The Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia is based at the Thomas J. Watson Jr. School of International and Public Affairs. The Saxena Center supports faculty, graduate and undergraduate research and teaching on the region and is home to the South Asian Studies concentration. The Saxena Center functions within the larger framework of the Watson School, which is seeking to define a new approach to regional studies for the 21st century. Anchored in the social sciences, this new approach is problem driven, comparative and multidisciplinary. Our multidiciplinarity includes sustained interaction of social scientists with the humanities on the one hand and the disciplines such as medicine and public health on the other.
Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia
About
The Saxena Center supports faculty, graduate and undergraduate research and teaching on the region and is home to the South Asian Studies concentration
About
The Saxena Center supports faculty, graduate and undergraduate research and teaching on the region and is home to the South Asian Studies concentration
Mission
The Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia promotes research, teaching and public engagement on key issues of modern South Asia in an interdisciplinary framework and in a historically and culturally grounded manner.
Programs
At this time, the Center’s programmatic and research themes focused on inequalities, development, urbanization, democracy and pluralism and diversities.
Partnerships
The Saxena Center collaborates with institutions and departments across Brown University and beyond. Learn more at our partnerships page.
Spotlight
How should we judge the defeat of the Narendra Modi government’s 131st
Constitution Amendment Bill in India’s Parliament? Can we say India has won and
the government has lost? In the political life of a nation, there are moments when
the defeat of an elected government becomes synonymous with the victory of the nation.
This was one such moment.
Click to read the full article
Read Article
Constitution Amendment Bill in India’s Parliament? Can we say India has won and
the government has lost? In the political life of a nation, there are moments when
the defeat of an elected government becomes synonymous with the victory of the nation.
This was one such moment.
Click to read the full article
In this OP Jindal Distinguished Lecture at Brown, Fareed Zakaria reflects on India’s evolving role in a changing global order and the forces shaping its future. A thoughtful conversation on power, possibility, and global transformation.
Read Article
News from Saxena
Fareed Zakaria: Spring 2026 OP Jindal lecture
In this OP Jindal Distinguished Lecture at Brown, Fareed Zakaria reflects on India’s evolving role in a changing global order and the forces shaping its future. A thoughtful conversation on power, possibility, and global transformation.
Read Article