University of Wisconsin–Madison

Center for South Asia News

Prof. Darshana Mini and PhD student Shrinjita Biswas receive 4W Awards

Professor Darshana Mini (Communication Arts) received a 2026 4W Innovation Award for her project “Telegeographies of Indian Migration: Malayan Imaginaries.” CSA graduate student Shrinjita Biswas (Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies) received a 4W Emerging Scholars Award for her project on “Performing Activism, Performing Transformation: The Feminist Street Theatre Movement and Social Justice in India.” Congratulations Darshana and …

UW’s South Asian Languages Cataloging Specialist Jonathan Durr will serve a two-year term as the South Asia Specialist for the ALA Core Committee on Cataloging: Asian and African Materials (CC:AAM). 

Beginning July 1, UW’s South Asian Languages Cataloging Specialist Jonathan Durr will serve a two-year term as the South Asia Specialist for the ALA Core Committee on Cataloging: Asian and African Materials (CC:AAM).  Specialists serve as a vital liaison by keeping the area studies community informed of cataloging developments and consulting members on relevant issues coming …

CSA Professor Mitra Sharafi’s book Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia has just been published for open access

CSA Professor Mitra Sharafi’s book Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia has just been published for open access. Open Access publication of this book was made possible by research funding from the UW-Madison Law School. Download Professor Sharafi’s book here.

Prof Dharwadker featured in video production

Professor Aparna Dharwadker is one of six diasporic professional women in Madison featured in a video produced in conjunction with Forward Theatre’s production of the play Ironbound (Overture Centre, 29 January-15 February), by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok. The 25-minute video plays in a loop on a screen in The Playhouse lobby on the evenings when performances of …

54th Annual Conference on South Asia Call for Proposals

The UW-Madison Center for South Asia is grateful for your continued support of the Annual Conference on South Asia. Last year’s conference offered us the opportunity to welcome many first-time attendees to the ACSA community and connect with our vibrant community of scholars. The submission portal for the 54th Annual Conference on South Asia will …

New Study Abroad Program in South Asia

The UW-Madison Center for South Asia is pleased to announce a new, semester-long study abroad program at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, India beginning in the fall 2026 semester. Program dates are mid-June to mid-October 2026, and applications are due March 6, 2026.  Additional scholarship funding through the UW-Madison Study Abroad Office is available.

Prof. Mou Banerjee awarded Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize by HUP for book The Disinherited

CSA faculty member Mou Banerjee was awarded the Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize by the Harvard University Press Board of Syndics for her book The Disinherited: The Politics of Christian Conversion in Colonial India. The Wilson Prize honors the memory of Thomas J. Wilson, director of Harvard University Press from 1947 to 1967. It is …