Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series
Each year, the Department of South Asia Studies hosts a distinguished visiting scholar who is in residence for a month. Over the course of the month, they deliver five lectures and meet regularly with faculty and graduate students. This is a core research and teaching initiative in the department.
Other Visiting Scholars
The Department of South Asia Studies hosts a range of short-term visiting scholars and fellows. Recent appointments include the following:
Professor Sutapa Dutta (University of Delhi, 2025)
Professor Chinnaiah Jangam (Carleton University, 2025)
Professor P. K. Yasser Arafath (University of Delhi, 2023-24)
Past Series
Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series: Fall 2025
Sonic Disobedience: Nationalist Mobilisation and the Arrival of Sound Technology
402 Cohen Hall
249 S. 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series: Fall 2024
Measuring Land, Measuring People: Rewriting the History of Mathematics in South India
Max Kade Center, Room 329A, 3401 Walnut Street
Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series: Spring 2023
Perelman Center - Robert Blank Forum
133 South 36th Street
Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series: Spring 2022
The Illiterate Ustad and Other Myths: Writing on Music in the Late Mughal World
826 Williams Hall
Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series: 2019
How to Think about Buddhist Ethics