Shailaja Paik, an Indian origin historian, has received an USD 800,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation for “exploring the intersection of caste, gender, and sexuality in modern India through the lives of Dalit women”. Dalits are members of the lowest class in the traditional Hindu social hierarchy.
Paik was announced as one of the 22 MacArthur Fellows. The fellowship, as per the official website, is a USD 800,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential. Since 2010, the historian has been affiliated with the University of Cincinnati, where she is currently the Charles Phelps Taft Distinguished Research Professor of History and affiliate faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Asian Studies. Speaking to UC News, Paik said she was “ecstatic”.
The fellowship programme is also referred to as the “Genius Grant”. “I’m happy to have the ‘big genius’ feather in my cap, now,” she told UC News.
The foundation said: “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. Across her work, Paik centers Dalit perspectives. In addition to English, Marathi, and Hindi-language source materials, she is creating a new archive comprised of her interviews and fieldwork with contemporary Dalit women.”
“Through her focus on the multifaceted experiences of Dalit women, Paik elucidates the enduring nature of caste discrimination and the forces that perpetuate untouchability,” it added.
Congratulating her, UC President Neville G. Pinto said, “This is one of the highest recognitions for intellectual accomplishment and impact that a faculty member can win globally. We are so thrilled that Dr. Paik has been recognized for her remarkable scholarship working with a population of people who have been overlooked and discriminated against for centuries.”
Born into a Marathi speaking Dalit family in Maharashtra, India, Paik received a BA (1994) and MA (1996) from the University of Pune and a PhD (2007) from the University of Warwick.
She served as a visiting assistant professor of history at Union College (2008–2010) and a postdoctoral associate and visiting assistant professor of South Asian history at Yale University (2012–2013).
Paik has published articles in the Journal of South Asian Studies, Gender and History, Journal of Women’s History, and Indian Journal of Gender Studies, among others.
Speaking about her work, Paik said: “I combine archival and ethnographic fieldwork evidence to analyze the mechanism of caste social inequality in perpetuating discrimination, stigmatization, and exploitation.
“Centering the most oppressed Dalit women provides a more comprehensive understanding of oppression, dehumanization, and injustice and revitalizes anti-caste, anti-patriarchal, and anti-race work. I contribute to new global histories of our collective humanity, by illuminating the ways Dalit women resist and display resilience and agency—they stand up again and again; they continue to get up and out from the under.”
