South Asia Studies
Tony grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and Majored in South Asian Studies.
"My goal was to understand the social networks that underpin the economic transactions between truck drivers and dhaba (roadside restaurant) owners along the highways in Uttar Pradesh, and the degree to which they function independently of the surrounding countryside. The project was supervised by Dr. Lisa Mitchell. First, I spent a month living at a bus stop in a small roadside town and used it as a base to explore a 15-mile stretch of highway between Lucknow and Kanpur, making connections with local dhaba owners, counting traffic, and mapping the location of stopping points used by truckers. I then lived at a dhaba for a month, observing how it was run, how the owners and truck drivers established and maintained relationships, and how truckers used the resources available there. Finally, through connections made at the dhaba, I spent the final month of my project traveling around the state of Uttar Pradesh making deliveries with several truck drivers to note when, where, and why they stopped to spend money, and the local dhabaconnections they reinforced along the way.
The most rewarding part of your research experience was trying to understand something as nebulous as “social networks” required me to think critically about observation in the field—to what degree can I be sure of what I am observing, how is my positionality affecting what I am perceiving, and how can I justify the connection between what I see happening in front of me in the field and what I want to argue. Training my brain to think in these ways has proven so powerful not only for doing my research, but for understanding how I move through spaces I inhabit in my personal and professional life as well.
What surprised me during the research process was the linguistic diversity in India. It is immense and fascinating, and having learned standard Hindi/Urdu in class, I was forced to stretch my understanding of grammar, pronunciation, and comprehensibility to function in multiple rural environments. I went to India thinking that everyone would speak pretty much like my teacher!
By participating in research has effected my undergraduate experience. Doing my own research in India changed the way I understood college in general for two reasons. Firstly, the infrastructure and programs in place at UPenn to connect students with grants and other opportunities abroad really reinforced the idea of the SAST department being a starting place, a portal to the rest of the world. Secondly, spending time chasing answers to my own questions in India brought to life the content of my SAST courses and allowed me to see the sources that we read for class as the conclusion of a long and often complicated research period on behalf of the authors—all part of an ongoing discussion to which even I could contribute.
I am currently living in Morocco, and from what I have experienced so far, I can say that living and doing research in India definitely prepares you well for living and working in many different countries and environments. Moreover, undergraduate research has trained me to set my own goals and be open to the many twists and turns on the bumpy road to achieving them.
I would advice incoming students and current students thinking about doing a research project to seize the opportunity! There are many ways to get grants and many more helping hands to help get you there. As long as you take the initiative, everyone wants to see you succeed and will point you in the right direction!"