The Tamil Voter: Savvy or Starstruck?
Radha Kumar
July 8, 2024
In the latest issue of India in Transition, Radha Kumar (Syracuse University) challenges the trope that cinema paves an assured path to electoral success in Tamil Nadu politics.
From April-May, as millions of Indians set out to vote, India in Transition brought you CASI Election Conversations 2024, an interview series featuring IiT Consulting Editor & CASI Spring 2024 Visiting Fellow Rohan Venkat speaking with renowned scholars, reflecting on the factors and dimensions of politics, political economy, and democracy that would define India’s 2024 election.
Read the FULL 8-part series:
Louise Tillin on How Indian Federalism Has Evolved Under the BJP
April 8, 2024
Yamini Aiyar on the BJP’s “Techno-Patrimonial” Welfare Model
April 15, 2024
Rachel Brulé on the Promise and Pitfalls of Gender Quotas in Indian Politics
April 22, 2024
Pavithra Suryanarayan on the BJP, “Social Status,” and Anti-Redistributive Politics
April 29, 2024
Francesca R. Jensenius on Misconceptions About the Indian Voter
May 6, 2024
Sumitra Badrinathan on the Need to Study Misinformation in India
May 13, 2024
Neelanjan Sircar on the Roots of Political and Economic Centralization in India
May 20, 2024
Milan Vaishnav on “Vote-Buying,” Caste Politics, and Debunking Assumptions about Indian Democracy
May 27, 2024
CASI in the News
Adwaita Banerjee (Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology, 2022 Summer Research Grants recipient, and 2024 Dean's Scholar)—and advisee to CASI Associate Faculty Director Nikhil Anand—had his work featured in "The Anthropology of Plastics in India" by Kristina García in the July 9, 2024 issue of Penn Today.
CASI Student Programs
CASI welcomes two new Sobti Doctoral Fellows for the 2024-25 academic year!
Advait Rajagopal Aiyer is a rising fifth-year Ph.D. student in Applied Economics at the Wharton School. His research is situated at the intersection between development economics, education policy, and market design in developing countries, with a focus on India’s higher education system.
Deepaboli Chatterjee is a rising third-year Ph.D. student at the Department of Political Science at Penn. Her research investigates how the political behavior of religious minorities in India is affected by majoritarian politics, employing a mixed-methods approach with qualitative interviews, surveys, and experiments to understand the daily lives and collective actions of Indian Muslims.
Read about the ongoing experiences of CASI's 2024 Summer Interns and Summer Research Grant recipients on the CASI Student Programs Blog!
Questions about CASI Student Programs?
Please contact Juni Bahuguna (Assistant Director, Student & Visitor Programs) at junib@sas.upenn.edu
Upcoming Events
The Fall 2024 events program will be announced later this summer.
CASI 2023 Data Seminar Series Videos Available
View the full videos of all 12 seminars in the CASI 2023 Data Seminar Series—hosted by CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholar Rukmini S. (Independent Data Journalist; Founder of Data For India).
Campus Location
CASI's office is located close to the heart of Penn's campus at the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science & Economics at 133 South 36th Street (Suite 230) Philadelphia, PA 19104-6215.
Please note: CASI is operating on a hybrid schedule.
