Harvard University
historian with a spe-
cialty in South Asian
studies has become
the only Indian-
American selected among 24
MacArthur Foundation fellowship recipients for 2017, an
award that includes $625,000
over five years to be used for the
advancement of the recipients’
work.
Sunil Amrith, 38, has been
part of Harvard’s South Asian
studies department since 2015
and has written extensively on
global migration and colonialism, particularly in India and
South Asia. He was selected for
the so-called “genius grant” in a
field of psychologists, writers,
journalists, educators, photographers and social and human
rights activists.
According to the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, each recipient was
chosen “for having shown
extraordinary originality and
dedication in their
creative pursuits
and a marked
capacity for self-
direction." The
foundation calls the
award “an invest-
ment in their poten-
tial.”
Cecilia A. Conrad,
managing director
of the foundation
and the leader of
the fellows pro-
gram, said, “From
transforming condi-
tions for low wage workers to
identifying internet security vul-
nerabilities, from celebrating the
African American string band
tradition to designing resilient
urban habitats, these new
MacArthur Fellows bring their
exceptional creativity to diverse
people, places, and social chal-
lenges. Their work gives us rea-
Potential fellows do not apply
for MacArthur awards. They are
nominated, according to the
foundation website. There are no
restrictions on nominees’ age
nor on their field of expertise.
Amrith said the news of his
selection “is still sinking in, but I
can already see in so many ways
how the fellowship will help me.
The main way in which it will
help me is to allow those proj-
ects that are currently out there
as slightly impossible—dream
projects—to come closer to real-
In a You Tube video prepared
by the Foundation, he said that
“if there’s one thread that brings
all of my work together, it is
movement. I’ve worked on the
movement of people, on the
movement of water, and I’ve
also thought about the move-
ment of political ideas.”
He said that curiosity about
how the world came to be the
way it is inspired him to become
a historian, so he could look at
cultures and political institu-
tions. “It became clear to me
from a very young age that I
could delve into the history of
these institutions the only way I
knew to understand them,” he
said.
Amrith recalled his early
desire to study migration around
the Bay of Bengal. “Something
like a quarter of people on earth
live on this part of world,” he
said, “and it’s such a diverse
region of the world where you
have multiple religious tradi-
tions, a huge variety of lan-
guages…This is almost like a lab-
oratory of human diversity and
difference.”
His book, “Crossing the Bay of
Bengal,” was published in 2013.
He said he tried to
paint a picture of
the region in as
many different voices and from as
many different perspectives as he was
able.
“Telling this
story from a
migrant’s perspec-
tive…may make us
think about the
whole region differ-
ently—that great
migration that
began in the second half of the
19th century and transformed
the shape and the face of modern South and Southeast Asia,”
he said.
He said most of the countries
he studies were once part of the
British empire. He is especially
interested in the story of what
happens when imperial territories become national territories
and borders change.
Amrith is also the author of
“Migration and Diaspora in
Modern Asia,” published in 2011.
He said his focus on migration,
rather than political forces,
demonstrates that India,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in
South Asia and Thailand,
Malaysia, Singapore and
Myanmar in Southeast Asia are
tied by centuries of movement
of people and goods around and
across the Bay of Bengal.
Both books combine the theo-
retical frameworks of oceanic
and environmental history with
archival, ethnographic, and visu-
al research to chart how migra-
tion transformed individuals,
He said many bonds finally
snapped during decolonization,
however, when defining national
boundaries. National identity
became the priority.
In “Crossing the Bay of
Bengal,” Amrith's analysis of the
forces driving migration takes
into account the ways in which
climatic patterns around the bay
defined the lives of migrants and
coastal residents.
His present project explores
the history of environmental
change in Asia, focusing particularly on the monsoon in the context of a changing climate. He is
leading a reorientation of South
and Southeast Asian history in
order to open new avenues for
understanding the region's place
in global history.
He received his bachelor’s
degree in 2000 and his PhD in
2005 from the University of
Cambridge.
Amrith was a research fellow
of Trinity College at the
University of Cambridge from
2004 to 2006 and taught modern
Asian history at Birkbeck College
of the University of London until
2014.
At Harvard University he is
currently Mehra Family
Professor of South Asian Studies
and a professor of history. He is
also a director of the Harvard
Center for History and
Economics.
A
‘Genius Grant’ for Harvard University Historian
Sunil Amrith is sole Indian-American named 2017 MacArthur fellow
By a Staff Writer
wo Indian-American
teens are among 10 Gold
Award Girl Scouts recog-
nized as this year’s National
Young Women of Distinction.
Devika Kumar and Rajvi
Ranka, both 18, were selected
for their projects supporting
menstrual hygiene for girls in
rural India and a water conser-
vation technology to help
farmers in California respec-
tively.
Every year, Girl Scouts USA
recognizes 10 young women
as inspiring leaders, based on
their work transforming an
idea into an actionable plan
that has results at local,
national, and global levels.
Ranka, who lives in northern California, developed cost-effective soil moisture sensors
and readers that help farmers,
particularly those in rural and
underserved communities,
conserve water.
Based on Ranka’s technology, farmers on average saved
25 percent of their water use.
Her product has since received
a provisional patent. She is
focused now on using social
media to make it more widely
accessible, according to the
Girl Scouts website.
Devika, who lives in central
Texas, learned that in rural
areas of India, 23 percent of
girls stop attending school
because of limited information
and resources to support menstruation.
Kumar provided a sanitary-pad machine to a remote village in Rajasthan and taught
the women its operation. The
self-sustaining machine grinds
cotton, presses the cotton into
pads, and disinfects the pads,
according to the Girl Scouts
website.
Devika also spoke on menstrual hygiene during visits to
surrounding villages, presenting workshops and educational videos.
The Gold Award, open to
girls attending high school, is
considered the highest level of
achievement in Girl Scouts.
Created in 1980, it honors
problem-solving projects for
their immediate usefulness
and as well as their potential
for the future.
Girl Scouts Names Pair with Promise
Calif. and Texas teens win ‘Young Women of Distinction’ honor
T
Specialist in
South Asian
studies to
receive
$625,000 to
support work
Sunil Amrith, a Harvard
University historian, is the
only Indian-American named
2017 McArthur fellow.
Devika Kumar
Rajvi Ranka
INDIA ABROAD October 20, 2017 25 INDIAN-AMERICAN AFFAIRS
INDIAABROAD.COM
