The new Penn Forum on Global South Asia is an interdisciplinary unit that promotes scholarly and artistic work on South Asia through a global and comparative lens. The forum focuses on large themes of global relevance such as migration networks, political movements, and cultural exchange, but also on social and material inequalities, religion and culture, climate change, diasporic identities, and forms of transnational social change that emerge from within South Asia. Events and programs of the Forum illuminate South Asia’s historical and contemporary connections to global systems and foster an understanding of South Asia’s role in the world, including in the United States. The Forum’s invocation of the term “Global South Asia” highlights connections to global trade, migration, and transnational flows of culture and capital, while also expanding the geographic and cultural boundaries traditionally associated with the field of South Asia Studies. Over the course of its first few years, the programs of the Forum will include academic talks, workshops, and small-scale conferences, but also short-term artist residencies, film screenings, and public-facing events on the region’s diverse cultures, languages, religions, and social formations. The Forum is outward facing and also functions as a South Asia consortium for the greater Philadelphia area, bringing together the wide range of faculty and students working on South Asia in our region.