A Valedictorian Mark in Education: Indian- American Shailja Paik Gets Biggest Scholarship

Indian- American Shailja Paik brings glory to the country after getting a world prestigious scholarship from the MacArthur Foundation at the University of Cincinnati. She earned that prestigious scholarship because of her enumerable efforts and eminent achievements in her field of sociology and history.

The McArthur Foundation annually gives scholarships to individuals, who achieve brilliant marks in their fields of education. Shailja Paik is the first from the University of Cincinnati, who get the $800,000 genius grant. 

A Reality of Pain, Agony, and Resilience of Indian Dalit Women That Led Shailja a Scholarship

Shailja Paik is a History research professor at the University of Cincinnati who is an affiliated faculty in Women’s, Gender, sexuality, and Asian Studies. Her extensive research work focuses on Dalit women and caste discrimination.

Her main focus is on the Dalit women and their lives affected by societal prejudice and discrimination. She interpreted the Dalit women's demise, challenges, and resilience to get an education and success. 

Her latest project focuses on the lives of Maharashtra Dalit women performers of Tamasha a folk theatre.

She published two books first in 2014 Dalit’s Women’s Education in Modern India: Double Discrimation. She noted the issues of the Dalit women accessing education in both colonial and Modern Maharashtra, it revealed the tension between anti-caste reformers advocating for education and society constraints by patriarchal Brahmnical Ideals

Another book she published is “ The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality and Humanity in Modern India.” in 2022.

She examined the lives of Tamasha theatre women who despite their creative and cultural efforts to bring forth the challenges of Dalit women, they were brandish as the “Ashlil.”

Who is Shailja Paik: A History Professor at the Cincinnati University 

Shailja Paik is a Dalit family woman, who was born into a Dalit family in Pohegaon, Maharashtra. She was one of the four daughters. Her family relocated to the Pune Yerwada slum, despite her poor background her father's devotion to education was instilled in the mind of young Shailja and she fulfilled her passion through determination and hard work.

Paik eanred her BA in 1994 and MA Iin 1996 from Savitribai Phule Pune University. She completed her PhD in 2007 at the University of Warwick in the UK. In 2005 she first traveled to the US on a fellowship from Emory University.

She held the academic position as a visiting assistant professor of History at Union College (2008-2010). Postdoctoral associate and visiting assistant professor of South Asian History at thenYale University (2010-2013).

Since 2010, Paik has been a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati. She is serving as the Charles Phelps Taft Distinguished Research Professor of History and an affiliate in Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Asian Studies, and Sociology at the University of Cincinnati.

What is MacArthur Foundation Grant: A World Eminent 

John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation was established in 1978 and ranked the  12th largest private grants and investments in the USA. It has headquarters in Chicago.

It has total funding of $7.6 billion, it allocates around $260 million each year in grants and investments.

It offers grants to support eminent people from art, education, science, and culture and their remarkable achievements in their fields.

MacArthur Foundation tweeted about the elusive milestone achieved by these 22 people who were honored with $800,000 Grant.

🎉 Meet the 2024 MacArthur Fellows!

These 22 exceptionally creative individuals redefine their fields with imagination and intention. They shift how we connect to one another, through our shared history and our stories. #MacFellowhttps://t.co/TxSDcvxzHvpic.twitter.com/0gqkrXlFko

— MacArthur Foundation (@macfound) October 1, 2024