Shailaja Paik: Indian-American professor gets over Rs 6.7 crore "genius" grant for research on Dalit women

Shailaja Paik, an Indian-American professor conducting research and writing about Dalit women has been awarded an $800,000 (around Rs 6.7 crore) "genius" grant by the MacArthur Foundation. The grants are given annually to individuals with significant achievements or potential.

A distinguished research professor of history at the University of Cincinnati, Shailaja Paik is also an affiliate faculty in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Asian Studies. Her work focuses on Dalit women and caste discrimination.

Announcing her fellowship, the Foundation said, "Through her focus on the multifaceted experiences of Dalit women, Paik elucidates the enduring nature of caste discrimination and the forces that perpetuate untouchability." "Paik provides new insight into the history of caste domination and traces the ways in which gender and sexuality are used to deny Dalit women dignity and personhood," the Foundation said.

Who is Shailaja Paik?

In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Paik shared that she is a member of the Dalit community and grew up in a sslum area in Maharashtra's Pune and was inspired by her father's dedication to education. She earned her master's degree from Savitribai Phule University. Later, she went to the University of Warwick in the UK for her PhD.

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She also did a stint as a visiting assistant professor of South Asian history at Yale University.

The foundation said Shailaja Paik's latest project focusses on "the lives of women performers of Tamasha, a popular form of bawdy folk theatre that has been practised predominantly by Dalits in Maharashtra for centuries". Based on the project, she published a book, "The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India".

The Foundation noted, “Despite the state’s efforts to reframe Tamasha as an honourable and quintessentially Marathi cultural practice, ashlil (the mark of vulgarity) sticks to Dalit Tamasha women."

It said, "Paik also critiques the narrative of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the twentieth century's most influential caste abolitionist" and the architect of India's Constitution.

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"Genius" Grants

The MacArthur Fellowships, popularly known as "genius" grants are awarded to people across various fields such as academia, science, arts, and activism, who according to the Foundation are "extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential".

The selections are made anonymously based on recommendations received and it does not allow applications or lobbying for the grants, which come without any strings and are spread over five years.

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Since 1981, the MacArthur Fellowships have been awarded to 1,153 individuals. Some notable previous recipients include writers Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Ved Mehta, poet A.K. Ramanujan, and economists Raj Chetty and Sendhil Mullainathan.
(With inputs from agency)