Sikh Studies at Berkeley

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Amrit Kaur Ahluwalia Memorial Grant Program

The Center for South Asia Studies (CSAS) at the University of California, Berkeley, is devoted to enhancing scholarly understandings of Sikhism, its historical emergence in 16th- and 17th-century India, and its contemporary manifestations around the world. In particular, we seek to encourage Sikh Studies by supporting young scholars entering the field. The Amrit Kaur Ahluwalia Memorial Grant Program will provide a critical stimulus to the careers of promising Master's level students pursuing Sikh Studies.

[By "Master's level students," we mean graduate students beyond the first year of graduate study who are either conducting research for a Master's thesis or preparing to undertake preliminary research toward a doctoral thesis.]


Background

In 2000, CSAS established the Amrit Kaur Ahluwalia Memorial Lectures on Sikhism with the generous support of Dr. Joginder Singh Ahluwalia and family. This annual lecture series was designed to bring a well-known scholar to Berkeley to deliver a public address on some aspect of Sikhism: Sikh history, language and literature, religion, culture, art or music.

Past speakers have included Dr. Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia (Vice Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala), Bhai Baldeep Singh (13th-generation singer of the Sikh Kirtan Marayada), and Dr. Avtar Brah (Birkbeck College, University of London).

While this lecture series has met the goals of its founders and significantly benefited Berkeley scholars and the wider community, we believe a program that focuses on providing research opportunities to younger scholars will have an even greater long-term impact.

Mission

By annually providing grants for summer research to select graduate students, the Amrit Kaur Ahluwalia Memorial Grant Program will give young scholars at this critical juncture the opportunity to pursue their first serious research in Sikh Studies. We believe that this program will fulfill an important mission by drawing promising scholars to Sikh Studies, enabling them to embark upon exciting research agendas, and encouraging them to share their enthusiasm and knowledge with the wider community.

Recipients of Ahluwalia Grants will be required to present the results of their research at a public event. This annual symposium will be a direct link to the previous Amrit Kaur Ahluwalia Memorial Lectures and will continue to honor the Ahluwalia family's generosity. The symposium will be open to academics and the general public, and will be followed by a reception or private dinner.

In addition to the student grant recipients, CSAS and the Ahluwalia family will invite an established Sikh Studies scholar to attend the symposium and lead a discussion of the students' presentations. The symposium will serve to introduce these young scholars to the vibrant local Sikh community and the public at large.

Timeline

The Ahluwalia Grant Program will follow the annual schedule below:

  • April: Grant competition announced and widely publicized. Research areas of special interest may be emphasized in the announcement.
  • June: CSAS convenes a review committee; applications are reviewed and grant recipients selected.
  • June–September: Grant recipients conduct research at their chosen field sites, anywhere in the world.
  • October: Grant recipients send reports detailing their research activities and initial findings to CSAS, which are shared with the Ahluwalia family.
  • April: Grant recipients present the results of their research at a symposium at UC Berkeley organized by CSAS.


Students and Projects

Graduate students from UC Berkeley will be given first priority, followed by students in the UC system, before students nationwide will be considered. In the first years of the program, the committee may also consider giving small awards to outstanding undergraduates if the pool of qualified graduate student applicants is not sufficiently large.

Ideally, the research should be rigorous and extensive enough to form the basis of a Master's thesis or PhD dissertation proposal. We expect that many students will travel to India; some may conduct research at archives in the US or UK; others may pursue ethnographic work among diaspora Sikh communities.

How to Apply

The application deadline for research in Summer or Fall 2006 is June 1. Please include the following in your application:

1. A 2-page project proposal
2. A letter stating the need for research funding
3. A budget
4. Two letters of recommendation, with one of these from your advisor
Address for Applications:
Sanchita Saxena
Vice Chair
Center for South Asia Studies
10 Stephens Hall, #2310
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-2310
(510) 642-3608 (phone)
(510) 643-5793 (fax)
Email: sanchitas (AT) berkeley.edu
Website: ias.berkeley.edu/southasia