Indian-American professor Shailaja Paik receives US Genius Grant on Dalit studies

Historian and a professor at University of Cincinnati, Shailaja Paik has received a $800,000 “genius” grant from Mc Arthur Foundation for writing about challenges faced by the Dalit women in the country. The foundation gives out award every year to people with extraordinary achievements or potential.

“Through her focus on the multifaceted experiences of Dalit women, Paik elucidates the enduring nature of caste discrimination and the forces that perpetuate untouchability,” said the Foundation while announcing the fellowship.

A distinguished research professor of history at the University of Cincinnati, Paik is also an affiliate faculty in Women’s , Gender and Sexuality Studies and Asian studies.

Shailaja’s groundbreaking story is an inspiration for many. Hailing from Pune’s Yerwada slum, Paik outlawed caste discrimination and made her way from tin slums of Siddharth Nagar in Pune’s Yerwada to the distinguished halls of University of Warwick where she completed her doctorate. She got her masters’ degree from the Savitribai Phule University in Pune. Paik is only one of 10 MacArthur Fellows to be named in Ohio and the first ever in both the city of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati since the award began in 1981.

She told UC news that she just poured herself into academics — education and employment were the magic wands to escape the slum, she added.

“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.

Paik grew up in the city of Pune with her three sisters in a 20-by-20-foot room. She recalled how her house did not have a regular water supply or a private toilet. She told UC news that she grew up with garbage and dirt around her, and pigs roaming the alleys. She described that she is still traumatized by the memories of the public toilets.

She told UC News that she remembered carrying large vessels of water for cleaning and cooking on her head from the city public water tap.

She added that all this had a very deep impact — socially, educationally, emotionally, psychologically. She threw light on Dalit lives through her books. The author launched her first book in 2014 titled “Dalit Women’s Education in Modern India: Double Discrimination,” which highlights the challenges faced by Dalit women in Maharashtra. Her second book, “The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India,” discusses the lives of Maharashtra’s Tamasha artists, many of whom are Dalit women.

Deoram F. Paik prioritized an English education for his children to create better opportunities for their future. His wife, Sarita Paik, took measures to protect her children, ensuring that the dangers of their environment did not affect them. She told UC News, “My mother, Sarita Paik, also protected her and her sisters, making sure that the dangers of their environment didn’t interfere.”

Professor Paik, a scholar at the University of California, has received several prestigious awards throughout her career. Recently, she was honored as a MacArthur Fellow. Her accolades also include the Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Stanford Humanities Center Fellowship, the American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship, and the Luce Foundation Fellowship. She has also received the 2023 John F. Richards Prize and the Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Prize for her book “The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality and Humanity in Modern India,” published by Stanford University Press in 2022.

The funding from these awards will support Paik’s ongoing research and writing. She explained, “This funding will allow me to continue my research and writing, helping educate others and creating documentation about the lives of the Dalits and the caste system.”

Courtesy : TOI

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