News

Dr. Nicole Ranganath receives a grant under the UC Davis Humanities and Social Sciences Stimulating Exceptional and Essential Discovery (S.E.E.D.) Funding Program for her project titled: “The Poetics of Partition: A Sonic History of Collective Trauma in South Asia and the Diaspora.”

S.E.E.D. aims to support research activity historically underfunded and beyond the STEM fields.

Suvam Sabat is an undergraduate student majoring in History and minoring in Technology Management.

Title of Research: A Half-Union: The Success and Failures of Federalism in India during its first Decade

Faculty Advisor: Sudipta Sen

Ashwin Ramakrishna is an undergraduate student majoring in Economics and minoring in India/South Asia Studies.

Title of Research: The Racialization of Caste in Tamil Nadu

Organized by Amy Motlagh, Associate Professor Comparative Literature and ME/SA Studies

Bita Daryabari Presidential Chair in Persian Language and Literature

Hamid Kolahdouz, Powder and Smoke: The Safavi Military Revolution during the Reign of Shah Abbas I

History, UC Davis

Congratulations to our undergraduate peer advisor, Katherine Fierro, who received the Outstanding Peer Advisor Award at the 2023 UC Davis Academic Advising Fall Welcome for her excellent work with students, faculty, and the community!

Pooja Hazra, graduate student in History, received the first Daryabari dissertation fellowship in Iranian and Persian Studies for her project “An Empire of Scribes: A Social History of Indo-Persian Literary Elites in South Asia (c.1600-1700).”

On June 6th, 2023, Middle East/South Asia Studies held a ceremony for the dedication of our conference room to ME/SA Studies founder Suad Joseph, Distinguished Research Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, in recognition of her excellence in scholarship, teaching, service, and leadership in ME/SA and in both of her fields as well as her generous support of student research in ME/SA Studies.

Click here to read the full article featuring Punjabi Week in the Aggie!

Arabic Program: Rami Hemsi and Ruby Matsumoto

Hebrew Program: Ella Rappaport

Hindi/Urdu Program: Khushee Kochhar and Katherine Fierro

Persian Program: Aryan Nooshi

Punjabi Program: Noblejot Singh Sandhu

Congratulations to the thirteen undergraduate and graduate students who presented at the 2023 UC Davis Middle East/South Asia Studies Student Research Conference!

Jena Tufail, The Evil Eye and Shamanism in South Asian and Middle Eastern Communities

Amandeep Dhaliwal, The Incomplete Stories of Shattered Lives: 1947 Partition Narratives from Punjab

It is Arab-American and Southwest Asian-American heritage month. 

In honor of this, a new talk, Arab American Studies Now! featuring our affiliated faculty Dr. Suad Joseph, Dr. Stacy Farenthold, and Dr. Sunaina Maira will be happening on April 19th from 5-7pm at the Alumni Center AGR Hall.

The theme of the night will be: 

What is Arab American Studies?

What is its history?

Why does it matter now?