We are delighted to announce that due to the outstanding selection of MPhil theses submitted this year, the Examination Board unusually decided to award two MPhil thesis prizes to Saman Tariq Malik and Ayub Khan.
The topics were they investigated were quite distinct and serve as a good demonstration of the breadth of the Modern South Asian Studies programme as a whole.
Saman wrote on Becoming Through Feeling: Yad-e-Khuda Journals and the Making of a Muslim Reading Public in Late Colonial India c. 1937-47, while Ayub's topic was The Effect of Population, Religion, and Political Representation on Rural Economic Development with Special Reference to West Bengal, India.
Saman is going to start a DPhil in History at Oxford in October 2019. Her research is broadly located at the crossroads of a comparative literary and historical inquiry. Through the DPhil, Saman will further this interest to study the intellectual print cultures of the Muslim world and South Asia in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Eventually, Saman intends to pursue a future career in academia as a historian and literary comparatist, while also continuing to work in archiving and Digital Humanities projects.
Ayub would like to pursue a PhD in Economics or in a related field. Once completed, he'd like to work as an Economist for a central bank (preferably the Bank of Canada) or work in consulting for a few years before joining national politics in Bengal, India. His aim is to influence government policy on Rural Economic Development and Income growth in Bengal especially for the minorities. He intends to do intensive research in this area in the future.
Our congratulations go to both of them and our other successful MPhil candidates in this inaugural cohort. We are very proud that a total of four students received distinction marks for their MPhil theses.
