Student Directory
Advertising
Sarah Fahim
MA student
Interests: Communication strategy & analysis, creativity in copywriting & advertising concepts, effects of advertising and mass communication on cultural diversity and tolerance
Anthropology
Krishantha Fedricks
PhD student
kfedricks@utexas.edu |
5.114 SAC
Education: MA, California State University at Long Beach
Interests: Language, Religion and Media; Sinhala Language and Linguistics; Sri Lankan Buddhism; English to Sinhala Translations
Sardar Hussain
PhD student
Interests: City, Space and Place, Heritage, Gentrification, Everyday Life, the Ordinary
Aniruddhan Vasudevan
PhD candidate
aniruddhan@utexas.edu |
5.114 Student Activity Center (SAC)
Interests: Gender and Sexuality Politics in India, LGBTQ Rights Activism in Chennai, Theater and Dance, Ideologies of the Self respect Movement of Early 20th Century Tamil Nadu, Tamil to English Translations
Art History
Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani
Graduate student
Education: MA, Art History and Museum Studies, Case Western Reserve University
Interests: Post-war abstraction in Britain, postcolonialism, transnationalism during decolonization, history of immigration
Asian Studies
Emily Beissner
MA student
Education: BA Philosophy and Malayalam, The University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Sri Narayana Guru, Sri Narayana Guru’s Malayalam and Sanskrit adages, Sanskrit and Malayalam religious texts of Kerala, caste in Kerala, Temple Entry Movement of Kerala, Malayalam Lierature, and Malayalam to English translation
Justin Ben-Hain
PhD student
Interests: Vallabhite Vartas, Old Rajasthani Literature, Community formation, circulation of texts and ideas
Cicely Bonnin
Graduate student
Education: MA, Linguistics, The University of Queensland
Interests: Sanskrit language and literature; sense perception in linguistics, literature and religion; colour; language change; Sanskrit to English translation; Classical South Asian poetics and epistemology; Hindi
Katharine Chandler
Graduate student
Education: BA in Philosophy, Religious Studies, History, and Great Books, East Carolina University
Interests: Ethnography, Women and Gender Studies in South Asia, Goddess Worship
daniel dillon
PhD candidate
ddillon154@utexas.edu |
BEL 212 H
Education: BA Anthropology, Asian Religions and Cultures; MA Religious Studies, Western Kentucky University
Interests: Globalization, Mobility, Gender & Sexuality (especially Masculinity), the Tamil Ethnoscape, Religious & Ethnic Violence, Modernity, Visual Ethnography, Contemporary Sri Lanka
Michael Fiden
Graduate student
Education: MA in Religious Studies, University of South Florida.
Interests: Early South-Indian devotional traditions; the development of śrauta ritual in the early Vedic period; sociopolitical and religious contexts and development during the second urbanization; and formative Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism.
Nina Gat
PhD student
Interests: Literatures of India with a special interest in the beginnings of modern Hindi literature; Classical Indian aesthetics; & Indian modernity as reflected in post-independence Hindi literature
Charlotte Giles
PhD candidate
Interests: Indo-Islamic culture and history, Urdu literature, labor, home-based production and the textile industry
Andrea Gutierrez
PhD candidate
Interests: Animal Studies and Animal Language, Foodways, Food Manuals, Cookbooks and Food Prescriptions, Hindu and Buddhist Studies, Sanskrit, Prakrits, and Tamil Language
Katie Lazarowicz
PhD candidate
Interests: Indian Folk art (Madhubani Painting, Mithila Art), Material Culture & Visual Studies, Development & Labor, Bihar, Hindi, Economics & Economic History 19th Century - present, Contemporary Indian Art, Religious and Spiritual Traditions of India, Jesuits in India
Zeltzyn Rubi Sanchez Lozoya
PhD candidate
Education: PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Indian cinemas and film cultures, world cinema, women cinema, transnational and third world feminisms, cultural studies of South Asia, and film digital distribution
Aaron Sherraden
PhD candidate
Interests: Hindi, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Epic Literature of India and associated performance traditions
David St. John
PhD student
Education: MA in Religious Studies, Florida International University
Interests: Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Quakerism, the history of the formation of ethics, lay ethics, mendicant-lay interactions, ownership principles
John Taylor
PhD student
Interests: Classical Sanskrit literature, esp. the Mahabharata, ritual theory, gender & body theory, Indo-European linguistics
Comparative Literature
Hamza Iqbal
PhD student
Education: MA, Honours Philosophy, University of St Andrews, UK
Interests: Long nineteenth century, Urdu Poetics, French Literature, Continental Philosophy, Postcolonial Theory, Psychoanalysis, Critical and Literary Theory
Economics
Sangita Vyas
Graduate student
sangita.vyas@utexas.edu |
BRB 3.134G
Education: MPA, Princeton University
Interests: Applied microeconomics; public, health, and development economics; demography
Education
Fiza Mairaj
MA student
Interests: Educational policy, International development, Non-profit sustainability and Teacher practices in a classroom
English
Meghan Gorman-Darif
Graduate student
Education: MA, Breadloaf School of English, Middlebury College
Interests: Representations of the Naxalite and Maoist movements in contemporary literature
Ethnomusicology
Aruna Kharod
MA/PhD student
Education: BA, Ethnomusicology, University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Sitar
Caroline Rohm
Graduate student
Education: DMA, Flute Performance, University of Maryland
Interests: Flute, North India, networks of transnational music communities
Government
History
Sandy Chang
PhD candidate
Education: MA, The University of British Columbia
Interests: British Empire; Colonial South & Southeast Asia; Chinese Diaspora; Gender and Sexuality; Inter-Asia Mobilities and Connections
Kirtan Patel
Graduate student
Education: MA in History, Utah State University
Interests: British Empire, Colonial India, Hindu Religious History, Monastic Leadership and Culture, Migration History, History of Emotions, Religious Community Formation
International Relations
Journalism
Paromita Pain
PhD student
Education: MA Specialized Journalism, University of Southern California
Interests: Participatory media process, Citizen’s journalism,Women’s empowerment via mobile technologies
Liberal Arts
Linguistics
Middle Eastern Studies
Bryan Sitzes
Graduate student
Education: MA, University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Environmental histories of the Persianate world
Public Affairs
Anushree Deb
Graduate student
Education: MA in Urban Policy & Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
Interests: Urban governance and development in South East Asia and India
Taylor Foody
Graduate student
Education: BA, Government, The University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Efficacy and transparency of social impact, corporate social responsibility, and impact investing initiatives; global development
Olivia Hay
Graduate student
Education: BA, Anthropology, Oberlin College
Interests: Tamil language, conflict management, and climate security
Adam Materne
Masters candidate in Global Policy Studies
Education: BA, Government, The University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Persian language, military affairs in South Asia, civil-military relationships in South Asia, and cybersecurity and national security
Sadikshya Nepal
Masters candidate in Global Policy Studies
Education: BA in Art History, University of Massachusetts
Interests: South Asian Migration particularly focusing on Nepal, Gender, Labor, Citizenship, and Refugee Rights
Radio, Television & Film
Nabeeha Chaudhary
PhD student
Education: MA, International Studies, University of Washington
Interests: Television in Pakistan, Changing representations of women in entertainment media, Interconnections between Cultural/Entertainment Media, Women’s Issues, and Education, Regional focus on South Asia, particularly Pakistan
Jacob Hustedt
PhD student
Education: MA, University of Sussex
Interests: Growth of urban centers of information technology in India and simultaneous emergence of LGBT activist organizations, Confluence of queer theory, New media theory, Theories of diaspora and the new global city
Prakshi Malik
Graduate student
Education: B.A. in Media and Cultural Studies, Macalester College
Interests: Film, representation, women's stories, migration and diaspora, power and solidarity
Swapnil Rai
PhD candidate
Education: MA (Cinematic Arts), Southern Methodist University
Interests: Media Globalization, Indian Cinema, Media Convergence, BRICS, Network Society
Ramna Walia
Graduate student
Education: MA, English, Delhi University; MPhil, Cinema Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Interests: Informal media, media industries in India, video film cultures, film remakes
Religious Studies
Evan LeBarre
Graduate student
Interests: Religions in History, Sanskrit, Tamil, Vedic studies, asceticism, philosophy, Native American studies
Hemal Trivedi
Graduate student
Education: MA in Religious Studies, Rutgers University
Interests: Mind & Ego in Indian Philosophy, Sāṅkhya-Yoga, Vedic Psychology, Vedic Astrology (Jyotiṣa), Sanskrit
Social Work
Swathi Reddy
PhD student
Education: MA Social Work, University of Chicago
Interests: Immigrant Children exposed to Interpersonal Violence, Intergenerational conflict in transnational families, Cultural perspectives on mental health. Effects of acculturation on South Asian immigrants
Sociology
Upasana Garnaik
Graduate student
Education: LL.M., Duke University School of Law
Interests: Gender, Sexuality, Family Law, Social Movement and Property Rights
Vrinda Marwah
PhD student
Education: MA, London School of Economics and Political Science
Interests: Reproductive health and technologies, Gender, Sexuality, Race and Ethnicity, Qualitative Methodology, Contemporary India, Social Movements, Law and Policy, State
Beth Prosnitz
PhD student
Education: MA, The New School
Interests: Political Sociology, Social Movements, Citizenship, Gender
