Student Directory
Anthropology
Sarah Eleazar Sadiq
Graduate student
Interests: Political ecology, water, toxicity, environmental inequalities, and labor
Sardar Hussain
PhD student
Interests: City, Space and Place, Heritage, Gentrification, Everyday Life, the Ordinary
Asian Studies
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
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
Benjamin Simington
Graduate student
Education: B.A., History, Carthage College
Interests: Islam in South Asia, Sufi texts, Urdu, Anti-colonialism, Critical Whiteness Studies
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
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
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
Linguistics
Middle Eastern Studies
Bryan Sitzes
Graduate student
Education: PhD, 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
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
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
Blake Pye
Graduate student
Education: MA, Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Sufism and sainthood, the intersection of Sufism and politics, and knowledge hierarchies in premodern Islamic societies
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
