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Grant to expand South Asian focus
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“The Department of Education grant is very good news for our efforts to strengthen South Asian studies at UB.”
The Asian Studies Program has received a two-year, $172,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand the university’s undergraduate course offerings, academic exchanges and events related to South Asia.
UB will use the funding to hire a new professor of South Asian languages and literatures, expand its course offerings in the Hindi language, add Urdu to the curriculum (Urdu is a national language of Pakistan and an officially recognized language of India), provide scholarships for study abroad in India and organize performances and lectures about this economically and strategically important region of the world.
“The Department of Education grant is very good news for our efforts to strengthen South Asian studies at UB,” says Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education. “It will allow the Asian Studies Program to take great advantage of the strategic institutional partnerships we have developed in India, most notably with Banaras Hindu University, which can offer our students and faculty many opportunities for research and education about Indian history and culture."
The project will include an opportunity for up to 10 current professors to study and travel to India so they can add South Asian content to existing undergraduate courses or develop new undergraduate courses on the region.
Kristin Stapleton, director of Asian studies, notes that the study tour will give UB faculty members a chance to experience Indian life and learn more about UB’s partner schools. “We expect the faculty participants to return home from the study tour with a host of new ideas for incorporating South Asian material into their courses,” she says.
The inaugural event of the new South Asia initiative will be a performance by Rhythm of Rajasthan at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts, North Campus. The ensemble, with acclaimed dancer Sua Devi, will perform folk music from the Great Thar Desert in the Indian state of Rajasthan, featuring percussion, Sufi songs, bowed lute and double flute. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students. A limited number of free tickets are available for UB undergraduates enrolled in Asian studies courses.
The courses and programs on South Asia will be developed under the auspices of UB’s new South Asia Institute, which the university plans to establish through a combination of government, foundation, corporate and individual contributions. The fundraising effort will be directed by Provost Satish K. Tripathi, a graduate of Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi.
With the new faculty positions, courses and programs proposed in the current funding request, UB will be able to include South Asia—alongside China, Japan and Korea—as an area of focus for undergraduates majoring in Asian studies. The new undergraduate classes also will be of value to majors in other departments who would like to increase their knowledge of South Asia for career or personal reasons.
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