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The study of South Asia is a rapidly
expanding field of inquiry at Harvard. Across the University, talented
faculty, students, and researchers are collaborating on innovative
projects that will significantly advance our capacity to study
this complex and vibrant region.
Below are summaries of a few of the many research projects housed
at Harvard University that focus on regions of South Asia, including
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
and the neighboring areas. The projects listed below are organized
according to their affiliation with Schools and faculties at
Harvard.
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Jump to a research project (organized by school affiliation)
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http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sainit/
The study of India, Pakistan, and South Asia generally is one in which the
Harvard Asia Center is uniquely positioned to add lasting value. While Harvard
has historically been a national leader in the study of East Asia, the University
recognizes the need to expand its capabilities in research and teaching
regarding South Asia, particularly modern India and Pakistan and their roles
in Asia and the world. By creating an integrated program of scholars, students,
and academic resources, the South Asia Initiative at the Harvard Asia Center
will quickly establish the “critical mass” of academic resources
and energy necessary to propel South Asian Studies into the ranks of Harvard’s
other nationally recognized Asia programs.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences plays a fundamental role in providing the
linguistic, cultural, and social scientific underpinnings to the more applied
and contemporary perspectives of the professional schools. The Asia Center
plays a key role in coalescing these activities and intellectual resources
University-wide around the topic of South Asia.
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sanskrit/events.html
The Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies provides students with an
opportunity to study the civilizations of South Asia and of related cultures
by developing competence in Sanskrit or another South Asian language, and
by examining the literature, the religious and philosophical traditions,
the aesthetic and artistic traditions, and the moral and social traditions
of that civilization.
While the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies is small, the resources
available to students at Harvard are not, and include related degree programs
and courses in Anthropology, Religions, Linguistics, Economics, Fine Arts,
Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, Social Medicine, and Near Eastern Languages,
among many others. In addition, the Sanskrit Library and the Widener and
Houghton Libraries contain a collection of reference works, periodicals,
and tape recordings of oral recitations, as well as one of the largest collections
of Sanskrit and Tibetan manuscripts and printed texts in the West.
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http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/
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https://cfserver.hsph.harvard.edu/cfdocs/worldmap/map.cfm
HSPH researchers are involved
in projects promoting global health on nearly every continent:
In this project, through collaboration
with colleagues at Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research
Institute in Chennai (Madras) India, the HSPH has initiated
a study of blood and dentine tooth lead levels in relation
to neurobehavioral outcomes among school-age children. Several
novel dimensions to this study are planned as well,
such as the assessment of potential gene-environment interactions.
The 1947 Partition of India constitutes one of the greatest
instances of voluntary and involuntary mass population migration
in modern history. This multi-year, multi-disciplinary project
is undertaking a demographic study of the Partition and is
working in conjunction with the South Asia Initiative. This
study will focus on the mortality, fertility, and morbidity
consequences in the short and long term, taking a public
health approach to the impact of mass migration on population
dynamics and well being.
This project is an environmental molecular epidemiologic
investigation of groundwater arsenic exposure, genetic polymorphisms,
and skin lesions
in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has experienced an epidemic of
arsenic intoxication because tube wells have been drilled
into alluvial deposits high in naturally
occurring inorganic arsenic. This case-control and repeated
measures investigation aims to clarify exposure-responses,
and modification of
adverse health effects of exposure by heritable (genetic)
and lifestyle (e.g., diet) factors.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bioethics
This program provides fellowships for
persons from Asia interested in research ethics. Fellows
spend one academic year with the non-degree program learning
about research ethics through class work, attendance at meetings,
seminars, and proposal development. To date five fellows from
South Asia—India (3), Nepal (1), and Pakistan (1)—have
attended and all are working on research projects funded through
the program; one fellow from Sri Lanka is currently in residence.
The program has sponsored at least one workshop on research
ethics in each country of the previous fellows.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/Academics/hpm/mhpdc/purpose.html
Managers of health care organizations
in developing countries face enormous challenges. While public
demand for services
has steadily grown, financial and human resources have become
increasingly unstable and insufficient. Managers are coping
daily with inadequate facilities and supplies, poorly trained
and/or poorly motivated staff, insufficient information for
decision-making, rapidly changing technology, and fluctuating
political support. There is tremendous pressure to initiate
positive change within such demanding circumstances. Health
sector reform has only increased the need for competent managers.
This Harvard School of Public Health program, sponsored by
the Health Systems Group and the Center for Continuing Professional
Education, has been developed to enhance the skills of mid-career
health care managers in developing countries. It allows the
mid-career manager who does not have the option of enrolling
in a lengthy degree program to enhance management skills
for organizational success.
https://cfserver.hsph.harvard.edu/cfdocs/hmi/index.cfm
Malaria, an ancient scourge that once
seemed on the brink of total elimination, has come back with
a vengeance. The
number of new cases of the disease has quadrupled in the
past five years, and the World Health Organization estimates
that between 300 and 500 million new cases occur each year.
In addition to causing untold suffering and disability, malaria
ranks as one of the world’s major killers, costing
two million people their lives annually, a death toll comparable
to that of AIDS. Children are especially vulnerable: year
after year, more children die from malaria than any other
single disease.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/hai/index.html
The Harvard AIDS Institute is dedicated
to promoting research, education, and leadership to end the
AIDS epidemic in Africa,
Asia, and other resources-scarce settings. As HIV prevalence
rates in Africa and around the world continue to accelerate,
the Institute has focused its efforts on accelerating the
pace of the discovery and conducting vaccine research and
on advancing the knowledge of HIV-1 subtype C. In January
2004, an HMI faculty of HIV/AIDS joined faculty from Wockhardt
Hospitals, Ltd. to deliver a comprehensive HIV/AIDS education
program in Mumbai, India. The goal was to train health care
providers in India to address the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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http://www.hmi.harvard.edu/main/home/index.php |
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Harvard Medical International (HMI) was established to extend
throughout the world Harvard Medical School’s tradition
of improving the quality of health care through excellence
in clinical medicine, medical education, and biomedical research.
Currently, HMI has associations with two institutions in India.
Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (SRMCRI), Chennai, India, is a private academic medical center with a 1,050-bed teaching hospital. Awarded “deemed university” status by the government of India, SRMCRI has autonomous degree-granting authority and is dedicated to medical education, research, and health care. Since 1997, the HMI-SRMCRI alliance has sparked collaborations that have resulted in significant contributions to research in public health and clinical areas. Working with HMI, SRMCRI has established student and faculty exchange programs with HMS, integrated new teaching methods into their curriculum, and has collaborated on CME programs for primary care providers in the community. HMI is assisting SRMCRI in ongoing professional development for faculty and physicians, development of a hospital quality program, and curriculum development initiatives.
Wockhardt Hospitals, Ltd., headquartered
in Mumbai, India, owns and operates a network of subspecialty
hospitals in India. Since 2000, HMI has been working with
Wockhardt on education and training programs, the development
of facilities and clinical programs, and the implementation
of operating systems across its hospital network that will
improve patient care, staff training and development, and
quality management. In progress are the development of concept
designs for additional hospitals in Bangalore, Kolkata, and
Mumbai. HMI provided educational inputs and technical advice
for the Wockhardt Heart Hospital that opened in Mumbai in
the summer of 2002 as a cardiac specialty hospital. Along
with Wockhardt Heart Hospital, Wockhardt Hospitals Mumbai
has subsequently added additional specialty centers including
orthopedic, neurological, ophthalmologic, and minimally invasive
surgery. As part of the hospital’s quality plan, HMI
is working with a multidisciplinary hospital management team
based at Wockhardt Heart Hospital to establish quality benchmarks
that will ultimately be disseminated throughout the network.
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http://www.hds.harvard.edu |
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http://www.pluralism.org
The Pluralism Project documents and interprets the religious dimensions of the post-1965 immigration, looking especially at the Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, and Zoroastrian communities in the U.S. All of these have significant South Asian dimensions. This research has involved students and faculty at HDS and FAS and has engaged scholars of religion, geography, and anthropology. The scope of research includes the largest and most accurate database of these religious communities in the country, accessible on a state-by-state basis; a history of each tradition in its U.S. context; brief portraits and extended case studies of particular Hindu temples, etc.; analysis of the multiple ways in which each religious tradition has adapted to the American context; and analysis of particular civic issues that have arisen in the American context for members of these religious traditions (especially civil rights issues, workplace issues, zoning cases, religious accommodation in schools, etc.). Because of the nature of the so-called “new immigration” which continues to maintain dynamic ties with the country of origin, this study also includes tracking the relationships between religious communities in the U.S. and South Asia.
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http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ |
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http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/
The Belfer Center for Science and International
Affairs is the hub of the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s
research, teaching, and training in international security
affairs, environmental and resource issues, and science and
technology policy. The Center’s mission is to provide
leadership in advancing policy-relevant knowledge about the
most important challenges of international security and other
critical issues where science, technology, environmental policy,
and international affairs intersect.
ENRP at the Kennedy School of Government
is at the center of Harvard University’s research, teaching,
and outreach on public policy. The global threat of climate
change is a primary research focus for ENRP. Through multiple
initiatives sponsored predominantly by the U.S. EPA, ENRP analyzes
means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nationally and globally,
through market incentives and international research and development
implementation.
ENRP research has focused on a detailed review of energy
policies in India and China. The ongoing project on India
includes extensive field interviews; work with the Indian
government on the country’s approach to climate change,
and participation in U.S.-India Academies of Science exchanges
in energy policy and issues.
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http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/ |
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http://projects.gsd.harvard.edu/cte/
The mission of the Center for
Technology and Environment (CTE) at the
Harvard Design School is to improve global environments
through innovative and progressive land use planning
and design and the application of advanced technologies.
The purpose of this initiative is to efficiently and effectively
address the development challenges of India in the 21st century. In particular,
the challenge of the continued growth of the urban centers puts increasing
pressure on the existing built environment and infrastructure as well as
swelling urbanization into rural and natural environments. The reuse and
reclamation of degraded landscapes become of the utmost importance in balancing
economic growth with credible and sustainable development strategies.
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http://www.law.harvard.edu/ |
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http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/HRP/
Established in 1984, the Human
Rights Program (HRP) carries on a range of activities
and projects that extend through the School curriculum
and beyond, into the worlds of scholarship and human
rights activism. Its pursuits are intended to foster
a critical understanding and active knowledge of
human rights. The activities respond to the dual
aims of
the program, which are to bring human rights issues
into the internal life of the School, and to contribute
to the external human rights movement through scholarship,
clinical work, educating students to participate
in it, and hosting visiting fellows. HRP’s
externally oriented projects have involved collaborations
with
international NGOs in the United States, Europe,
and the Middle East. Many projects have led to publications
covering topics such as Business and Human Rights,
the Arab Human Rights Movement, and the role of Truth
Commissions. Publications are available in print
and
on the website address listed above. HRP has also
sponsored conferences and lectureships. In April
2005, Judge
C.J. Weeramantry, a Former Justice of the Supreme
Court of Sri Lanka, was a featured speaker.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/studorgs/asia_law_society/
The Harvard Asia Law Society
is an organization that brings together students
and faculty members with an interest in Asia—whether
the interest is academic, social, professional, or
simply personal.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/pifs/
Founded in 1986, the Program
on International Financial Systems (PIFS) conducts
the highest quality international research, provides
an international forum for exchange of ideas, gives
public policy advice to governments, and educates international
lawyers.
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http://www.hbs.edu/ |
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http://www.asiabusinessconference.org
The Asia Business Conference
is a joint effort of the Harvard Business School,
the Harvard Law School, and the Kennedy School
of Government. Held every year on the campus of
the Harvard Business School, the Conference is
the largest Asia-related conference in North America.
The two-day event brings together political and
business leaders, academics, and students to discuss
issues related to Asian economic and political
development. In 2005, the conference focused on
exploring the dynamics of business value creation
in Asia.
http://www.hbs.edu/global/
The Business School has helped
establish some of the finest business schools in Europe,
Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. It has also offered
Executive Education programs that have brought its highly
effective case method of teaching to leading executives
and academics from many countries. Educators around the
world use cases developed by HBS faculty. Over the past
five years, 31 cases have been written on topics relating
to South Asia.
Today, the HBS Global Initiative is building on this legacy
to address the rapidly evolving needs of an increasingly
global marketplace. This effort not only helps faculty learn
about the latest business developments and best practices
wherever they occur, but also enables them to contribute
to these communities by studying emerging regional problems,
by developing a greater range of international cases, and
by aiding the development of educational and research institutions.
The HBS Global Initiative will inaugurate its newest research
center in Mumbai, India, in March 2006.
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/studentlife/clubs/asiabusiness.html
The Asia Business Club (ABC) provides
the HBS community with a convenient channel to share ideas
and knowledge about Asia and fosters long-term relationships
among its members, HBS alumni, and Asian business leaders.
http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/alumni_network/clubs.html
The Harvard Business School sponsors
two Alumni Clubs in South Asia: the HBS Association of
India, located in Mumbai, and the HBS Club of Pakistan,
located in Karachi.
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