This talk looks at the ways in which the new diasporic subject, drawn into circuits of economic migration to the West, both underwrites and pries open the settlements of neoliberal multicultural Empire. This analysis focuses on Mohsin Hamid's novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), examining how in focalizing US racial formations through the lens of Pakistani new immigration and US-Pakistani neocolonial relations, the novel brings out the deep links between US racial forms and the global restructuring of capitalism after the 1970s and presses for new understandings of racial and postcolonial agency to reckon with these changes. Through its protagonist, the narrative insistently links financial developments in the metropolis to (under)developments in the South. In this way, the novel retools anti-colonial and anti-racist critique to better grapple with the global structures of the new imperialism, which works through “weapons of mass salvation” such as financial aid, liberalized immigration policies, and multicultural recognition, as much as through weapons of mass destruction such as structural adjustment, detention and deportation, and high-tech warfare.

Susan Koshy is associate professor of English and Asian American Studies, Faculty Fellow at the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (OVCRI) and former director of the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her work on race, gender, sexuality, and diaspora is part of a larger theoretical interest in modernity, (neo)colonialism, and the processes of globalization. Her research is situated at the intersection of globalization theory, postcolonial studies, and ethnic studies and interrogates the boundaries of these disciplinary formations. She is the author of Sexual Naturalization (Stanford, 2004), winner of the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award and co-editor of three edited collections, Transnational South Asians (Oxford, 2008), Colonial Racial Capitalism (Duke, 2022), and “Monolingualism and Its Discontents” (PMLA, 2022). She is currently completing work on her book titled Manifest Diversity. Her articles on Asian American literature, postcolonial studies, immigration and naturalization law, neoliberal racialization, human rights, transnational feminist theory, and diaspora studies, have appeared in PMLA, ALH, Yale Journal of Criticism, Boundary 2, Differences, Diaspora and Social Text. She completed her BA and MA from Delhi University and her PhD from UCLA.

Co-sponsored by the Asian Diaspora Studies Reading Group and Literatures in English

Graduate students: you are invited to participate in a workshop session with Prof. Koshy on Friday, September 16, 9-11 a.m., organized by Bonnie Chung (Ph.D. student, Literatures in English). There are only 7 slots available for the Friday morning session. To RSVP and for more details, please email Alexis Boyce (ab449@cornell.edu) ASAP.

Please join Cornell's Society for Buddhist Studies for the first lecture of the '22-'23 academic year, by Prof. Monima Chadha. Prof. Chadha is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Monash University, Australia, and the inaugural Jack Karp Fellow at Cornell's Sage School of Philosophy.

Prof. Chadha researches the philosophy of mind in the classical Indian and contemporary western traditions. Her book, Selfless Minds (to be published by Oxford University Press), draws on Abhidharma-Buddhist philosophy and contemporary cognitive science to provide an account of conscious experiences, in particular subjectivity and agency, without positing the existence of subjects and agents.

While at Cornell, Dr. Chadha will be working on Vasubandhu’s Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa, “The Treatise on Action”, to develop an Abhidharma Buddhist account of moral responsibility without a self.

The talk is sponsored by the GPSA-FC, the Sage School of School of Philosophy, and the Department of Asian Studies, and is open to the entire Cornell community.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports college graduates conducting research or teaching in any field in more than 150 countries. Join this Einaudi Center Student Info Session to find out if Fulbright is right for you!

Applications are due in the fall. Students who wish to begin the program immediately after graduation should start the application process in their junior year.

The Einaudi Center administers the Fulbright program at Cornell. As the home of Cornell’s Fulbright program, we offer all the resources that students need to apply for prestigious Fulbright international study and research funding. Learn more about Fulbright at Cornell.

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Contact: fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu

The Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Program promotes ethical leadership and international research around the world—starting with the passionate leaders and learners found on campuses like Cornell.

Open to first- and second-year students, the two-year Laidlaw program provides generous support to carry out internationally focused research, develop leadership skills, engage with community projects overseas, and become part of a global network of like-minded scholars from more than a dozen universities.

Join this Einaudi Center Student Info Session to learn more about the program and application process. We’ll also share tips for approaching potential faculty research mentors and writing a successful application.

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Contact: laidlaw.scholars@cornell.edu

The Einaudi Center's Research Travel Grants for Graduate Students provide international travel support for Cornell graduate students conducting short-term research or fieldwork outside the United States.

If you’re traveling between the United States and a host country for activities directly related to your dissertation or thesis research, Einaudi can help you get there. Join this Einaudi Center Student Info Session to find out more.

If you love languages, our funding opportunities are for you! Learn one of more than 50 languages offered at Cornell with a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship or Rare and Distinctive Language Fellowship. Opportunities are open to both undergraduate and graduate students.

FLAS fellowships support students studying modern South Asian and Southeast Asian languages and related area studies. Funding is offered in collaboration with the Einaudi Center’s South Asia and Southeast Asia Programs.

RAD fellowships support students studying modern languages that are less frequently taught in the United States. Funding is offered by the Einaudi Center for intensive summer language study.

Join this hybrid Einaudi Center Student Info Session in person in Uris Hall G-08 or virtually (link below).

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides full funding for graduate and professional students conducting research or teaching in any field in more than 150 countries. (Open to U.S. citizens only.)

The Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program supports doctoral students conducting research in modern languages or area studies for six to 12 months. (Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents of the United States. Travel to Western European countries is not eligible.)

The Einaudi Center administers the Fulbright program at Cornell. As the home of Cornell’s Fulbright program, we offer all the resources that students need to apply for prestigious Fulbright international study and research funding. Learn more about Fulbright at Cornell.

Join this Einaudi Center Student Info Session to find out if Fulbright is right for you!

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Contact: fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu

Develop your dissertation on global issues with a toolkit of resources!

The Einaudi Dissertation Proposal Development Program (DPD) supports 12 PhD students annually. Applicants’ research projects must focus on global issues, but the proposed research setting may be international or domestic.

Over the course of the year, you’ll participate in seminars, workshops, and mentoring sessions and receive up to $5,000 for summer research. Join this Einaudi Center Student Info Session to find out how to apply!

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Contact: programs@einaudi.cornell.edu.