Special Issue on The State of India Studies in the United States
Editors: Sumit Ganguly and Alyssa Ayres

Introduction: The State of India Studies in the United States, 2006
by Sumit Ganguly and Alyssa Ayres

Halfway through the first decade of the twenty-first century, interest in India has exploded in the United States in a very public way. That India's importance now appears self-evident marks a new phase for India studies in the US; the study of India has percolated beyond the narrow confines of academia to include broad public audiences through trade publications and greater attention to India in the public sphere. This growing American interest in India comes at a time of shifting India interests in the US academy as well. The essays here represent an effort to understand this changing balance of interests both within academic disciplines, as well as beyond the academy. Even with the palpable upswing in perceptions of and interest in India, however, there is still room for growth. While the study of India has in some spheres been growing, in others it has been experiencing stagnation if not retrenchment in comparison with previous decades.

Beyond Disciplines: India Studies in the United States
by Alyssa Ayres

This essay surveys India studies in the spaces outside university disciplinary categorizations of political science, anthropology, religion, economics, and history in the United States. The essay begins with an institutional history of India studies in the US. I then take a broad view of India scholarship defined beyond the ivory tower, which allows us to perceive a flourishing new space of India studies. This new space has, for better or for worse, begun to eclipse the traditional disciplinary fields in the public sphere of discussion on India. I argue that, barring some major rethink of the relationship of universities and their role in society, the public sphere in the United States will increasingly look to this new space—as it already has begun to do—for its India knowledge rather than to the traditional disciplines, which suggests challenge as well as opportunity for the role of India scholars within the disciplines.

Economics, Economists, and the Indian Economy
by John Adams

This chapter opens by discussing the very long history of interest in India’s economy and economic policy, running back over two millennia to Kautilya. The second section sketches the engagement of American economists in India’s planning and development processes after the end of the Second World War. Economic reasoning, economic processes, and economic policies have been persistent elements in India’s intellectual baggage. The third part considers the dialectical relationship between economics and the other social sciences and humanities. The fourth section presents ten propositions that capture the main dimensions of the relationship between U.S. academic economists and India centers in campus environments. A highlight is a synthesis of reactions to these propositions offered by economists and non-economists involved in the economist-center relationship. The conclusion points to new potentials for fruitful exchanges with faculty members who belong to the South Asian diaspora and reside in departments, such as business or the sciences, that have traditionally not been affiliated with India centers and programs.

The State of Political Science and Security Studies of India in the United States: Increased Importance but Declining Academic Attention
by Arthur Rubinoff

More attention was paid by U.S. institutions of higher learning to the politics of India and security issues concerning South Asia during the cold war when the region was marginal to American interests and the now significant immigrant community was practically nonexistent than at present when India’s dynamic economy has attracted the attention of Americans and the nuclearized subcontinent is a concern to Washington. Departments of political science have de-emphasized area studies at the very time the federal government is encouraging them to train specialists with language capabilities and cultural expertise necessary to conduct the war against terrorism. This article analyzes that dichotomy by documenting the attrition of teaching resources in the field despite the government’s new mandate, and explaining what needs to be done to remedy the situation. In doing so, it assesses the contributions made by American scholars who teach at universities in the United States.

The Study of Indian Religions in the US Academy
by Christian Lee Novetzke

In this essay, I will review the history of the study of Indian religions in the US Academy, discuss the present state of the study of Indian religions in the academy, and speculate on its future. The article highlights trends in scholarship; the importance of interdisciplinarity; the presence of the study of Indian religions in higher education, academic organizations, publications, and funding and award programs; and controversies regarding the representation of Indian religions.

The American Anthropology of India
by Kelly D. Alley

The American anthropology of India has a fairly lengthy and detailed history as the area studies go, drawn in part by its association with related disciplines in the sciences and humanities and through interaction with anthropologists in other countries. In terms of method and theory, the anthropological study of India has evolved closely with Indian sociology, overlapping topically with religious studies, political science, geography and literary studies. In this paper, I will explore the role of anthropology in India studies by summarizing the professional motivations, interdisciplinary pursuits, and topical interests of anthropologists. In the latter half of the paper, I will look in detail at the last ten years of scholarly contributions made by anthropologists to the study of India.

The Study of Indian History in the US Academy
by Benjamin B. Cohen

This article reviews the trajectory of the study of India’s history in the US academy. From its earliest Orientalist beginnings to more recent postmodern twists and turns, the study of India has paralleled and penetrated the study of History more generally in the US.