The Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia (SCCSA) supports research, teaching and public engagement on the cultures, politics, economics and societies of the South Asian region comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.  

As an integral part of the Watson School of International and Public Affairs, SCCSA is committed to advancing comparative and interdisciplinary research that addresses the most pressing issues of our times.  Promoting a new approach to regional studies for the 21st century, the Center’s goal is to foster and use knowledge and understanding of South Asian societies to inform debates and advance scholarship across academic disciplines.   Engaging the entire Brown community means sustained interaction of social sciences with the humanities but also collaborating with disciplines such as medicine and public health.  Bringing greater attention to the political, social, economic and environmental challenges of the region means deepening ties and collaborations with scholars, policy makers and key cultural and public figures in South Asia.

SCCSA supports research on South Asia by all Brown faculty and students with research grants, workshops and a speaker series.   Areas in which the Center has developed significant strengths include inequality, urban governance, social development and welfare, gender and minority rights, ethnic conflict, democracy and pluralism.  The Center also supports teaching on South Asia as well as the undergraduate South Asian Studies program.  Our events bring leading literary and artistic figures, scholars, policy makers and public intellectuals to campus.

The Center has its roots in the Brown-India Initiative which was launched in 2011.  Founded and directed since then by Professor Ashutosh Varshney, the initiative became the Center for Contemporary South Asia in 2016 and with a generous gift from the Saxena family took its current form in 2022.  With affiliated faculty from across the social sciences, humanities and various Schools at Brown, SCCSA has one of the largest concentrations of scholars working on the region outside of South Asia.  Professor Patrick Heller became the center’s second director in 2025.