CSAS Newsletter 

Aloha Everyone,
As we approach this final week of classes we want to remind you of the many courses in South Asian Studies and by CSAS affiliate faculty offer for summer and fall semester. An extensive list of courses can be found below. If you did not have a chance to see the winner for the Best South Asia Paper Prize – You can find Information about Aisheedyuti Roy and her paper below.

The Asia Pacific Dance Festival and schedule and ticket information for Arzoo Dance Theater can be found below. Thank you to everyone who was able to see Kahānī at the HoMa over the weekend. We hope you have a wonderful week!

From CSAS, 
Nandini Chandra, Director
Mari Martinez, Coordinator

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May 30 – June 1 – Asia Pacific Dance Festival & Conference (APDF)

This year, the Center for South Asia Studies is co-sponsoring the Arzoo Dance Theatre, with artistic director Deepti Gupta. Arzoo Dance Theatre is a professional dance company, creating and presenting contemporary dance theatre works using a variety of dance forms from east and west, seeking a new choreographic voice that blends cultural aesthetics, ancient knowledge and contemporary artistic thought. The company brings to life a new vision of Indian Classical dance including Kathak, Chhau and contemporary movement. 

Arzoo has performed in diverse locations from lofts to parks to prestigious venues including the National Arts Centre & Centrepointe Theatre, Ottawa, Market Hall, Peterborough, L.R. Wilson Hall, Hamilton. Over the years the company has created, produced and performed diverse experimental dance pieces in collaboration with many artists and arts organizations. The company is now expanding its mandate to include activities that foster the development of professional Kathak dancers as well as more community-based interactions. 

Artistic director Deepti Gupta has won the City of Hamilton Arts Creator Award and Dora Mavor Moore Award for Costume Design. Over the years she has received many grants, awards and commissions to support her creative work including a Chalmers Award, NAC commissions and a Banff Centre for the Arts Residency. Deepti’s choreographic work is at the cutting edge of contemporary South Asian dance and she has collaborated with a diverse range of international musicians, designers, digital and new media artists.You can find out more about them on their website: https://arzoodancetheatre.com/

For more information about the Asia Pacific Dance Festival and Conference including ticket information, schedule and who is performing you can visit their website: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/outreach/asiapacificdance/2025-festival-events/

‘Ike Hana I and II

Purchase tickets for 7:30 P.M. | Saturday, May 31
Purchase tickets for 2 P.M. | Sunday, June 1
Kennedy Theatre, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Each night features a completely different program! See each of our resident groups on both days. Attend both concerts for the full experience!

Featuring our resident groups:

• Hālau Pua Ali ʻi ʻIlima (Honolulu, Hawaiʻi)
• Arzoo Dance Theatre (India/Canada)
• Rako Pasefika (Rotuma, Fiji)

Free talk story with resident artists:

• Saturday, May 31 at 6:45 P.M.
• Sunday, June 1 at 3:30 P.M.

CSAS Student and Faculty News

Thank You for Joining us for Kahānī

Professor Sai Bhatawadekar (IPLL, Theater & Dance, Philosophy) produced and directed an Indian dance concert at Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theater on April 26th, 2025. The show opened to a full house of enthusiastic and appreciative audience, and it featured a team of 40 cast members of talented dancers, singers, guest artists, and technicians from in and outside of University of Hawaii. The title of the concert was Kahānī, which in Hindi means story! Storytelling is an integral and emotionally vibrant aspect of South Asian dance. The concert included 14 unique, varied, and new pieces of dance and theater that told stories of everyday people and celestial beings, of devotion and worship, love and sensuality, longing and loneliness, boldness and irreverence. The concert featured Indian classical (Bharatanatyam), semi-classical (with Bharatanatyam and Kathak), regional folk (from Maharashtra), Bollywood, Contemporary, and Hip hop performances, set to various genres of Indian music and poetry. Enjoy the small slideshow with pictures from each piece. 

CONGRATULATIONS! Best South Asia Paper Winner –  Aisheedyuti Roy, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 

Best South Asia Paper Winner: Aisheedyuti Roy, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 
Paper Title: Forgetting Trauma: A Study of Generational Amnesia of the Children of East Bengali Refugees

About Aisheed: Before coming to UH Manoa as a Doctoral Candidate at the Department of History last Fall, I completed my Bachelors in History from Loreto College, University of Calcutta, graduating in 2019. After that, I went on to pursue a Masters in History from the University of Delhi, graduating in 2021. Currently, I am researching on the transnational history between India and Japan with reference to extraneous influences on the Indian Nationalist Movement.  

Abstract Summary: The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War was a landmark example of resistance in South Asia with the birth of a new nation, proud of its linguistic autonomy. However, the triumph of the ordinary people underscored a great tragedy. The tragedy was the genocide, ethnic cleansing, brutality, and sexual violence carried out against the minorities in Bangladesh, leading to their mass migration to neighboring India. This paper will not revisit the site of this tragedy and instead will attempt to engage in the discussion of the historical memory and the reconciliation with the shared trauma of grave injustice and suffering. In contemporary times, the second and third-generation descendants of the former refugees from Bangladesh have their livelihoods in West Bengal with the memories of the refugee crisis fading into oblivion, remaining as a story that their grandparents have mentioned in passing. This is the space where this paper will locate its study by launching an investigation into historical amnesia. However, historical amnesia will not be treated as a dangerous phenomenon risking the possibility of past mistakes being repeated. Instead, this will be a study of the resilience of the refugees against trauma, their willingness for assimilation, reconciliation with their past, and finally a celebration of their success, uplifting themselves from the status of landless individuals. As a result of this synthesis, l generational amnesia exists as opposed to generational trauma. At its core, this paper will aim to shed light on the reasons behind the historical amnesia as well as celebrate a community of former refugees who have not only harmonized with their collective past but also abandoned the idea of victimhood and have ushered in communal growth and development. 

Accepting Applications for FALL 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 FALL 2025! 
For more information please vitis our website: https://tinyurl.com/4e39v6ve

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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The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship (OVPRS) is pleased to announce that registration for the 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE Program) is now open. SURE provides supplementary infrastructure to undergraduate stu dents conducting research and creative work at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa during the summer, including the end-of-summer SURE Symposium. 

The nine-week SURE program runs from June 4 to August 1 and provides hybrid (in-person and via Zoom) professional development modules on topics such as how to…

• Manage projects and mentor-mentee relationships
• Conduct responsible and ethical research
• Explore and apply to graduate schools
• Prepare for oral and poster presentations
• And more!

SURE concludes with the multidisciplinary SURE Symposium on August 1 at the Hawai‘i Imin International Conference Center. The SURE Symposium call for abstracts is a separate process and will be announced in June.

SURE is free to all participants, and there are no attendance or assignment requirements (i.e., after registering, students will be able to attend as many or as few sessions as desired).

To learn more about SURE and find out how students can register, visit the SURE webpage, and write with any questions to urop@hawaii.edu.

CFP – The 122nd Annual PAMLA Conference

The Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), the west coast affiliate of the MLA, is a warm, welcoming, inclusive Humanities and Arts association dedicated to the creation, advancement, and diffusion of the aesthetic practices and knowledge of ancient & modern languages, literatures, cultures, and the arts. Approximately 800 to 1,000 faculty, students, writers, and interested independent scholars and members of the community attend our annual PAMLA conference, which offers scholars and writers the opportunity to share research and creative artistic works in a friendly, stimulating atmosphere.

• Paper Proposal Deadline: May 15
• Conference Registration with Early Bird Discount: January 30 – May 28

For more information: https://www.pamla.org/pamla2025/

The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) is dedicated to the scholarly study of the history of American foreign relations. As such, it promotes “the study, advancement and dissemination of a knowledge of American Foreign Relations ” through the sponsorship of research, annual meetings, and publications. SHAFR.org is an online platform for showcasing the activities of the society and a robust digital resource for its members.
At the low student rate for SHAFR Membership of only $20.00 per year, students receive regular member benefits (see poster) in addition to numerous special opportunities, events, and resources, including:

• Special Graduate Student Access to the Annual SHAFR Conference
  • The 2025 SHAFR Conference will be held from June 26028 at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View. Full details about the conference can be found at shafr.org/shafr2025
  • Graduate students may attend any of the special events scheduled for before and during the conference.
  • Deadline to register: May 24, 2025
• Upcoming SHAFR Fellowships & Grants for Graduate Students
  • SHAFR offers fellowships and grants to support graduate student research travel, dissertation writing, and language training. Awards range from $2,000 to $25,000. The next application deadline date is October 15th.
  • A full list of grants/fellowships is available at shafr.org/fellowships-grants

Call for Chapters: Asian Temporalities: Chronologies, Seasons, Tenses

Time and its perceptions shape our lives in profound ways. In this volume, we encourage contributors to engage with time from diverse perspectives. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, periodization and epochal divisions, generational shifts, and the politics of temporality. We also invite discussions on narrative time, conceptions of progress and regress, and the interplay between linear and cyclical understandings of time, as well as similar topics related to the main theme.​

​We invite contributions from various fields of the humanities and social sciences, including interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary investigations. The aim of this volume is to bring together chapters that explore the multifaceted concept of time as it relates to the cultures, societies, languages, and histories of Asia, including their diasporic expressions. The provisional title of the volume is an intentionally broad one to encourage a broad range of approaches and topics.​For more information: https://tinyurl.com/29zz4fn8
Deadline: May 31, 2025

Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs 2025 – Ohio State UniversityThe East Asian Studies Center is pleased to host the 74th Annual Meeting of the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA), October 10-12, 2025. 

Open to participants across the world, the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA) is an annual conference bringing together scholars of Asian studies from the US Midwest Region (North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin). 

For more information: https://easc.osu.edu/mcaaconference
Deadline: May 31, 2025

Call For Papers – 54th Annual Conference of SouthWest Conference on Asian Studies
Pasts and Futures: Rethinking Asian Studies in the New Global Landscape

In an era of rapid geopolitical shifts and technological advancements, SWCAS invites scholars to critically examine the changing contours of Asian Studies under the theme “Pasts and Futures: Rethinking Asian Studies in the New Global Landscape.” We invite reflection on the intersection of historical legacies, contemporary challenges and opportunities, and Asia’s role in shaping global futures. 

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/4jaewhnn
Submission Deadline: June 1, 2025

CFP: 4th International Conference on Indian Business & Economic History, Shanti Sadan, Ahmedabad, India

The 4th International Conference on Indian Business & Economic History will be hosted at Shanti Sadan, Ahmedabad, on Sep 4-6, 2025. Shanti Sadan is also the venue of the ‘Motaben Gallery’, a permanent exhibit on the life of Anasuyaben Sarabhai (1885-1972), founder of Ahmedabad’s Textile Labour Association (TLA), and a pioneer in both the labour and women’s movement of India. Keeping with the ethos of Shanti Sadan, this edition of the conference invites participants working on labour history, women’s history and Ahmedabad’s history from the lens of business and economic history, in addition to other themes.

As with the previous editions, it will be a forum to host research papers, provide a workshop for PhD students, and spark conversations on this subject. The conference will draw in leading scholars working in the field within and outside India.

For more information: https://conference.iima.ac.in/history/
Submission Deadline: June 10, 2025

ToIndia Summer School 2025 — The Persistence of Caste in Contemporary India
An intersectional exploration into discrimination, mobilisation and exploitation

How does caste-based marginalization persist in modern India? How do class, gender, and religious identity intersect with caste discrimination? The 2025 edition of our Summer School takes an interdisciplinary deep dive into these questions, examining the enduring stigma of untouchability, patterns of exclusion, and the evolving dynamics of caste in the political and religious landscape.

This year’s programme will critically explore caste as both a structure of oppression and a site of resistance. From labour rights to cultural production, from grassroots mobilization to Hindu revivalism, we will analyze how caste continues to shape contemporary India, while also highlighting movements challenging discrimination and asserting dignity.

Applications open to all students, preferably at MA or PhD level and with a background in South Asia related topics.For more information: https://www.toindia.it/#school
Deadline: June 15, 2025

Call for Papers: International Conference on Urdu Studies, Plidam, Inalco

Since its introduction at INALCO in 1828, the teaching of Urdu in France has been a major pillar of South Asian studies. However, despite this long tradition, no major scientific event has been dedicated to Urdu studies at INALCO. This international conference aims to fill this gap by bringing together researchers and teachers around the contemporary challenges of this field of study. One of the central issues concerns the teaching of Urdu to a non-native speaking audience in university institutions outside the Indian subcontinent. While some textbooks have been developed, primarily in the English-speaking world, pedagogical production remains insufficient in the face of growing needs. This situation is particularly critical in East Asia

(China, Japan) where teaching often relies on obsolete pedagogical materials. Moreover, recent orthographic reforms of Urdu raise important methodological questions regarding their integration into new teaching materials and their standardization in international education.

For more information: https://cieup.sciencesconf.org/?lang=en
Deadline: June 30, 2025

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Summer & Fall 2025 Courses

Looking for summer and fall semester classes in South Asian studies? Here are some courses being offered summer ’25 and fall ’25 in South Asian studies and by CSAS Affiliate Faculty!

Summer Courses:

• ASAN 466 – Transpacific Youth Pop Culture (Jade Lum)
• ASAN 491I – Topics in ASAS: South Asia – Women’s Rights in South Asia (Haider Hussain)
• BUS 315 – Global Management and Organizational Behavior (Dharm Bhavuk)
• GEO 102 – World Regional Geography (Pallavi Gupta)
• GEO 150 – Geography and Contemporary Society (Pallavi Gupta)
• HIST 241 – Civilizations of Asia (Abdul Khan)
• REL/WGSS 149 – Intro to the World’s Goddesses (A R Canden)
• REL 150 – Intro to the World’s Major Religions (Multiple Instructors)
• REL 211 – Understanding Ancient Religions (A R Candens)
• REL 149 – Intro to the World’s Goddesses (Amanda Canden)
• REL 209 – Understanding Islam (Clovis Karam)

Fall Courses: 

• ART 400C – Special Topics: Life of the Buddha (Paul Lavy)
• ART 791 – Seminar in South and Southeast Asian Art History (Paul Lavy)
• ASAN 150 – Intro Asia Research & Writing (TBD)
• ASAN 202 – Intro to Asian Studies: South & Southeast Asia (TBD)
• ASAN 303/DNCE 301/IP303 – Bollywood Dance, Music, & Film (Sai Bhatawadekar)
• ASAN 310 – Studying Asia Culturally (Anna Stirr)
• ASAN 654 – South Asia Now (Anna Stirr)
• ASAN 689 – International Relations in Asia (Shuxian Luo)
• GEO 102 – World Regional Geography (Pallavi Gupta)
• GEO 151 – Geography and Contemporary Society (Pallavi Gupta)
• HNDI 102, 202, 302 – Hindi and Urdu Language (Sai Bhatawadekar)
• HIST 301 – History of Early India (Jesse Knutson)
• HIST 401 – History of the Indian Ocean World (Ned Bertz)
• REL 149 – Intro to the World’s Goddesses (Amanda Canden)
• REL 150 – Intro to the World’s Major Religions (multiple sections &instructors)
• REL 207 – Understanding Buddhism (Michel Mohr)
• REL 475 – Seminar on Buddhism (Tibetan Buddhism) (K L Tsomo)
• SNSK 102 – Intro to Sanskrit (Jesse Knutson)
• SNSK 685 – Advanced Readings in Sanskrit (Jesse Knutson)
• SOC 218 – Intro to Social Problems (Nandita Sharma)
• SOC 411 – Analysis in Social Stratification (Nandita Sharma)
• PLAN 600 – Public Policy and Planning Theory (Ashok Das)
• PLAN 604 – Qualitative Methods Planning (Priyam Das)
• PLAN 659 – Research Design Seminar (Priyam Das)
• WGSS/SOC 418 – Gender and Work (Monisha Das Gupta)
• WGSS 439 – Feminist Theory (Monisha Das Gupta)

Other courses that may be of interest to students in South Asian studies:

LLEA 354 – Russia: Faces of Asia (Anastasia Kostetskaya)
Description: The multifaceted and complex image of Asia in Russian literature and visual culture through the last 200 years has evolved, defined by political events: the Russian conquest of the Caucasus and Central Asia, their inclusion as part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and then the creation of independent states. Embracing the issue of Orientalism, the notion of Central Asia, the postcolonial theory, the idea of the internal colonization and the question of post-Soviet identities, the course traces Orientalism, dominating, for example, in the ‘Caucasus text’ in Russian Romantic literature of that epoch as the most persistent discourse in depicting “Russian” Asia to this day. Faces of Asia  synthesizes the connotations of Asia in Russian literature and culture from the first Orientalist works through hybridization processes, when literature reflects a gradual turn from Orientalism to Assimilation, a turn favored by the multinational nature of Soviet literature and culture when “national” writers (artists and filmmakers) emerge and thrive alongside ethnic Russian authors, to the collapse of the USSR and the Post-Soviet trauma. In the middle of the course, we will zoom out to take a view of Russian literature and culture in the global Asian contexts: we will discover the continuing impact of the Mongol invasion; we will travel to India vicariously through a Russian artist’s diary and contemplate his hypnotic paintings of the Himalaya mountains; we will also explore cross-pollinations between Russian and Japanese arts of painting, woodblock prints, literature and cinema.

LLEA 355 – A Century of Russian Film: Dreams and Nightmares (Anastasia Kostetskaya)
Description: In this course we will explore some of the most revealing hopes and disappointments of  the Russian people in modern times, as presented in internationally acclaimed Russian films. (All films are shown with English subtitles.) We will examine how the 1917 Revolution and the subsequent introduction of Communist Party rule encouraged people to dream of and believe in the “bright future” of socialism, and how reality crushed those dreams. We will also discuss the Soviet film response to the Second World War. In the second part of the course we will focus on the transition to democracy after the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991; we will discuss why this shift brought about the rise of nationalism, crime, violence, and more hope. We will watch award-winning films by directors such as Bauer, Eisenstein, Room, Vertov, Dovzhenko, Menshov, Abuladze, Tarkovsky, and others, and discuss how to decipher the cinematic medium, and how to “read” these films visually.

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COMMUNITY EVENTS & RESOURCES

Makoto Messersmith, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii and a member of the Hawaii American Immigration Lawyer Association (HAILA), would like to share the flyers about the hotline for immigrant detainees at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu. The hotline is for those who are detained at the immigration detention center in Honolulu and their family members. When you call the number on the flyer, one of HAILA immigration lawyers in Hawaii answers the call and assigns someone to go to the detention center to meet the detainee. This does not mean that we agree to take the detainee’s case or represent the case. 

Importantly, please note the (808) 204-5951 hotline number is not for general information, and should only be used for assistance in locating detained/arrested individuals.  For more general immigration questions and resources, people may contact the Hawaii Immigrant Justice Center at the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii.  They have support mechanisms for persons with limited English proficiency.

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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

Yale University – Lector in Telugu

The South Asian Studies Council at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University invites applications for a Lector in Telugu beginning July 1, 2025, for a three- year term, renewable, with rank dependent on qualifications/experience.
For more information: https://apply.interfolio.com/163546
Deadline: May 20, 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

Louisiana Tech University – Assistant Professor of History

Assistant Professor of History. The School of History and Social Sciences at Louisiana Tech University invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor to complement the faculty’s strength in U.S. history. Top priority will go to candidates with a strong research agenda in any field outside of North America, including Asia, Africa, Central and South America, and Eastern and Western Europe.
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/5ebzjn8c
Deadline: July 2, 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
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For all inquiries, please send an email to: csas@hawaii.edu