Graduate Working Groups

Modern Asias & The Middle East: Connections, Mobility, and Migration

Modern Asias & the Middle East serves as an inter/transdisciplinary working group for graduate students interested in the entangled histories of modern Asia, Asian America(s), the Middle East, and the world, with the 20th century as the primary chronological backdrop. We examine the movements of people, ideas, and goods from/to/through Asia and the Middle East.

Contacts: Eleanor Lenoe (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); Cherene Aniyan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) 

Global Anti-Caste Thought

This working group seeks to deepen our engagement with the intellectual history of radical anti-caste thought and asks how we can build on these foundations to combat current forms of global casteism and virulent Hindutva. While primarily drawing on the legacies of well-known anti-caste thinkers like Phule, Ambedkar and Periyar, we also seek to center the work of lesser-known anti-caste thinkers from marginalized communities in India.

Contacts: Manohar Boda (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.); Nikaytaa Malhotra (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Asian Invasive Species: Cultural Images & Engagement

U.S. local communities’ engagement with invasive species, such as Spotted Lanternflies and Asian Carp, has garnered significant media attention in recent years. While these endeavors demonstrate passionate participation, they often carry an unsettling overtone of nativism and xenophobia. Members from the disciplines of Comparative Literature, Translation Studies, and Computer Sciences collaborate on mapping knowledge and images into a digital platform.

Contact: Xingming Wang (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)