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Sunila Kale

Prof. Sunila S. Kale is associate professor of international studies at the University of Washington. Her research and teaching focus on Indian and South Asian politics, energy studies, the political economy of development, and the history of capitalism. She is the author of Electrifying India (Stanford, 2014), Mapping Power (OUP, 2018), and “Rural Land Dispossession in China and India” (Journal of Peasant Studies, 2020). She completed her BA from the University of Chicago and her PhD from the University of Texas.

In 2020, India’s Railway Ministry announced that the railways would resurrect the practice of selling chai (tea) to its millions of customers the old-fashioned way, in kulhads, the small mud-clay cups that are meant to be used once and discarded. Prof. Kale’s Fulbright research asks whether and how policies such as the kulhad program support and reproduce modes of informal, artisanal work that persist despite developmental ideologies that have long predicted their demise. In her project, she is focusing on small-scale, labor-intensive informal production in urban India by looking at the work of traditional potters, or kumbhars, in western India.

Prof. Jeremy Rinker is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of North Carolina Greensboro’s Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, where he is currently engaged in research that explores the intersections between peacebuilding, collective trauma, and systems of oppression. Prof. Rinker graduated with a PhD from George Mason University’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (now called the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution) in 2009. His masters’ degree (2001) is from the University of Hawaii in Asian Religion. He holds a bachelor’s degree (dual major, 1995) from the University of Pittsburgh in Philosophy and Political Science.

Prof. Rinker’s research and writings have long focused on South Asian communities, untouchability, human rights, and narrative meaning making in identity-based social justice movements. His past work emphasizes the skills and practices of nonviolent conflict transformation in social justice movements decision making processes, justice advocacy, and identity formation. With background and expertise in restorative justice conferencing, program development, narrative analysis, and social movement organization, Prof. Rinker is also the editor of the Journal of Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis, an innovative new journal of peaceful social exploration and human flourishing. Prof. Rinker’s past publications include two books as well as academic articles in Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, Peace and Change, The Canadian Journal of Peace Research, and the Journal of Peace Education, among other scholarly outlets. Prof. Rinker was a 2013 Fulbright-Nehru awardee in Banaras, India where he taught and engaged in research through the Malviya Centre for Peace Research at Banaras Hindu University. He is currently writing a 3rd book on being trauma aware and emotionally mindful in conflict practice.

The social and psychological obstacles that past collective traumas place upon marginalized communities represents a deep intellectual lacuna in the social scientific understanding of structural violence (Galtung, 1969) and conflict transformation (Lederach, 1997, 2005). Only recently has the emerging field of peace and conflict studies (PCS) begun to take the embodiment of trauma in collectives seriously as an important dynamic variable in social conflict. Much work remains to be done to center collective trauma in our understanding of sustainable peace. As a result, marginalized communities continue to suffer persistent systemic and structural violence and indifference to their unique pasts. This gap in the research and practice literature represents a critical opportunity space for developing unique community engaged peacebuilding interventions which value unique identity differences. This is the seedbed of democracy, and Prof. Rinker’s research and teaching as a 2022-23 Fulbright-Nehru awardee would provide the space and structure to envision a more inclusive framework for trauma-informed peacebuilding while in the context of the world’s largest democracy.

Research on the diverse Indian social system provides unique opportunities to build awareness about collective historical trauma and solidarities with marginalized identities and communities in the United States, and elsewhere. The post-colonial context of modern Indian society can be described as a petri dish for this type of work. Prof. Rinker’s Fulbright-Nehru project seeks to engage both in-person and with B.R. Ambedkar archives at Symbiosis University (SU) to develop a trauma-informed framework for indigenous and inclusive peace practice. His previous work on identity, rights, and narrative awareness (Rinker, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2013, 2009) raises a rich set of comparative qualitative questions about the important connections between protracted social conflict, memory, and collective historical trauma. Prof. Rinker’s proposed Fulbright-Nehru project aims to outline what inclusive peace would look like in a heterogeneous society with competing identities and communities. In developing a trauma-informed lens for both understanding and nonviolently engaging social exclusion, this work aims to map potential solidarities among social justice and human rights social movements. Symbiosis University’s (SU’s) strong reputation in the social sciences provides an ideal mooring for this theory building research and teaching practice. Being able to collaboratively collect data and teach alongside social scientists and critical liberal arts thinkers will allow him to develop a grounded theory framework for trauma-informed peacebuilding. In developing his critical pedagogy through teaching Indian undergraduate students in peace and conflict resolution studies, his research and teaching will reinforce each other. Through teaching, interviews, and a series of workshops/focus circles developed in partnership with Symbiosis University, the Manuski Center (a human rights center also located in Pune), and the Ambedkar Museum and Memorial, Prof. Rinker will inductively explore the role collective trauma in developing peace praxis. With this proposed Nehru-Fulbright award he hopes to share an action science-oriented research experience at SU’s Center for International Education (SCIE), the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Museum and Memorial, and the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies. This experience will allow Prof. Rinker to both collect data and engage in archival research of India’s rich civil society and social movement history.

Anita Charles

Dr. Anita Charles is Director of Teacher Education and Senior Lecturer at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. In the past, she has taught a wide variety of ages and abilities, from first graders through adult learners, including more than ten years as a high school English teacher.

Dr. Charles has conducted many workshops on a wide range of topics, including autism, special education, digital literacies, and teaching methodologies.

As a Fulbright Scholar in India in 2016, Dr. Charles taught undergraduates and explored issues of literacy and inclusion in pre-K-12 schools. Subsequently, she engaged in research on inclusive education for children with disabilities in India.

Dr. Charles has a PhD from University of New Hampshire in the area of Adolescent Literacy. Her dissertation on digital, social, and academic literacies won two national awards. She holds an MEd from Harvard and a BA from Dartmouth College. She has published numerous articles as well as several book chapters. In 2019, she also appeared on a nationally televised ABC news special with Diane Sawyer entitled “Screentime.”

For her Fulbright-Nehru grant, Dr. Charles plans to present on topics related to teacher education, literacy, inclusion and diversity, and/or similar areas of expertise. Her philosophy is based in progressive theory, which promotes a student’s learning process as one of teacher-student interaction, discovery, and growth, through a recognition of social and cultural contexts. In India, a number of initiatives strive to improve educational opportunities, processes, and outcomes for all children. In addition to teaching, she hopes to assist a host institution in curriculum/program development, participate in meetings as an active member of the organization, engage in local community outreach, and give presentations or workshops.

Siddhi Deshpande

Ms. Siddhi Deshpande is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University Schreyer Honors College, where she majored in Neurobiology with minors in Global Health and World Literature. In her time at Penn State, she pursued a variety of interests in public health and medicine. She completed an honors thesis in the Water, Health, and Nutrition lab, titled “Examining Water Insecurity as a Driver of Nutrition Transition Among Tsimane’ Adults in Lowland Bolivia”. Through this thesis, she found that water insecurity was associated with increased consumption of sugary beverages among Tsimane’ in Amazonion Bolivia. Furthermore, the level of market integration also played a role in probability of sugary beverage consumption. Her research in water insecurity, nutrition, and health in a global health setting sparked her interest in conducting similar research in India, which is the reason she applied to the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship! Besides her research, Ms. Deshpande also took a broader interest in environmental health. She co-founded and co-led an organization called Sunrise Movement State College, where she worked with her community to organize local climate demonstrations, advocated for climate justice measures, and campaigned for divestment from the fossil fuel industry. She believes that community-wide advocacy and the will to confront the reality of climate change will help achieve climate justice in our communities.

After completion of the Fulbright-Nehru project, Ms. Deshpande plans to attend medical school and attain a dual MD/MPH degree. In university, Ms. Deshpande worked as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), where she treated 100+ patients on a 911 ambulance service. Enjoying the work of treating patients but also hoping to serve her community on a larger scale, Ms. Deshpande hopes to combine an education in medicine and public health to serve as a physician who advocates for her community and works towards climate justice. She envisions herself conducting environmental health research and influencing policy alongside her responsibilities in clinical medicine.

In India, growing rates of obesity, insulin resistance and cardiometabolic disease are present alongside malnutrition and hunger across India. Climate change has been understudied in connection to this nutrition transition, despite increased drought across India and a rapid demographic change as a result. Food insecurity is an important mechanism of the consequent public health impacts; Ms. Deshpande plans to investigate how declining agricultural productivity, driven by climate change, causes nutrition transition from undernutrition to obesity among the rural poor. Ms. Deshpande is studying under Dr. Angeline Jeyakumar at Savitraibai Phule Pune University, where she is conducting research in Pune and Latur.

Sharolyn Pollard-Durodola

Dr. Sharolyn Pollard-Durodola is a Professor in the English Language Learning program in the Department of Early Childhood, Multilingual, and Special Education, in the College of Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She received a BA degree in Romance Languages from Mount Holyoke College, a MAT from Columbia-Teachers College, an MS in Developmental and Remedial Reading from City College of New York, and an EdD in Curriculum and Development with an emphasis in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Houston. Her scholarship attends to the language and literacy development of multilingual students. Central to her scholarship is developing school-based interventions, evaluating their impact on the language and conceptual knowledge development of PK-3 multilingual learners and investigating how to improve the quality of language practices that are embedded in subject area instruction (e.g., science, social studies). She has been the co-principal investigator on two IES grants titled Words of Oral Reading and Language Development, focusing on preschool language/literacy development and is the co-principal investigator for Project E3: Enhancing, Engaging, and Empowering Teachers for the Next Generation of English Learners funded by The Office of English Language Acquisition (OLEA), National Professional Development Program. She was also the Senior Researcher (Nevada) for the multi-site Project International Consortium for Multilingual Excellence in Education (ICMEE), also a National Professional Development Grant funded by OELA. These OELA grants focus on supporting general education teachers of multilingual learners via professional development approaches (e.g., eLearning, Saturday Advanced Professional Learning Institutes, My Teaching Partner coaching) with attention to the influence of teacher beliefs and attitudes on their instructional practices. She has published in peer-reviewed journals such as Early Education and Development, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, The Elementary School Journal, Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, The Reading Teacher, and Bilingual Research Journal.

In 2019, Dr. Pollard-Durodola traveled through India, noting its multilingual presence, which inspired her to consider how Indian teachers are able to promote multilingual learning during the early primary school years in a country where many languages, mother tongues, and dialects are spoken. She investigates how beliefs (teachers, school administrators, parents) about multilingualism (e.g., learning English, Hindi, Mother Tongue) may influence the implementation of India’s Three Language Model priorities and how the history of India’s language education policies may provide insights about current tensions. This Fulbright-Nehru projects seeks to provide insights about the factors that contribute to or hinder early childhood multilingualism in similar global settings where immigration patterns challenge educational systems to promote linguistic equity.

Christian Novetzke

Prof. Christian Novetzke received a BA from Macalester College, an MTS from Harvard University, and a PhD from Columbia University. Prof. Novetzke is Professor of South Asia Studies, Religious Studies, and Global Studies at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He is also Professor of the Comparative History of Ideas at UW. Prof. Novetzke’s books include The Quotidian Revolution (Columbia University Press 2016) and Religion and Public Memory (Columbia University Press 2008). He is also the co-author (with Andy Rotman and William Elison) of Amar Akbar Anthony: Bollywood, Brotherhood, and the Nation (Harvard University Press 2016) and co-editor (with Jack Hawley and Swapna Sharma) Of Bhakti and Power (University of Washington Press 2019). Among his awards, Prof. Novetzke was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2018 and a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow in 2013. His current projects include a book on yoga as political theory and practice with co-author Sunila S. Kale (under contract at Columbia University Press) and a book on the thought of Savitribai Phule, for which he was awarded the current Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship.

Savitribai Phule was born into an impoverished subaltern caste of Shudra agricultural workers in India in 1831. She became one of the first Shudra women in India to receive an education. She authored two books of political poetry in Marathi, each articulating her powerful vision for social justice and her fight against caste patriarchy. Her ideas about religion, caste, gender, and power made her one of the most important critical thinkers in Indian history. However, Savitribai Phule is hardly known outside of India. With Fulbright-Nehru’s support Prof. Novetzke hopes to complete his research on a book on the critical thought of Savitribai Phule.

Gokul Sampath

Gokul Sampath is a doctoral student in the International Development Group in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research broadly centers on understanding and overcoming barriers to safe and reliable water access to all in the developing world. Currently, Gokul’s work focuses on strategies to address exposure to dangerous drinking water contaminants in rural India, especially arsenic in groundwater.

Prior to joining MIT, Gokul worked as a senior research associate at Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), running randomized evaluations to measure the effectiveness of programs to reduce groundwater consumption in the drought-prone areas of western India. Gokul was a Fulbright-Nehru Student Researcher from 2014–2015 at A.N. College in Patna, Bihar. He completed his MA in Middle East, South Asian, and African studies at Columbia University, and his BS at the University of California, Davis.

Arsenic in groundwater is a major public health threat in eastern India. Lakhs of rural households are at elevated risk of cancer, stroke, and heart disease from exposure to arsenic in their primary drinking water source: the handpump tube wells on their home premises. Gokul’s Fulbright research is focusing on the social determinants of arsenic exposure in rural West Bengal. He is seeking to explain why households might choose an unsafe water source even when safe alternatives exist in their communities. By better understanding the constraints and norms that shape water-fetching decisions, he hopes to highlight ways to reduce arsenic exposure.

Priyamvada Nambrath

Priya Nambrath is a doctoral candidate in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation research focuses on the applied practice of mathematics and astronomy in the sociocultural life of medieval and pre-modern Kerala. More broadly, she is interested in the intellectual and scientific history of India with a focus on cultural encounters, archaic modernisms, patronage, and pedagogy. Language and literature, textual culture, and visual art constitute additional related areas of her focus. She is also interested in folk traditions of art and knowledge in South India, and the ocean-facing histories of the region.

Priya brings her previous training and work experience in science and mathematics to her current research interests in Indian scientific and educational history. She has taught university courses in Sanskrit and Malayalam language and literature and has published a translation of a Sanskrit play. She has also been a highly successful coach for competitive mathematics at the school level.

Under the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship, Priya is researching the pedagogical approaches and cultural concerns that shaped the mathematical culture of South India in the pre-colonial and early colonial periods, with a focus on the Kerala school of Indian mathematics. She is conducting archival research on untranslated mathematical materials composed both in Sanskrit and in the vernacular languages. Priya hopes that her research will contribute to increasing awareness about a plurality of scientific traditions and pedagogical strategies which can be profitably utilized in modern classrooms.

Kasey Jacob

Kasey Jacob earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology and sociology, with minors in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies, and Asian, Middle Eastern studies from The State University of New York at Cortland, New York.

In her undergraduate career, Kasey participated in her university’s study abroad program in Mangaluru, India. During this program, Kasey took sociology and religion courses at St. Aloysius College. She also completed an internship at Prajna Counseling Centre, a non-government organization involved in supporting, educating, and housing children from various challenging backgrounds. Kasey’s responsibilities as an intern included providing after-school support for youth and gathering qualitative data for the center’s reporting purpose.

Following her return from India, Kasey earned her remaining course credits through an internship at West Hill Refugee Welcome Center in Albany, New York. In order to assist in the long-term transition needs of refugee and immigrant families from Afghanistan, Sudan, and Burma, Kasey led a number of youth programs to support the social, academic, and personal growth of adolescents.

After graduation, Kasey was hired as a program coordinator at West Hill Refugee Welcome Centre. In this full-time role, she coordinates adult English-language courses for single mothers; recruits, trains, and supervises university-level interns and volunteers; supports additional adult and youth programming; and evaluates program effectiveness.

Kasey is passionate about immigrant and refugee support services, community building, and advocating for accessible and equitable educational opportunities for migrant and displaced youth. After completion of her Fulbright-Nehru scholarship award, Kasey hopes to earn a master’s in educational policy and leadership.

Kasey’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is implementing a peer-mentorship program for female adolescents so that they make a successful and stable transition into adulthood. Her research involves a group of female college students and a female adolescent group. The goal of the research is to connect the adolescent group to local organizations as well as develop several programs that support their social, academic, and personal growth.