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Aditya Harchand

@AdityaHarchand

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PhD Student @UChicago . Tamil literature, polyglossia, sensory culture, Islam in South Asia. Currently working on Persian literary culture in Tamil Nadu.

Fez Medina, Morocco
Joined October 2014
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@AdityaHarchand
Aditya Harchand
@AdityaHarchand
5 months
My first-ever publication. This was truly a labour of love, a culmination of archival/field work in Madurai & Chennai in summer of last year. Special thanks are due to James McHugh for reaching out about contributing to the volume & to all the Tamil teachers who brought me here.
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@AdityaHarchand
Aditya Harchand
@AdityaHarchand
2 months
I hate the staunch BJP supporters my parents have become. Was talking to my dad about the election and he told me that b/c I haven’t lived in India, I don’t get their perspective and don’t have the same say in the matter. Told him I’m a specialist of South Asia and he’s not, lol.
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3 years
Oh no.
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11 months
Look at my pretty childhood home in Panjab. That’s my grandma chillin on the manja.
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So apparently when some South Asians use “bc” it doesn’t stand for “because”. Astaghfirullah.
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@AdityaHarchand
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2 years
UChicago ✅ On my way to becoming Dr. Harchand. 🥺😭🥺😭
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1 year
Apparently you’re only supposed to study on your dining table as a PhD student.
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1 year
I have no academic interests. I came to grad school to look cute.
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@AdityaHarchand
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2 years
I really don’t care about being the best anymore. Just want study what I like in peace. Don’t care about publishing, presenting, getting awards. Khalas.
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It’s interesting how South Asian Studies in America seems to think that the only South Asian talent coming out of South Asia is that of 3/4 universities in Delhi. As if no other academic locales in India or the rest of South Asia exist. Major lol.
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I've come across a few Tamil DIY (கைத்தொழில்) manuals written by Tamil Muslims from the early & mid 20th century full of perfume(d) recipes (snuffs, powders, extracts, incense, drinks, etc.). A lot of Persian & Arabic loanwords pop up & the language is a little archaic which ...
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Doing a PhD is actually so lonely if you don’t stay in the same place for all your degrees. Your friends change every few years and people move away and start families the deeper you get into the PhD.
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I’m not interested in understanding inhumane perspectives, especially if my expertise is denied or disrespected.
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I love how people get so much more riled up over tweets like this, but have nothing to say when (religious) minorities are actively persecuted in India.
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Me and my mentor, Dr. Annamalai. Words can’t describe how much this person means to me. I was a wee little MA student when I first started studying Tamil with him. He’s looked over my introductory Tamil homework and today he reads my papers on Tamil literature.
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2 years
It's official!
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1 year
Since everyone liked my dining area, I have decided to do an apartment tour in parts. Excuse my messy coffee table; I just got done writing a really big paper.
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2 years
We’re one degree hotter.
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1 year
This should instead read: Members from 2 religious communities are brought together by their hate of the queer community, who did absolutely nothing to them. And if that isn’t the saddest thing you’ve heard today, I don’t know what is.
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"LEAVE OUR KIDS ALONE" - Muslims and Christians unite on the streets of Ottawa, trampling the Gender Ideology Flag. This is a turning point. Let kids be kids.
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2 years
So often, South Asian (and Area Studies) scholars only talk to those within our field, and not to those who might know nothing about our work. I get to present about Tamil Eelam to a group of grad students who know nothing about Tamil next week and that is so so special.
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2 years
I honestly cannot with scholars who are vehemently against Wikipedia. This is the only website which pierces through the ivory tower that is academia and makes accessible what scholars don’t want to share with those who need it most.
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11 months
Dancing in a vetti is both the best and worst thing ever.
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1 year
South Asian Studies in America.
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Progressive workplaces and friend circles in India:
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Some rich undergrad here from India told me that I need to not speak in Hindi because I have an “weird accent” and then proceeded to ask me what the first language of Canada is. This is like the third time this has happened, so I had to snap. Call diaspora kids what you want, …
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I love that I get to write about what I love.
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9 months
Pleased to announce the @UChicago 21st South Asia Graduate Student Conference on “Islam in South and Southeast Asia”, which I am organizing alongside my dear friends @_Rohini_Naagath and @ics_ihsan . Please use the following link to submit abstracts: .
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4 years
I love using my Hindu name to stand behind Indian Muslims. Hope you Hindu nationalists feel betrayed. Hope it hurts. #DelhiRiots2020
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3 years
Ya Ali Madad-
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8 months
It’s this same “visibility” that the Sri Lankan state uses to justify its genocide of Eelam Tamils.
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🇱🇰 The Tamil language has more visibility in Sri Lanka than it does in its country of origin. The Sri Lankan flag is also the only national flag in the world that explicitly recognizes the Tamil people. But the howling never stops. #Lka #SLnews #Colombo #LTTE #JVP
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South Asianists better not set foot in Israel ever again. I’ve been saying this for years but I’m going to be actively holding accountable anyone I know who does.
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2 years
I’m 3 months into the PhD and already don’t want to work on what I applied with. Chaos.
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2 years
Thinking about starting a Zoom poetry reading group with a focus on Eelam Tamil poetry, in the original and in translation. Poets would include R. Cheran, V.I.S. Jayapalan, Puthuvai Ratnathurai, among others. If interested, please reach out!
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1 year
but this is a big reason we choke up and stop speaking our own mother tongues in front of those from our homelands. Having an accent does not mean one doesn’t know a language.
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3 years
Just submitted all PhD applications! 🥵
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4 months
The light has been hitting my apartment so well.
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5 months
Excited to be hosting a conference about what I love and do everyday.
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1 year
Been obsessed with this pic I took of the west gopuram (tower) of Meenakshi temple.
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Going to Madurai to study more Tamil this summer! Seeing Madurai Meenakshi for the first time is going to be so surreal.
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2 years
Kullu scarf.
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9 months
My 19 year old sister donated all her saved allowance to help support children in Palestine. I am so proud of her and of her generation for exercising their agency in such powerful ways.
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1 year
Look at this amazing pic I took of two women peeping at God. Brihadisvara Temple, Gangaikonda Cholapuram.
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2 months
Off to Morocco this summer to study more Arabic. V excited.
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3 years
If you’re emotionally unavailable, stop 👏 downloading 👏 every 👏 dating 👏 app 👏.
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2 years
I’m obviously very interested in writing a history of smell in south India(n languages), but I’ve also been thinking about how I can go about writing about the history of everyday “things” which beautify and adorn the body (e.g. makeup, soaps, kohl, and other perfumed things).
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1 year
I’ve got Madurai Malli!
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3 years
Islamic literature ≠ Arabic literature. I think we can stop asking scholars of Islam if they know Arabic. I am so over this conversation.
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1 year
I’ve walked by this mosque almost every day in the past two months in Madurai. It’s the cutest little mosque I’ve seen.
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1 year
Just started reading the Tampāk Mālai (17th century), a Muslim Tamil text instructing the Muslim laity to stay away from tobacco at all costs. After all, it’s a product of “Iblis’ urine” and if you do end up smoking it, God will send an angel to “suck the life” out of you.
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1 year
Looks like this sometimes in the early morning. 💕
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1 year
I started my PhD with a project and now I have no idea what I want to do. I’m learning so much every day and honestly can’t keep up with my interests.
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1 year
Meenakshiii!!! Didn’t get to see her today (we did see Sundareshwar!) but we’ll be back! Finally got malli too.
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3 years
A very distinguished professor in my field told me today that I need to give up my modesty because I’m “more prepared than most graduate students” applying for PhD programs. They also told me to apply this fall. I’m in the best kind of shambles. 🥺💕
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2 years
So I got rejected by Penn, but my Indian immigrant mother knew exactly what to say. And she’s right; I already got into the top program in my field. ☺️
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2 years
I’m too pretty for grad school.
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1 year
What is your favourite Tamil word and what does it mean? Mine is மணம் (maṇam), which means “union”, “marriage”, “fragrance”, “dignity”, or “prosperity”.
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4 years
My graduation present was a perfect 4.0 GPA. That's all.
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3 years
Dear linguistics friends, how can I get an MA in linguistics w/o having any background in it? Is it worth it to do a BA at this point?
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1 year
Hello, it’s boy w/ the pearl earring.
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1 year
Thanjavur.
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2 years
Things are getting official; I now have a PhD student bio.
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3 years
Ok my schedule is finalized. I am taking: 1) High Intermediate Classical Arabic 2) Advanced Tamil 3) Academic French 4) Quran
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2 years
My presentation on Tamil Eelam and language ideologies of Tamils in diaspora went amazingly! 3 people asked for my slides and references. 🥰
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3 years
I think my PhD project is going to concern the reception history of the Cīṟāppurāṇam, a 17th century Tamil Islamic text about the life of Muḥammad. I may also want to study it alongside Kamban's Rāmāyaṇam, on which it is modelled.
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2 years
Thinking about how one of my students once wrote “Sandscript” instead of “Sanskrit”. Jesus wept. Said wept also.
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2 years
Writing away.
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1 year
I’ve been trying to not take myself too seriously as a PhD student and let me just tell you, my profs love me for it. Professionalism is important but it’s more important to show those in academe that you’re a real person, capable of expressing yourself however you want.
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அடிமனம் (aṭimaṉam): “the subconscious” or lit. “the bottom of the heart-mind”
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Periods of Tamil linguistic development: Ancient Tamil: before 300 BCE Old Tamil: 300 BCE to 700 CE Middle Tamil: 700 CE to 1600 CE Modern Tamil: 1600 CE to present
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1 year
Some recent clicks.
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3 years
I don’t talk about it much on here but I suffer because of my family everyday. It’s broken beyond any chance of repair. I wish I had parents who loved each other & mutually cared for their children. What’s worse is that I know my parents & sister are struggling much more than me.
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1 year
My two moods at the library:
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2 years
Someone told me 🙏🏼 is a high five emoji. I thought it was a namaste emoji and am shik shak SHOOK. Apple, explain.
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2 years
Taking a couple linguistics courses has taught me so much about my biases and prejudices surrounding language, which I think many scholars of literature have. I no longer judge people based on their ability to speak in a certain way, with a certain grammar. Out with that.
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3 years
Provost Medal I received from McMaster University for attaining a perfect GPA in my final year.
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3 years
Should I wear a white kurta pajama on the first day of school to stress out all the UChicago yt kids?
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2 years
As much as I am respectful of people’s religious views, I do not tolerate any that go against my humanity. If you have a religious problem with my sexual orientation or gender identity, it is a personal problem too. You do not get to call my identity a wrongful desire.
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1 year
Submitting this abstract for a conference. Fingers crossed.
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An Eelam Tamil from Germany pointed out my Tamil Eelam bag in Tulum, Mexico. We exchanged some words in Tamil. This has been and will be the highlight of my trip.
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Persian restaurant owner today insisted I was Persian even though I argued that I wasn’t, in Persian. LOL.
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1 year
I can’t get over how nice the people in Madurai are. I am mind blown. This one man turned on his hotspot when I told him I didn’t have a SIM yet and rode me around until I found the address I was looking for. 🥺
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I hate that theory is so heavily guarded and associated with specific (western) thinkers. I also hate the expectation that one should apply theory to understand a text, when there’s so much value in just closely listening to what the authors/compilers are themselves saying.
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Dear Professor, I hope you are well. I am wondering if I could have an extension on the assignment because, well, I’m depressed. Warm regards, Student
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11 months
Every time I come to my hometown in northern Panjab, I always think about the Muslims who would have walked here every day once upon a time and kept alive the dargahs and mosques which are now either falling apart or have become holy sites exclusively to Hindus.
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1 year
People who speak all Romance languages are monoglots. No discourse.
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1 year
I’ve befriended the paatis (grandmas) in my neighbourhood. Having lunch with one today. 🥰
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3 years
Look how my dad reacts to my photos:
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1 year
Being in Tamil Nadu has already been such a transformative experience for me; I wake up everyday and know that I’m supposed to be here. Many here tell me that I was Tamil in my past life and I have no reason to disagree.
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Read out two Tamil poems for Tamil New Year today. 😊
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make me wonder if these texts speak to older, unwritten traditions of Muslim perfume-making in Tamil Nadu and how the "Tamil scentscape" would have changed through these traditions.
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3 years
What I wore to class today:
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11 months
My kids are getting old school names from Sangam poetry.
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4 years
Mom, dad, and beti.
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1 year
I hate the PhD more than ever today and want to drop out.
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@ASum7t Of course, there’s no denying that his personal experiences brought him here. It’s just worth critically thinking about what these experiences are and what they really speak to.
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@AdityaHarchand
1 year
Me kissing my friend’s chonky cat:
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@AdityaHarchand
Aditya Harchand
@AdityaHarchand
1 year
Naming one of my children பூங்குழலி (“she whose hair coils like flowers”).
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@AdityaHarchand
Aditya Harchand
@AdityaHarchand
2 years
Started the PhD only to realize everyone I want to work with is at other universities. 😭
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@AdityaHarchand
Aditya Harchand
@AdityaHarchand
3 years
I have finished and submitted my last paper! Will share my translations soon!
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@AdityaHarchand
Aditya Harchand
@AdityaHarchand
4 years
I’m not really ready to talk about it yet but I think I’m currently having one of the worst depressive episodes I’ve had in my life. I feel lonely. I sleep too much. I don’t feel hungry. I feel like I made a mistake moving to Chicago. I need this virus to go away.
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@AdityaHarchand
Aditya Harchand
@AdityaHarchand
2 years
Who’s ready for me to teach a class?
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