Neepa Acharya

Researcher Migration and Diversity

+32 (0)2/629.1572

Malasree.Neepa.Acharya@vub.ac.be

CV

Malasree Neepa Acharya joins the IES as a Doctoral Researcher in the Migration, Diversity and Human Rights cluster. In 2006, Neepa received her B.A. with honors and distinction from Stanford University (California, USA), with a double major in Public Policy and Music. Her Bachelor's thesis, "Welfare Reform and the Alaska Native: Analyzing the Incentives for Alaska Natives to Participate in Welfare and Public Assistance Programs" received the Robyn R. Noll Prize for Outstanding Policy Thesis (2006) as well as the CTL-URP Award for Best Thesis Presentation (2006). In 2007, Neepa received an M.A. in Cultural and Social Anthropology from Stanford University with a focus on South Asian postcolonial studies. Neepa's research interests have been interdisciplinary--combining qualitative ethnographic enquiry with quantitative analysis to investigate policy issues at local and global levels. After finishing two summers of fieldwork in Alaska and working for current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in Washington D.C., Neepa continued her work in Alaska as a consulting research analyst on Alaska Native Medicaid reform issues at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. In the fall of 2007, Neepa arrived in Belgium as a fellow of the Belgian American Education Foundation, pursuing musicological research and baroque violin performance at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel with world-renowned musical pedagogue, Sigiswald Kuijken. Neepa continued her research and studies in 2008 as an International Visiting Fellow of the Vlaamse Overheid. In October 2009, Neepa began her doctoral work at the IES with a project entitled: 'Policing the Brain-gain: Cross-border Social Networks in South Asian Migration Trends and Governance Implications in the Global North and South.' In May 2011, Neepa won the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius 'Settling into Motion' Ph.D. Fellowship in Migration Studies. This fellowship will help fund 25 months of dissertation research and writing. Beginning in Autumn 2011, Neepa will conduct ethnographic fieldwork for 12 months in Bangalore (India), Silicon Valley (USA) and London (UK).

Activities

Socioeconomics and social capital of transnational migration and global governance, Global South cities and development, access-to-care and public ownership of social and health policy, experimental economic theories of risk management, postcolonial cultural theory, subjectivity formation through banality and sacrifice, South Asia and Alaska Native area studies, arts grants funding, and public service in academic research.

Engagements

INVITED LECTURES

2011	Perceptions of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs of Returning ‘Home’ to India’s Cosmopolitan Cities, presented at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, July 2011
2011	Perceptions of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs of Returning ‘Home’ to India’s Cosmopolitan Cities, presented at the United Nations University, UNU-CRIS, Brugge, Belgium, ‘GRESI Migration Seminars’ May 2011
2010	Dissertation Presentation, presented at the Institute for European Studies ‘IES Research Colloquiums’Brussels, Belgium, November 2010.
2010	Why is Global Governance in Migration Issues Necessary?, presented at the , Institute for European Studies, ‘Global Governance in Migration Issues: the Role of the European Union’ Brussels, Belgium, October 2010.
2010	Reconstituting Banality, presented at Stanford University, sponsored by the Center for South Asia and the department of Modern Thought and Literature ‘Post-Structuralist Theory Machine’ lecture series, California, USA, May 2010.
2008	Reconstituting Banality, presented at the Instytut Historii, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznan, Poland, January 2008.
2007	The Economic Significance and Impact of a Marginal Change in Health Aide Staffing:’ Tutorial on Using the Virtual Model,presented at the Alaska Native American Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage, Alaska, 2007.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2011	Postcolonizing Hospitality, presented at the Postcolonial Studies Conference, Frankfurt University, Frankfurt, Germany, June 2011
2011	Perceptions of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs of Returning ‘Home’ to India’s Cosmopolitan Cities, presented at the symposium Circulations et cultures sud-asiatiques en diaspora: approches transdisciplinaires, CLIMAS/ADES, Bordeaux, France, March 2011
2011	Toward a North-South Global Interface of India's Elite Knowledge Workers: Migration Trends and Governance Implications in the Global North, presented at the EUSA Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, March 2011
2010	Postcolonizing Hospitality, presented at the American Anthropological Association Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, November 2010.
2010	Postcolonizing Hospitality, presented at the Mid-Atlantic Region Asian American Studies Conference, PennState University, Pennsylvania, USA, October 2010.
2010	Why is Global Governance in Migration Issues Necessary?, presented at the Global Governance in Migration Issues: the Role of the European Union, Institute for European Studies, Brussels, Belgium, October 2010.
2010	Dissertation Presentation, presented at the Ethnographies of Migration Conference, London School of Economics, London, UK, June 2010.
2010	The High-Skilled Other: Institutional Newcomers in Brussels, Panel Chair for Newcomers and the City Conference, Cities and Migration Network, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, June 2010

External Publications

- “The Economic Impacts of Paraprofessional Health Aide Programs on the Village and Regional Economies Model, Technical Report, Medicaid Template And User Guide,” prepared for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), Univ. of Alaska-Anchorage, 2007. -“Red Dog TANF Work Program Summary and Proposal,” in An Analysis of Economic Significance and Impact in Red Dog Mines Alaska, ISER, University of Alaska-Anchorage, 2007. - Pastoral Nostalgia and Urban Imagination in Jibanmukhi gaan in Calcutta (1974-1994); under Dr. Paulla Ebron and Dr. Ewa Domanska, Stanford University, September 2007. - “Welfare Reform and the Alaska Native: Analyzing the Incentives for Alaska Natives to Participate in Welfare and Public Assistance Programs,” under Dr. John B. Shoven, Stanford University, June 2006, ISER, University of Alaska-Anchorage, September 2006.