Activist Parmesh Shahani, Pakistani advocate Ahmad Alam among 16 recipients.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian actress and director Nandita Das is among the recipients of the 2014 Yale World Fellows honor, a prestigious distinction given out annually by Yale University.
Das, Indian author and educator Parmesh Shahani, and Pakistani advocate Ahmad “Rafay” Alam” have been announced among the 16 names from around the world that make up the Yale World Fellows Class of 2014. The award seeks to recognize “dynamic, high impact practitioners committed to effecting positive change” in their respective fields, according to the Yale World Fellows website.
Since its creation in 2002, Yale has chosen between 15 and 20 individuals to become inductees of its Yale World Fellows, which is the university’s “signature global leadership development initiative and a core element of Yale’s ongoing commitment to internationalization.” Each person selected will live at Yale for the upcoming fall semester, and will participate in leadership workshops, courses on global affairs and issues, and engage in a “four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training.”
“It is a privilege to welcome these impressive leaders to campus,” said Yale President Peter Salovey. “Through their experiences on the ground, they [will] provide valuable context and practical perspectives that inform the scholarly pursuits of Yale faculty seeking to address today’s most pressing global challenges. This innovative program continues to represent the very best of Yale’s efforts to educate and inspire future leaders.”
Das is one of the most renowned women in Indian cinema, having acted and directed a number of high-profile projects over the last two decades. As an actress, she is best known for her roles in the controversial Deepa Mehta films Fire (1996) and Earth (1998); as a director, her debut film Firaaq (2008) took a hard look at the effects of the violence in Gujarat in 2002.
Outside of film, she was active in the “Dark is Beautiful” campaign in 2013, which was an effort to curb the stigma against dark-skinned women in India. She was also the first Indian woman ever inducted into the Women’s Forum Hall of Fame, and has been on the main jury of the Cannes Film Festival in both 2005 and 2013.
Shahani is the head of the Godrej India Culture Lab in Mumbai, which is “working at the intersection of academia, business and the creative industries to explore what it means to be modern and Indian,” according to Shahani’s bio, provided by the Yale World Fellows. He is the editor-at-large of Verve Magazine India, and the author of “Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India.”
In addition to holding a master’s degree in comparative media studies from M.I.T., Shahani is also a TED Fellow, an M.I.T. “Futures of Entertainment” Fellow, and an Utrecht University “Impakt Fellow.”
Alam is an environmental attorney and activist in Pakistan, and a founding partner of the Saleem, Alam & Co. law firm. He and his firm specialize in cases related to energy, urban infrastructure, issues related to natural resources, and other related litigation. He also teaches environmental law at Lahore University, is a member of the Punjab Environment Protection Council, and serves on the board of directors for the Lahore Waste Management Company.