Department News

FLAS Fellowship for 2021-22 is Now Open for Applications!

The US Department of Education created the FLAS Fellowship to encourage the study of less commonly taught languages.

February 1, 2021

Upenn Cinema Studies Colloquium with Debashree Mukherjee | Impassioned Speech: Cinema & Sonic Individuation in Colonial India

Debashree Mukherjee is Assistant Professor of film and media in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University in New York.

February 1, 2021

Dissertation Defense | Philip Carroll Friedrich | Nov. 23rd

The South Asia Studies department is pleased to announce the dissertation defense of Phillip Carroll Friedrich, on November 23rd 2020. Please find additional information below, including the Zoom link, and feel free to reach out with further questions. The thesis is available for inspection by the graduate group upon request.

November 13, 2020

Education Reforms in Global Context - Policy & Practice (Webinar) Nov. 23rd

Discussing the efforts of governments and international organizations to ensure quality education for all children, particularly in the times of COVID-19.

November 11, 2020

Congratulations Ishani Dasgupta: APLA 2019 Graduate Student Paper Prize Winner

Ishani Dasgupta (PhD Candidate, University of Pennsylvania) was awarded APLA’s 2019 Graduate Student Paper Prize for her paper, “The Burning Body and the Withering Body: Embodied Resistance Practices in the Tibetan Community.” Ishani recently spoke with Randi Irwin (Casual Lecturer, University of Newcastle, Australia) about her award-winning paper, writing, and fieldwork, more broadly.

June 11, 2020

Dr. Afsar Mohammad's Poetry at 40

Towards the end of this decade, in December, Hyderabad (India)-based prestigious cultural organization- Chitra Lekha Foundation- has celebrated Afsar Mohammad's four decades of poetry. Dr. Afsar is our own faculty member in the Department of South Asian studies and he teaches South Asia courses and Telugu studies.

February 10, 2020

Solidarity Statement condemning the attack on Students and Professors of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi on 5 January 2020

We, the undersigned members of the Department of South Asia Studies and the South Asia community at the University of Pennsylvania, strongly condemn the violence unleashed by the BJP, RSS, ABVP, and their allies under the Hindu Nationalist government of Prime Minister Modi.

January 9, 2020

South Asia Studies Colloquium Fall 2019

Wednesdays 4:30 p.m.

September 19, 2019

Holden Furber Undergraduate Writing Prize

This prize is awarded annually for the best undergraduate essay on any topic related to South Asia.

March 15, 2019