CSAS Weekly Newsletter May 1-7

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CSAS Newsletter May 1-7

 

Aloha Everyone,

With only one week left of the semester, don't miss out on these funding opportunities and events around town. You can catch the dance show Pahelī by our affiliate faculty Sai Bhatawadekar tomorrow, May 2. Details below. 

If you are looking for courses for summer and fall, please check out the list of courses available in South Asian Studies and taught by our affiliate faculty.

If you missed any of our wonderful keynotes or panels, you can now view their recordings on our YouTube channel. Thanks again to everyone who helped make our spring symposium a success.

Thank you, 
Nandini Chandra, Director
Mari Martinez, Coordinator

 

 

CSAS STUDENT, FACULTY NEWS

 

 

Pahelī - a vibrant evening of Indian classical, folk, and Bollywood performances, contemporary and fusion pieces, vocals, instrumentals, and much more! Pahelī, which means a puzzle, a riddle, an enigma, invites you into the mystery and magic of music and movement with your favorite classics and exciting new spins. The concert is produced and directed by Sai Bhatawadekar with her team of talented dancers, musicians, and guest artists in and outside of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. 
When: Saturday, May 2nd, 7:00pm
Where: Honolulu Museum of Art's Doris Duke Theatre
Glimpse: Instagram or YouTube  
Tickets: https://honolulumuseum.org/events/paheli-syj6

 

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

 

FUNDING, OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

*In order by upcoming deadlines.

    

Global networks and transcultural exchanges in the Asiatic world were in the making from pre-modern times, with the overland Silk Roads and the maritime seaborne Indian Ocean trade routes connecting vast geographies. Luxury commodities, raw materials, cultural items, and wearable objects—myriad things have moved along the sea lanes. As the contents of the Beilitung and Cirebon shipwrecks demonstrate, a connected world was established through an advanced system of exchange that catered to a need and desire for international goods. As Empires, traders, people, missionaries, and travelers moved a range of things, material objects actively linked the Asian, Mediterranean, Arabian, and African worlds. Within the modern and contemporary world, as things continued to be traded, carried, and transacted, many objects became legitimate representatives of a culture, place, or identity. In other instances, things became treasured heirlooms passed on from person to person and from generation to generation as they not only yoked the past with the present but also produced personal and community narratives on shared histories.

For more information of theme and submission guidelines visit: https://tinyurl.com/2s3u7sfv
DEADLINE: May 1, 2026 

 

• May 4 at 10:00 pm Eastern / 9:00 pm Central / 8:00 pm Mountain / 7:00 pm Pacific (7:30 am Indian Standard Time). Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/88PDLoXYQeCynyoI-hSiHA

These sessions will provide an overview of the Fulbright-Nehru program, highlight priority fields aligned with U.S.–India strategic collaboration, and offer guidance on the application process. Participants will also have the opportunity to engage directly with USIEF staff.
As a reminder, both the student and scholar award competitions are now open for the 2027–28 cycle.

 

 

Advanced graduate students in the field of Pakistan Studies who are currently enrolled in PhD programs in US academic institutions or have recently been awarded PhDs are invited to apply to the AIPS Emerging Scholars of Pakistan Studies Symposium. The symposium will be held in conjunction with the Annual Conference on South Asia. Awardees will receive an $800 honorarium to support their participation in this event.

This full-day symposium will take place on Wednesday October 28, 2026, during the Annual Conference on South Asia in Madison, WI. It brings together up to eight junior scholars engaged in original research related to Pakistan in social science and humanities fields. Selected applicants will be invited to present a chapter, topic, or framework examined in their doctoral work. The symposium will be led by senior scholars in the humanities and social sciences who will read the accepted papers and offer feedback and guide discussion among workshop participants.

For more information: https://pakistanstudies.org/aips-emerging-scholars-symposium/
DEADLINE: May 15, 2026

 

 

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, the American Muslim community stands at a pivotal juncture. Comprising one of the nation’s most racially, ethnically, and theologically diverse religious communities, American Muslims are navigating intersecting crises of political polarization, institutional underdevelopment, contested religious authority, and the aftershocks of the Gaza conflict — all while confronting persistent Islamophobia and a rapidly shifting national landscape under the second Trump administration. Yet this same community possesses enormous, largely untapped resources for democratic renewal, interfaith bridge-building, and the construction of durable institutions that could sustain communal flourishing for generations to come.

For more information and complete CFP: https://tinyurl.com/3aammr8h
DEADLINE: May 15, 2026  

 

 

This conference explores how marketization, technological change, and governance reshape civic space and everyday life in cities under authoritarian and transitional regimes. Moving beyond state-level analysis, it focuses on cities as key sites where control, adaptation, and agency are negotiated in practice.

While contributions on North Korean cities are particularly welcome, we strongly encourage comparative perspectives involving other authoritarian or transitional contexts.

For more information and complet CFP: https://tinyurl.com/yp5z2ffk
DEADLINE: May 22, 2026

 

Study India. Experience Policy in Practice. Applications are now open for the International Summer School in New Delhi (29 June – 7 August 2026), a six-week academic immersion combining focused study in global affairs with structured internship placements across policy institutions, businesses, media organisations, NGOs, and research centres.
Designed as a rigorous field-based program, ISS offers students direct engagement with contemporary political and development debates shaping South Asia’s evolving role in global affairs.
For more information: https://www.issnewdelhi.in/
DEADLINE: May 31, 2026

 

 

Across Asian highlands, mountain communities are facing recurrent environmental disasters: landslides and rockfalls, glacial outbursts and flooding, rising temperatures and increased precipitation, all of which impact everyday life and wellbeing. Disasters and the resulting vulnerability test mountain communities' capacity to adapt and strain state resources. Natural disasters may also be mobilized by communities as a repertoire to articulate critiques against state, capital and development regimes. This region, crisscrossed by international borders, extends from Southeast Asia, by way of China, Bhutan, Nepal and India to Pakistan, Afghanistan and into Central Asia

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/2p9ja396
DEADLINE: June 1, 2026

 

 

Following the successful 2024 conference Multilingual Sources and History Writings in the Indian Ocean Region and the 2025 conference Literatures and Arts Across the Indian Ocean, the Center for Eastern Literature Studies, School of Foreign Languages, and Institute of Oriental Studies at Peking University will jointly organize the 3rd International Conference on Civilizational Exchange and Mutual Learning in the Indian Ocean Region.

The conference will be held October 8–12, 2026 at Peking University (the exact dates are subject to the official invitation and program), under the theme “Thoughts, Institutions, and Orders Across the Indian Ocean.”

For more information and complete CFP: https://tinyurl.com/4r3rn9w4
DEADLINE: July 1, 2026

 

The American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) and Vanguard Books Pakistan are happy to announce a collaborative reprint series. The series focuses on reprinting humanities and social science monographs and edited volumes for sale in Pakistan. Prospective applicants must be individual AIPS members or scholars from an AIPS member institution. For accepted books, AIPS will negotiate the cost for the Pakistan publication rights, while Vanguard Pakistan, will print and distribute the titles in the series.

AIPS and Vanguard, will review submitted books for the series independently. Review criteria include but are not limited to:

1. Depth and accuracy of research;
2. Relevance to issues of broad public interest in Pakistan;
3. Potential to attract new students and scholars to Pakistan Studies;
4. Potential to integrate Pakistan Studies more fully into vibrant disciplinary and interdisciplinary discussions;
5. Innovativeness of approach;
6. Clarity and elegance of the writing;
7. Lack of availability in Pakistan.

Before submitting, applicants must electronically contact the AIPS business office in Madison (aips@pakistanstudies-aips.org) to confirm their eligibility for the series. Once approved, AIPS staff will give you the mailing address for your submission materials.

Members who wish to be part of the series must submit two hard copies and an electronic copy, in .pdf format, of the following items:
1. Two non-returnable copies of the book;
2. A cover letter (two pages max) explaining how the monograph further expands and enhances Pakistan Studies;
3. A letter or printed email from the book’s initial publisher stating that Pakistan’s publishing rights are available for purchase and how much those rights would cost.

There are two submission deadlines per year: January 31st and August 1st. If an applicant fails to send any of the required items, AIPS and Vanguard will not review the submission. The series may publish up to two books per year. Titles not selected can be resubmitted and reconsidered.

 

 

Historians have long turned to purportedly “peripheral” places to track the making of colonial law. From accounts of “small wars” to reflections on oceanic commerce, subaltern actors, and “dead-end scandals,” scholars have illuminated how law looked and acted differently from the deck of a dhow or a colonial officer’s field-tent. In these narratives, law emerges from negotiations across jurisdictional divides, both within the state and beyond. 

Building on these insights, this workshop asks what constituted law and legal change on the geographic, temporal, epistemic, economic, social, and religious margins of early-modern and modern empires, both European and otherwise. It primarily seeks to explore whether and how the expansion of these empires failed to subsume or subordinate many of the institutional practices of Asian, African, and other indigenous actors. These actors continued to operate alongside and against imperial projects, shaping local and global politics, economic networks, and (trans)imperial reforms. Moving beyond traditional scholarly binaries, including colonial/indigenous, terrestrial/oceanic, religious/secular, and positive/customary, the workshop seeks to develop new conceptual paradigms that better accommodate (trans)local practices. It thereby questions popular assumptions about the consolidation of law in colonial spaces and encourages investigations into multidirectional processes of change and multifaceted legal landscapes.

For more information and complete CFP: https://tinyurl.com/5x8fr6tv
DEADLINE: August 10, 2025

 

 

The contemporary international system is undergoing a profound transformation characterized by overlapping crises, shifting power balances, and the erosion of established institutional frameworks. The war in Ukraine, the return of Donald Trump to power in the United States, and the recent escalation into direct confrontation with Iran have together accelerated a structural reconfiguration of transatlantic relations. These developments have brought deep-seated contradictions within the Western alliance to the surface. Divergences between the United States and Europe are no longer limited to policy preferences but increasingly reflect competing strategic outlooks regarding security, economic governance, and global order. At the same time, the proliferation of conflict zones and the intensification of geopolitical competition raise fundamental questions about NATO's sustainability and future orientation. In this context, BRIQ invites contributions that critically engage with the evolving dynamics of US–Europe relations and NATO within a broader framework of global systemic transformation. This special issue aims to provide a critical platform for examining the ongoing reconfiguration of transatlantic relations within the broader context of systemic transformation. Interdisciplinary approaches and theoretically informed analyses are particularly encouraged.

For more information and complete CFP: https://tinyurl.com/3b3udh2j
DEADLINE: August 15, 2026

 

 

A small open-access project titled “Global Archival Access Map,” using uMap (OpenStreetMap). The goal is to create a shared, community-driven resource that documents archival institutions worldwide, along with practical information for researchers conducting on-site work.

The workflow is simple: contributors can anonymously submit information via a Google Form → responses are compiled into a Google Sheet → after light review, entries are uploaded to the public uMap, where each archive appears as a geolocated point with an associated information panel.

For more information and details on how to contribute: https://tinyurl.com/5eevmm86

 

 

GALDA VERLAG is an independent, non-profit academic publisher specializing in Asian Studies. Financed through our international bookselling operations (import/export), we operate free from commercial pressures, allowing us to prioritize academic quality and the promotion of Asian scholarship in Western academic libraries and global research communities.

EDITORIAL PHILOSOPHY: We believe that understanding Asia requires deep engagement with the continent's extraordinary cultural and linguistic diversity — its regional particularities, living traditions, artistic expressions, and indigenous knowledge systems. Too often, Asian Studies scholarship privileges metropolitan centers and dominant narratives, overlooking the rich tapestry of local cultures, minority languages, folk traditions, and regional art forms. Our publishing program seeks to counter this by providing a platform for regionally-grounded, culturally-informed scholarship that brings local voices and traditions to international academic audiences.

For more information: https://tinyurl.com/yc7r92ra
DATES: February 14, 2026 - December 1, 2026

 

AIPS is offering co-sponsorship awards of $1,000 for current AIPS Institutional Members who are hosting Pakistan-related conferences and workshops in the U.S. 

• Conference/workshop title and theme
• Faculty member proposing the conference/workshop (short bio or CV)
• Conference/workshop program or agenda
• Proposed dates
• Budget for the conference/workshop

To apply, please submit the following to aips@pakistanstudies-aips.org
There is no set deadline for applications.

 

COURSE OFFERINGS

 

 

 

SUMMER 2026

ASAN 601 - Asia Past and Present: South Asia - Anna Stirr
ASAN 701 - Transpacific Youth Pop Culture: From K-pop to Tiktok - Jade Lum
HIST 354 - Introduction to Islamic History - Abdul Khan
HIST 355 - The Making of the Modern Middle East - Abdul Khan
PHIL 350 - Indian Philosophy - Andrew Kelly
PHIL 360 - Buddhist Philosophy - Sean Smith
POLS 315 - Global Politics/International Relations - Varun Sanadhya
REL 149 - Introduction to the World's Goddesses - Amanda Candens
REL 150 - Introduction to the World’s Major Religions - Corwynn Madrone

 

FALL 2026

ANTH 308 - Evolutionary Medicine - Elizabeth Agey
ANTH 370 - Ethnographic Field Techniques - Jan Brunson
ANTH 375 - Race and Human Variation - Elizabeth Agey
ART 394 - Life and Body of the Buddha in the Art of South and Southeast Asia - Paul Lavy
ASAN 150 - Introduction to Research and Writing in Asian Studies
ASAN 202 - Introduction to Asian Studies: South/Southeast Asia - Gillian H. Bogart
ASAN 303 Bollywood Dance, Music, and Film - Sai P. Bhatawadekar
ASAN 310 - Studying Asia Culturally - Anna M. Stirr
ASAN 627 - Ethnic Nationalism in Asia - Cathryn H. Clayton
ASAN 705 - Asian Research Materials and Methods - Monica Ghosh
ENG 321 - Backgrounds of Western Literature - Nandini Chandra
ENG 440 - Single Author - S Shankar
ENG 780P - Seminar in Comparative Literature: Postmodernism and Postcolonialism - S. Shankar
HNDI 101 - Elementary Hindi I - Sai P. Bhatawadekar
HNDI 201 - Intermediate Hindi I - Sai P. Bhatawadekar
HNDI 301 - Third-Level Hindi: Culture - Sai P. Bhatawadekar
HIST 152 - World History since 1500 - Ned Bertz
HIST 355 - The Making of the Modern Middle East - Abdul Khan
HIST 663 - Seminar in South Asian History - Ned Bertz
IP 366 - Literatures of Ancient India - Jesse Knutson
PHIL 321 - Bodies, Minds, and Selves - Keya Maitra
PHIL 790 - Seminar in Comparative Philosophy, Indian Buddhist thought and Nietzsche - Sean Smith
REL 149 - Introduction to the World's Goddesses - Amanda R. Candens
REL 150 - Introduction to the World’s Major Religions (Various Sections/Instructors)
REL 475 - Seminar on Buddhism - Michel Mohr
SNSK 101 - Introduction to Sanskrit I - Jesse Knutson
SNSK 685 - Advanced Readings in Sanskrit - Jesse Knutson
SOCS 218 - Intro to Social Problems - Nandita R. Sharma
SOCS 620 - Seminar in Social Stratification - Nandita Sharma
PLAN 600 - Public Policy & Planning Theory - Ashok Das
PLAN 604 - Qualitative Methods in Planning - Priyam Das
PLAN 650 - Research Design Seminar - Priyam Das

 

PHIL 350 - Indian Philosophy in Summer Session I. The course is online asynchronous, requires no textbooks, and fulfills the DH, ETH, and WI requirements. Interested students can contact instructor Andrew Kelly at atkelly8@hawaii.edu if they would like more information on the course.

ENG 780P - This course examines the past and current fates of translation, mainly, and the politics of language, secondarily. It approaches “translation” from the point of view of “theory” (as the subject of metadiscursive rumination), of “studies” (a field encompassing a variety of approaches to the study of translation), and of practice (as the painstaking transference of a text from one language to another or, more generally, from one medium to another). Translation is paired with the politics of language because of the intimate connection between the two. Translation is a form of language politics and exists in close association with broader understandings of language in a society. The course approaches “the politics of language” historically as well as theoretically, exploring issues like multilingualism, state language policy and cultural resilience. Focused through the prism of the post-/de-colonial, the course examines contestations over language in specific periods and locations (Hawai’i, Africa and India, mainly) while also reflecting more generally on the place of language in culture. https://english.hawaii.edu/course/seminar-in-comparative-literature/

 

COMMUNITY EVENTS, RESOURCES

  

Crafting Potency investigates the intricate interweaving of knowledge, practice, and materials through which potency is sculpted in Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan medicine). Informed by Tibetan medical literature and extensive fieldwork with practitioners (amchis) from Ladakh, Dharamsala, and Kathmandu, the authors explore how potency is understood and manipulated in the making of multi-ingredient medicines. Taking inspiration from Tim Ingold’s ecologically attuned phenomenology and Pamela Smith’s concept of “artisanal epistemologies,” potency is presented as efficacy-in-becoming—a fluid capacity sculpted and layered through skilled artisanship, ritual, and environment, rather than a fixed property of stable substances. Highlighting the deep immersion of amchis in their social, ecological, technical, and spiritual lifeworlds—and exploring what changes when knowledge is transmitted through institutional rather than lineage-based training—the book contributes nuanced practice-based perspectives to the anthropology of craft and the history of science.
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/kp8yxcyu
The PDF version of the book and the individual chapters are available for free download from our HASP platform: https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/book/1494 

 

the South Asian Manuscripts at the Library of Congress LibGuide now has pages on the Oscar Terry Crosby Khotan Fragments Collection (c. 1000 CE), the Princely State Papers Collection, and the Albrecht Weber Collection’s Sanskrit manuscripts. There is also a new page titled “Other South Asian Manuscripts” with entries for 100+ manuscripts that do not belong to a named collection. That page’s table also has a tab with notes on uncatalogued manuscript material in languages like Kannada, Sinhala, Tamil, and Telugu. And there is a new page with easy access to view LC’s manuscripts that have been digitized over the years. All materials are accessible in the Library’s Asian Reading Room by advance appointment (preferably 3-4 business days) for in-person use. Many manuscript records on this guide are the output of a 3-year project within LC divisions to catalog Sanskrit and Tibetan rare materials, which took place between 2021 and 2024. (The vast majority of LC’s manuscripts are in Sanskrit in the Devanagari script). 

In addition to this research guide on manuscripts, please see the Asian Reading Room’s researcher resources page for links to related guides on the South Asian collection in general; vernacular and English-language newspapers; women’s serials; and several subject-wise guides detailing the ephemera collection on microfiche. 

 

The Center for Art and Archeology has completed a new exhibit mapping the Mughal Architecture along India's Grand Trunk Road with support from the US Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation.  Read about the project and view some of the beautiful images of Mughal architecture in situ at the Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds.

 

New Digital collection at Princeton University Library - "Toward Partition and Beyond: the Photographs of Muhammad Bakhsh Bhatti"

This collection showcases the photographs of Muhammad Bakhsh Bhatti (1921-1975), who documented the political activism that led to the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Mr. Bhatti's photographs also capture the destruction, violence, displacement, and loss of life that took place in the lead up to and in the wake of the Partition of India. 
While Mr. Bhatti's photographs have been displayed in various exhibits and printed in publications over the years, he has not been consistently credited for his labors during this critical time in history. This digital exhibit seeks to make his work accessible to researchers and the public alike. Princeton is grateful to the Bhatti family, particularly Mr. Shahzeb Bhatti, for their trust and patience as we have worked to describe and display Mr. Bhatti's photographs.
For more information or to visit the collection visit: https://dpul.princeton.edu/pakistan-movement 

 

JOBS, POST-DOCS

*Positions open until filled unless otherwise noted.

  

ASIANetwork, a consortium of North American liberal arts colleges dedicated to the enhancement of undergraduate education about Asia, invites faculty to apply to join a two-week travel seminar to India (December 27, 2026 – January 9, 2027) designed to enrich faculty skills, forge new teaching and research collaborations, and enhance teaching excellence across a range of academic fields and departmental commitments. ASIANetwork will provide documentation in support of participants’ requests for institutional faculty development funds.

For more information, Itinerary, and complete CFA: https://m.asianetwork.org/programs/institutes/indian-religious-traditions-in-context/
DEADLINE: May 1, 2026

 

Carleton Global Engagement Programs seeks two instructors to accompany the Buddhist Studies Program to Chiang Mai, Thailand and Bodh Gaya, India, in the fall of 2026.  This semester-long program draws undergraduates from colleges throughout the United States and Canada.
For more information: https://www.carleton.edu/global-engagement/buddhist-studies-india/
DEADLINE: May 1, 2026

 

The India China Institute is accepting applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship on the theme of “Global China and India in a Post-Liberal World.” We welcome applications from those whose research focuses on the influence of China and/or India on emerging global orders and institutions. Thematics include AI, data and digital politics; climate change, renewable energy and green economies; social policy; higher education and knowledge production; and South-South cooperation. The empirical scope of the research should focus on China or India, or engage with China-India comparisons and connections, or global flows in which India or China are prominent. Applications are welcome from all social science and humanities disciplines, including interdisciplinary PhD programs. 
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/mpmma5dr
DEADLINE: May 1, 2026. 

 

We invite proposals exploring person-centered messianism—defined as the formation, circulation, and impact of messianic figures, personas, and imaginaries across cultural, political, religious, and social contexts. Special emphasis will be placed on the emergence of messianic phenomena, examining how messianic identities, narratives, and expectations come into being and evolve within specific historical and cultural settings.
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/3ttmfc8c
DEADLINE: May 15, 2026

 

The Sultan Al-Qasimi Department of History at the American University in Cairo (AUC) invites applications from historians of the modern world specializing in the Americas, Asia, and/or World History whose thematic subfields enable them to teach the role of the Americas and/or Asia in our increasingly interconnected and globalized world. The position is an open-rank appointment that will begin in Fall 2027. It is a fixed-term position for four years, renewable upon positive review of teaching, research, and service. The successful candidate will teach in English three undergraduate courses each semester such as historiographical, methodological, and survey courses as well as upper-level special topic seminars.
For more information: https://tinyurl.com/56eaerbz
DEADLINE: June 15, 2026

  

The Department of Economics and the Department of Governance and Global Studies at Information Technology University (ITU) Lahore Pakistan are looking for:

• Assistant Professors (with a PhD)
• Teaching Fellows (with an MS or equivalent)

Assistant Professors will be hired on HEC TTS salary package, with additional research and travel allowances. Teaching Fellows will also receive a very competitive package.

The departments are especially looking for active scholars in Urban development, Technology in Governance, Development Studies, Statistical Economics, Monetary Economics, Macroeconomics, and Data Science for Economists.
Please send your CV's and cover letter to: dean.fhss@itu.edu.pk, mentioning the position you are applying for in the subject line.

 

Aga Khan University Faculty Positions

Aga Khan University is seeking open-rank faculty in the following majors (with subthemes and disciplines detailed in the adverts): 

• Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
• Environmental Studies
• Philosophy, Politics and Economics
• Social Development Studies

Prospective applicants may contact Yamna Rehan (yamna.rehan@aku.edu) for any enquiries regarding these positions.

 

 

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
Image (.jpg or .png, minimum 1200 pixel on the long side)

To support our programs:https://giving.uhfoundation.org/funds/12109104