IU Bloomington: India Studies Program

"The India Studies Program at Indiana University is an important center of excellence on a subject that has been to a great extent neglected in American academia. Led by Sumit Ganguly, the Program offers significant opportunities of research and teaching on the subcontinent. It is good to see a traditional neglect in the U.S. academic establishment being so nicely corrected. I enjoyed my visit there greatly and was certainly very impressed.

Amartya Sen
Lamont Professor of Economics, Harvard
and Nobel Prize winner in Economics

"The India Studies Program is a jewel in the crown of Indiana University. On a visit to Bloomington, I saw first-hand the many ways in which the Program is contributing to the University and the community at large. Beyond that, it is contributing to Indian studies in the U.S. and world-wide. Under the directorship of Sumit Ganguly, the India Studies Program has made new academic opportunities of the highest caliber available to students; it is responsible for bringing such distinguished speakers as Amartya Sen to the University every semester; and it is a model of what other universities should strive for."

Strobe Talbott
President, Brookings Institution
and former Deputy Secretary of State

"The India Studies program at Indiana University is both refreshingly timely in its topical interests and yet rooted in the history and culture of India and greater South Asia. Sumit Ganguly, who is probably the most astute and experienced (and also even-handed) expert on contemporary India in academic America today, has developed in a few short years a center that provides a platform for not only scholars but also others in a range of fields and with differing points of view, from India and North America. Even a casual visitor feels the dynamism of the place."

Barbara Crossette
Former New York Times bureau chief in New Delhi
and author of several books on the region

"At a time when South Asia looms ever more crucially in American foreign policy, Indiana University has taken an important leap forward by developing a world-class India Studies department focused, among other things, on the region's most important security issues. I was delighted to be invited to join the conversation the department is creating."

Steve Coll
Staff Writer, The New Yorker

"Indiana University’s India Studies Program is focusing much-needed attention on a complex and fascinating part of the world that continues to grow more important to the United States. Sumit Ganguly and his colleagues deserve enormous credit for bringing their intellectual powers and analytic acumen to bear on the problems facing the Subcontinent—and for leading the rest of us in understanding what the solutions might be."

J. Peter Scoblic
Executive Editor, The New Republic

Modern India has more than a billion citizens, nearly 16 percent of the world’s population. India today is a reflection of millennia of interaction and exchange across a wide spectrum of cultures and civilizations. Critical contemporary intellectual, political, and social issues—including security, social equality, economic and political development, and the role of historical relationships—are all being debated in India, and how these issues are addressed is of vital interest to the world community. The India Studies Program at Indiana University provides for the interdisciplinary study and critical analysis of the Indian subcontinent and its peoples from ancient times to the present. The primary focus of the India Studies Program is on modern India. Yet in order to understand present-day India, it is important to have basic knowledge of the great periods in history that have shaped modern India. This approach requires a sophisticated understanding of the country’s highly developed arts, music, literature, drama, philosophy, religions, and social and political structures. In addition to providing an overall, comprehensive education about Indian civilizations, the program allows for more specialized work in (a) literary and performance studies, (b) philosophical and religious studies, and (c) social, political, and historical studies. The India Studies Program also offers beginning and intermediate-level courses in several Indian languages. All students in the program are encouraged to take language classes, as well as to consider study abroad in India.

To enhance the experience of students and members of the broader Indiana University community, the India Studies Program sponsors lectures, performances, and films throughout the year for the general public. The program also provides educational materials and information to elementary and secondary school teachers throughout the United States. These outreach efforts are made possible by donations from individuals, families, corporations, foundations, and other organizations.