Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program
Field of Specialization:	History
Name:	Mr. David Boyk
Official Address:	University of California Berkeley, California (Ph.D. Candidate)
Indian Host Institution:	Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Duration of Grant & Start Date :	Duration: 9 months August 2011

Brief Bio:

David Boyk is a Ph.D. student at the UC Berkley. He earned his Bachelor's degree in history and cognitive science from UC Berkeley. Aside from his research on urban social history in India, he is also interested in popular culture, movies, and music. Mr. Boyk's current Fulbright-Nehru research investigates urbanity and provinciality in north India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He focuses on Patna, in Bihar, which re-emerged as an important center, after decades of economic and political decline, when local activists successfully demanded the creation of a new province, with Patna as its capital. At the same time, scholars like Shad Azimabadi, K.P. Jayaswal, and Khuda Bakhsh Khan glorified Patna's ancient and modern achievements through their writings and public institutions. Despite this political and cultural renewal, Calcutta and the other metropolises of the twentieth century continued to overshadow Patna.