This is a guest post by Kluge Center intern Julia Bliss.
Interning for the Kluge Center this summer has been one of the most rewarding and enlightening experiences of my life. As a junior studying studio art and anthropology at the University of Vermont, I find great joy and satisfaction in research.
Growing up on the outskirts of Washington, DC, I was aware of the great resources of the Library of Congress, but I was not aware of the Kluge Center until I was scrolling through the internships advertised by the Library. When I saw that the work was research-oriented and involved assisting a scholar, I knew I had to apply.
During my time at the University of Vermont, I have investigated maternal mortality, mummification, and Northern Hindu temple motifs. Although these areas may seem different from one another, they all connect to my desire to understand the human condition more fully. This summer I was lucky enough to explore my interests in a new way through the opportunity for a full-time virtual internship during the pandemic.
I worked on two projects, one with Dr. Michael Collins, Kluge Fellow in Anthropology from the University of Gottingen, and the other with Dr. Janna Deitz, Political Scientist and Kluge Center program specialist in outreach and partnerships, working on alumni engagement. While these projects focused on separate aspects of the Kluge Center, together they provided me with a rich experience.
The project I worked on with Dr. Collins, “From Boycotts to Ballots: Democracy and Social Minorities in Modern India,” fit well with my background in anthropology. (Read an interview with Collins on his work here.) Most of my work on this assignment concerned investigating the trends and causes of violence towards the Dalit population in the state of Tamil Nadu. Specifically, I focused on a group called the Dalit Panthers, an organization modeled on the Black Panthers. This association between the US and Indian activists led me to a significant observation: issues of police brutality, socioeconomic disparities, and overwhelming injustice in India are quite similar to those experienced by oppressed populations in the United States.
While it is important to acknowledge the differences (as with caste versus racism), finding similarities between these struggles helped me to recognize some of the basic driving forces behind inequality. Prior to this project, I had researched India primarily through the le