2023 Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia

In-person: 240 Capen Hall, University at Buffalo

Panel Chair: Dr. Samina Raja, University at Buffalo

Imaan Azeem, Habib University, “Language and Identity in a Post-colonial Context: An ethnographic study amongst students in Karachi” 

Rajkishore Mukherjee, University of Calcutta, “Identity, and its Role in South Asian Democracies”

Malavika Kannan, Stanford University, “Spirited Wives: Critiquing Early Nationalism Through the Life-Writings of 20th Century Women” 

Panel Chair: Dr. Nadine Shaanta Murshid, University at Buffalo 

Caitlyn Marentette, University of Pennsylvania, “Emotion, Language, and Identity Politics in East Pakistan”

Neha Melwani, University at Toronto, “Creating Colonial Identities: The Impacts of British Colonial Forestry on Indian People” 

Spoorthi Niranjan, FLAME University, “Caste Resistance to Caste Assimilation: The Brahminization of the Lingayat Community”

Kavya Srikanth, Stanford University, “Linguistic Identity Formation in Independent India”

Panel Chair: Dr. Suparna Soni, Buffalo State University

Clara Walling, Hamilton College, “Artistic Dreaming and the Role of Sound in Diasporic Longing”

Leela Cullity, Occidental College, “Cross-Cultural Love in the South Asian Diaspora: A Comparative Analysis of Michael Showalter’s The Big Sick and Mira Nair’s The Namesake”

Nithya Balakrishnan, Michigan State University, “A Queen by any Other Name: The Construction of Hijras in Indian Cinema”

Panel Chair: Dr. Christopher Lee, Canisius College 

Vansh Ruhela, University of Toronto, “The Quota-Caste System: A Double-Edged Sword”

Kush Chaudhari, Vanderbilt University, “The Complexity of the Hindu Mother Cow Gives Rise to Diverse Hindu American Perspectives”

Jaret Rushing, Vanderbilt University, “Conceiving Hindu-Muslim Translation: Shared Materiality and Kinship in the Indo-Persian Cosmopolis”

New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif 

“Being the First Muslim Woman Elected to the New York City Council: 

What This Means For the Muslim Community and the Future of our Democracy”

The fifth annual Rustgi South Asian Undergraduate Research Conference is made possible by a generous gift from the families of Dr. Vinod Rustgi and Dr. Anil Rustgi, as well as funding from the University at Buffalo Asia Research Institute and Asian Studies Program.