Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle Appointed UCI assistant professor of anthropology. $2 million endowed chair for Sikh Study with a $1.5 million gift from Drs. Harvinder and Asha Sahota and $500,000 from the UC President
Los Angeles Jan. 31, 2019
As chair and UCI assistant professor of anthropology, Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle will contribute to the study of the Sikh religion and culture in global, comparative, cross-racial and religious community frameworks.
She will also teach courses and develop research programs to increase understanding of immigrant incorporation and civil rights issues affecting Sikhs in the U.S. using anthropological theory and methods to investigate critical themes of diaspora communities, citizenship, migration, nativism, political violence, and gender and feminist issues. School of Social Sciences
The Dhan Kaur Sahota Presidential Chair in Sikh Studies at the University of California, Irvine School of Social Sciences was established in 2017 with a $1.5 million gift from Drs. Harvinder and Asha Sahota and $500,000 from the UC Presidential Match for Endowed Chairs program.
“With the establishment of this endowed chair, we hope members of the UCI community will deepen their understanding of Sikh religion and culture by learning the vibrant traditions, many contributions in world history and American society,” said cardiologist Harvinder Sahota. “We are particularly keen to ensure UCI students are aware of the religion’s commitment to equality and social justice.”
Bill Maurer, dean of the School of Social Sciences said:
- We are extremely grateful for the generosity of the Sahotas and recognize the importance of broadening knowledge of Sikh culture and religion, especially in this time of division and misunderstanding
- We are also quite fortunate that we were able to recruit such an accomplished junior scholar to launch what we hope will be more research, education and outreach aligned with the school’s commitment to bridging divides in our diverse society and around the world
Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle joined UCI in January and said:
- I am honored to be the first person named to this chair and appreciate the support of the Sahotas, Dean Maurer and my colleagues here at UCI in anthropology and other departments
- I am excited to have the opportunity to build on my existing expertise and advance Sikh studies scholarly research in local, transnational and global contexts.
- I look forward to promoting cross-religious, -ethnic and -racial community outreach and engagement via Sikh studies and anthropology with this position.
University of California, Merced:
- Before joining UCI, Anneeth Kaur Hundle was Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Associated Faculty with the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Program at the University of California, Merced
Makerere University in Uganda from 2013-2015:
- Prior to her arrival at UC Merced, she was a Research Associate at the Makerere Institute of Social Research at Makerere University in Uganda from 2013-2015.
In 2013, she completed her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
At UC Berkeley’s Center for African Studies as a Visiting Professor, Dr. Hundle completed her book manuscript, “Unsettling Citizenship: African Asian Lives and the Politics of Racialized Insecurity in Postcolonial Uganda.” The project explores the complicated contradictions between the unresolved historical event of the 1972 expulsion of Ugandan Asians with a new post-1990s landscape of economic liberalization policies, geo-political and trade relations between Africa and South Asia. It explores the segmentation of racialized “African” and “Asian” communities in scholarship and in practice, providing space for examining Afro-Asian intimacies and the micro-politics of community-building and boundary-making after the expulsion.
Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle’s Research Interests:
- Culture and theory/globalization and decolonization/citizenship, security, race and ethnicity
- Gender and sexuality/transnational and postcolonial feminist theory
- History of anthropological theory and practice/ African/South Asian diasporas, Uganda, East Africa, Africa-Asia
Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle – Distinguished and Academic Awards:
- In 2016-17: She got Academic Senate Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching, UC Merced; Outstanding Women Faculty Award, Women's Programs, Office of Student Life, UC Merced; University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) Multi-Campus Faculty Working Group Award. “The Crisis of Diversity within the Multiversity: Rethinking African and Africana Studies at the University of California."
- 2015-16: UC Merced Center for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship
- 2011-12: "Ethnicity in Africa" Dissertation Graduate Fellowship, Center for Afro-American and African Studies, University of Michigan and the Mellon-Sawyer Foundation
- 2008-10: Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant; National Science Foundation SBE Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant; Rackham Merit Fellowship (RMF), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dr. Anneeth Kaur Hundle got her Ph.D in 2013 and MA in 2017 from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She graduated B.A degree in 2004 from Northwestern University.
