and application requirements, please visit the AIBS website here.
Deadline: March 7, 2025

APF Emerging Leaders 2025 Program: A NEW Program Accepting Applications

Are you a Pakistani American college student or young professional (ages 18-21) looking to develop leadership skills, build your professional network, and create meaningful impact?

The APF Emerging Leaders Program is now accepting applications for the 2025 cohort! This six-month mentorship and professional development program is designed to help driven young leaders gain career clarity, enhance their resumes and LinkedIn profiles, build essential skills, and develop impactful projects aligned with APF’s mission. This is a part-time virtual fellowship program with no fees or stipend.

Program Duration: March – September 2025
Format: Virtual (biweekly 1-hour sessions + mentorship + project)
For more information: https://www.americanpakistan.org/apf-emerging-leaders-application
Application Deadline: March 7, 2025

The Bridge to Asia Fellowship –  Henry Luce Foundation

The NBR Bridge to Asia Fellowship provides exceptional undergraduate and community college students with immersive professional experience in Asia policy and international affairs. Fellows gain hands-on research training, mentorship from leading experts, and opportunities to publish their work while building lasting professional networks.

Through paid summer fellowships in Seattle and Washington, D.C., participants join NBR’s research teams to deepen their understanding of critical policy challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

For more information and to apply: https://www.nbr.org/bridge-to-asia-fellowship/
DEADLINE: March 9, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

2025 Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad (FRA) fellowships program

The FRA program funds fellowships through institutions of higher education (IHEs) to faculty members to conduct research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies to improve their skill in languages and their knowledge of the culture of the people of these countries. Fellows conduct research abroad for three to 12 months. Funds support travel expenses to and from the fellow’s residence and the country or countries of research, a maintenance stipend related to the fellow’s academic year salary, and an allowance for research-related expenses, such as books and photocopying, tuition, affiliation fees, local travel, and other incidental expenses. Proposals focusing solely on Western Europe are not eligible.

For more information:https://tinyurl.com/mrnf69pf
Deadline: March 10, 2025

AIPS Urdu Course

AIPS will be hosting the Introduction to Urdu Language and Culture online course again this spring! Enrollment is open to all interested in exploring Urdu language and culture, and faculty members at 2-year colleges and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are eligible to receive full funding to participate in the course thanks to support from AIPS’s Department of Education’s Title VI Overseas Research Centers funding. The 10-week course will run from March 13 to May 22, 2025.

The course registration fee is $259, due upon enrollment. Faculty members at two-year colleges and Minority-Serving Institutions are eligible to have enrollment fees covered by AIPS. Please email AIPS for a code that will waive your dues at registration. Spots in the course are limited, so sign up today!

For more information:http://www.pakistanstudies-aips.org/Urdu
Enrollment Deadline: March 12, 2025

APF Pakistan Fellows 2025 Program: Accepting Applications

APF invites students and young professionals to apply for the APF Fellows 2025 Program! This prestigious fellowship provides opportunities to engage in social and economic development initiatives in Pakistan through virtual and in-person placements with leading organizations. Fellows will gain invaluable cross-cultural experience, professional development, and mentorship while contributing to meaningful projects that drive change.

Program Duration: Late May – August 2025 (varies slightly depending on partner)
Format: Virtual and in-person opportunities available.
For more information:https://www.americanpakistan.org/apf-pakistan-fellows
Application Deadline: March 14, 2025

South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI)

Undergraduate, graduate, and adult learners are all welcome to apply! Because the scheduling of classes is contingent upon sufficient enrollment, we encourage all interested individuals to apply and submit all relevant materials as soon as possible, even if waiting to hear back on any funding application decisions. SASLI classes meet online Monday-Friday, 9-11am and 12-2pm (US Central Time) with a one hour break. Upon completion of the program, students receive 8 UW-Madison credits and two transcript letter grades for each semester. 

For more information: https://sasli.wisc.edu/overview-course/
Priority Deadline: March 15, 2025

Call For Papers: Asian Drama and Performance Session –
Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association 78th Annual Convention

In an era marked by global interconnectivity, rapid cultural change, and social transformation, Asian drama and performance emerge as vital sites of aesthetic negotiation and political intervention. Through embodied practices, transmedial production, and creative expressions, drama and performance have shaped how Asian and Asian diasporic communities remember, resist, and reimagine their place in the world.

Please direct any inquiries to session organizers: Yucong Hao (yucong.hao@vanderbilt.edu), Kevin Gao (gao.y@wustl.edu), and Zhuohao Li (zhuohao5@ualberta.ca)

Please submit an abstract of approximately 250 words along with a short (2-3 sentences) biography in English, formatted as a Word document. All presentations will be conducted in person and in English.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/tfnct6nt
Deadline for submissions: March 15, 2025

2025 Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) in Action Summer Institute

Project-based language learning (PBLL) engages language learners and teachers in real-world challenges, problems, or questions. In this intensive institute, you will learn how to design and orchestrate rich language learning experiences and how to develop a plan to research their effectiveness or your own practice. Participants who complete their action research report after the institute qualify to receive a stipend.

Prerequisite: Applicants must earn a digital badge from the NFLRC Envisioning Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) MOOC to submit an application.
For more information, visit our summer institute webpage.
Application deadline: March 16, 2025

Sardar Patel Award

The UCLA Center for India and South Asia announces the Sardar Patel Award for the best dissertation submitted at any American university on the subject of modern India in 2024. The amount of the award is $10,000 (Ten Thousand Dollars). Established in 1999, the Sardar Patel award is annually conferred by the Center for India and South Asia at UCLA. An endowment was created by funds donated by the Friends of the Sardar Patel Association provided to the UCLA Foundation. The award was created to honor the best doctoral dissertation on any aspect of modern India – social sciences, humanities, education, and fine arts – in any U.S. University or academic institution awarding the Ph.D. The award continues to this day, honoring the legacy of Sardar Patel.

For more information: https://www.international.ucla.edu/cisa/patel
Deadline: April 1, 2025

The Asia Pacific Dance Festival Intensive

The Asia Pacific Dance Festival Intensive is a unique two-week experience that gives participants an opportunity to expand their awareness and understanding by learning about specific cultures in Hawaiʻi, Asia, and Pacific through an embodied approach directly from renowned artists and cultural practitioners.
Students will experience hula and Hawaiian culture as a way of life through place-based learning, as Na Mokupuni o Hawaiʻi Nei (the Hawaiian Islands) is the home of the Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiians). The 2025 APDF Intensive will also feature teachers from Fiji and India. Since the Hawaiian Islands host Fijian and Indian diasporas, participants will have the opportunity to engage with local Fijian and Indian communities through field trips and community events.

For more information: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/outreach/asiapacificdance/intensive2025/
Where: Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
When: May 19 to June 1, 2025
Registration Deadline: April 30, 2025, limited space available

AIPS Conference/Workshop Grants

AIPS Conference/Workshop Grants fund the organization of Pakistan-related conferences and workshops in the US as well as a conference or workshop in Pakistan.

• Apply for a Conference/Workshop Grant in Pakistan
• Apply for a Pakistan-related Conference/Workshop Grant in the US

Applications are now being accepted for the next quarterly deadline on May 1, 2025.

Education About Asia (EAA)
The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) peer-reviewed teaching journal — is being relaunched as a biannual, open-access online journal, and is now accepting proposals. 

EAA is an invaluable resource for teachers, students, and anyone with an interest in Asia. Articles and reviews cover a wide range of topics and time periods—from ancient to modern history, language, literature, geography, religion, youth and popular culture. Articles in EAA are intended to provide educators and academics in the humanities and social sciences with basic understanding of Asia-related content. Qualified referees evaluate all manuscripts submitted for consideration.

For more information: https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/call-for-manuscripts/
Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.
Deadline for Spring is May 1, 2025.

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COMMUNITY EVENTS

Brown Bag Spring 2025 Schedule 
including CSAS affiliate faculty events!

• March 13: “Religion and Revolution: Aurobindo Ghose and Indian Independence- Keya Ganguly, Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota | Time: 12:00-1:15PM HST 
• March 13: “White Magic & Other Wonders: A Reading & Book Talk” – Elissa Washuta, Professor | Time: 3:00-4:30PM HST
• March 27: “Life Narrative at the Terminus: Glacier Memoirs and Planetary Relationality” – John Zuern, Department of English and Co-editor for the Center for Biographical Research, University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa 
• April 3: “Retrospective on Mark Takai’s Legacy” – Jenny Duhaylonsod Delos Santos, Author and Former Journalist 
• April 10: “All of Us or None: Movement-Building Migrant Stories to Confront Settler Carcerality” – Monisha Das Gupta, Professor in the Departments of Ethnic Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa 
• April 17: “Letters: Living Archives of Everyday Politics” – Dr. Pallavi Gupta, Faculty, Department of Geography, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 
• April 24: “The Mahele of Our Bodies: Nā Moʻolelo Māhū/LGBTQ Kupuna” – Nohelani Teves, Associate Professor & Chair, Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

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The University of Chicago –  Instructional Professor (open rank) in Tamil

The Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago invites applications for a position as an Instructional Professor (open rank) in Tamil to help grow its existing offerings in South Asian languages. 
For more information: https://apply.interfolio.com/164197
Deadline: March 28, 2025

University of Pittsburgh, Asian Studies Center
Assistant Director for Academic Affairs

The Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh is a hub for interdisciplinary research, education, and community engagement focused on Asia. With over 100 affiliated faculty, the Center supports a variety of academic programs and resources, including the East Asian Library, the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, and funding opportunities for students and faculty. The Center serves students, faculty, K-12 educators, and the broader western Pennsylvania community. It is a U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center (NRC).
For more information: https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68476
Deadline: April 16, 2025

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga – Lecturer, Asian History

The Department of History at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, College of Arts and Sciences, invites applications for a non-tenure-track position at the rank of Lecturer with the anticipated start date of August 1, 2025. We are searching for a world historian with a focus on East, Central, or South Asian history—chronology and specialization are open. Review of applications will begin February 17, 2025.
For more information: https://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=68522
Deadline: May 1, 2025

Nevada State University – Lecturer of History

The School of Liberal Arts, Sciences, & Business at Nevada State University invites applications for a 9-month Lecturer of History to begin in August 2025. The candidate should have expertise in an area of departmental need such as Asian, European, and/or African history and/or the history of underrepresented groups in the United States, and should be able to teach general education courses in U.S. history.
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/2u2zattv
Deadline: May 5, 2025

Binghamton University – Full-Time Lecturer in Asian American Studies

The Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at Binghamton University seeks a full-time lecturer in Asian American and/or Asian Diasporic cultural studies. 
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/458n67m4
Deadline: May 7, 2025

University of California Santa Cruz – Asian History Lecturer Pool

The Department of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) invites applications for an ongoing pool of lecturers with expertise in the fields of history of East Asia, history of Southeast Asia, and history of South Asia. 
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/58m9apm2
Deadline: June 14, 2025

Azim Premji University, Bhopal – 3 Full-Time Faculty Positions in History

We invite applications for full-time faculty positions in early India and modern South Asia. We are currently looking for candidates who can teach a broad range of core and elective courses in their period of specialization, including courses such as Ancient World, Early India, Early Medieval South Asia, Colonial India, and more. We encourage applicants with a diverse teaching and research portfolio. 
For more information: https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/jobs/faculty-positions-in-history-4
Deadline: August 9, 2025

MIT – Program Manager, India/South Asia

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is seeking a program manager for the Center for International Studies-MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), to be responsible for the management and overall development of the India program
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/2s4z5zed

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To submit content for future CSAS newsletters, 

please send information in the following format to csas@hawaii.edu in the body of an email. 

News/Opportunity/Event Title (and subtitle if applicable)
Organizing Entity
Relevant Date + Time + Location
Short Description, links for further information
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For all inquiries, please send an email to: csas@hawaii.edu