DIL Futures: Exploring the present and future of the AIIS Digital India Learning initiative Artwork

American Institute of Indian Studies Podcast

The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) was founded nearly sixty years ago to further the knowledge of India in the United States by supporting American scholarship on India. The programs of AIIS foster the production of and engagement with scholarship on India, and promote and advance mutual understanding between the citizens of the United States and of India. AIIS seeks to provide access to scholarship about India to a wide and diverse audience.Through this podcast series, we hope to explore various exciting AIIS initiatives and engage with our current and former fellows, students, instructors, and researchers in this challenging time for connection.

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American Institute of Indian Studies Podcast

DIL Futures: Exploring the present and future of the AIIS Digital India Learning initiative

April 06, 2025 • The American Institute of Indian Studies • Season 3 • Episode 1

In this episode, we explore the bright and fascinating futures of the AIIS Digital India Learning initiative. Launched in 2019 as a new effort from AIIS President Sumathi Ramaswamy, the DIL program has already awarded several rounds of grants to senior scholars and students creating digital projects on India from across the spectrum of disciplines and methodologies. The initiative has funded work on everything from digital resources on urban planning, to bhakti or devotional digital archives, to image archives of 18th century South Indian textiles, and oral epics and clay modeling digital exhibits.

Joining us today to talk about the current state of the DIL initiative and its broad and promising futures, is James Nye, Director of the Digital South Asia Library and an associate of the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago; Gil Ben-Herut, Professor in the Religious Studies Department, University of South Florida; Haimonti Dutta, Associate Professor of Management Science and Systems in the School of Management at the University of Buffalo; Jajwalya Karajgikar, Applied Data Science Librarian for the University of Pennsylvania; and Deepthi Murali, Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University.

www.indiastudies.org/digital-scholarship/

Produced by AIIS
Intro and Outro music: “Desh” by Stephen Slawek