Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus 
Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus is a fortnightly series of articles on the role of art in public policymaking. This series invites WPI fellows and project leaders as well as external practitioners to contribute pieces on how artists have led policy change and how policymakers can use creative strategies.
In Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World, World Policy Institute Senior Fellow Ian Bremmer illustrates a historic shift in the international system and the world economy—and an unprecedented moment of global uncertainty.
Mira Kamdar
Senior Fellow
Editorial Board, World Policy Journal
Expertise: India, Indian Diaspora, South Asia, France, Equity and Sustainability, Food Security, Global Warming, Globalization, Minority Integration, U.S.-India Relations, U.S. Foreign Policy.
Mira Kamdar has been a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute since 1993, and was Acting Director in 1996-97. Her latest book is Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World 2008 (Scribner). The book has been published in over a dozen foreign editions. Her critically acclaimed memoir, Motiba's Tattoos: A Granddaughter's Journey into her Indian Family's Past (Public Affairs 2000) was a 2000 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection and won the 2002 Washington Book Award. She is currently writing a book on Gandhi.
Mira is teaching a course in 2010 at Sciences-Po in France on the Rise of India in a Changing World Order. She was a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society in 2008. Based at the Society's New York headquarters, her work focused on issues of equity and sustainability in a world subject to the accelerating forces of globalization and climate change, and on a changing U.S.-Asia relationship.
Mira is a regular speaker at high-level international gatherings in the United States, Europe and Asia. Her opinions and articles have appeared in publications around the world, including Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, World Policy Journal, Times of India, Daily News & Analysis, Outlook, Tehelka, The Guardian, Yale Global. Mira writes in French for Le Monde Diplomatique magazine and the blog Planète Asie, and for her regular column “Le mot de l’Inde” published in Courrier International. She blogs for the Huffington Post and for World Policy Journal. Mira regularly provides expert commentary for radio and television, including CNN International, Bloomberg TV, BBC, National Public Radio, Public Radio International, Headlines Today, TV Asia, Radio France International and France 24.
Experience:
- Senior Fellow, WPI (1993-present)
- Acting Director, WPI (1996-97)
- Associate Fellow, Asia Society (2005 – present)
- Visiting Professor, SUNY Stony Brook (2009)
- Visiting Professor, Sciences-Po (2010)
Honors and Affiliations:
- Bernard Schwartz Fellow, Asia Society, 2008
- 2002 Washington Book Award for Motiba's Tattoos: A Granddaughter's Journey from America into Her Indian Family's Past (Plume: 2001)
- Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection 2000 for Motiba's Tattoos: A Granddaughter's Journey into her Indian Family's Past (Public Affairs: 2000)
- Avenue Asia Portraits of Achievement in the Asian-American Community 1996 and 1997
- PhD Qualifying Examinations "with distinction"
- PEN America
- Pacific Council on International Policy
- SAJA, South Asian Journalists Association
Education:
- M.A. and Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley
- B.A., Reed College
Languages:
- French (Fluent)
- Hindi (Fluent)
- Spanish, Italiant (Reading and aural comprehension)
- Gujarati (Some)
Contact: kamdar@worldpolicy.org
Website: http://mirakamdar.com/
Twitter: @mirakamdar
Planet India: How the Fastest Growing Economy is Transforming America and the World, Scribner, 2007. -The Financial Times, April 6, 2007
Motiba’s Tattoos: A Granddaughter’s Journey from America into her Indian Family’s Past, Plume, 2001.“Mat: Le Vote,” Courrier International, No. 1161, January 30. 2013.
“As a Girl in India, I learned to be Afraid of Men,” The Atlantic, January 4, 2013.
“Behind India's Cultural Purdah,” Salon, January 4, 2013.
"Raga": La Mélodie,” Courrier International, January 3, 2013.
Featured in an Asia Society blog post about Obama’s re-election and its implications for Asia, November 7. 2012.
Cited by Firstpost in a story about the U.S. Presidential Election and India, November 7, 2012.
“Nakamo: le bon à rien,” Courrier International, No. 1147, October 25, 2012.
Cited by The Week about what the election means for India, October 22, 2012.
“Viswas: confiance,” Courrier International, No. 1145, October 10 2012.
“Bijli: l’électricité,” Courrier International, September 13, 2012.
“Ghee: ‘Beurre Clarifie’,” Courier International, July 17, 2012.
“Kitab: Le Livre,” Courrier International, No. 1127, July 6, 2012.
“Ghar: la maison,” Courrier International, No. 1124, May 15, 2012.
“Bandar: le singe,” Courrier International, No. 1121, April 26, 2012.
"AWAAZ: LA VOIX," Courrier International, April 5, 2012.
"A Lesser France," Foreign Affairs, March 30, 2012.
"MAAF: PARDON," Courrier International, March 15, 2012.
Quoted on India's growth potential in "The Emergence of a Global Middle Class," The Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2012.
Interviewed by France 24 about French President Hollande’s trip to India, February 14, 2013.
Provided expert comments for a France 24 segment “Energy vs Economy: How India’s Power Sector Can’t Keep Up,” on August 3, 2012.
World Policy on Air, September 21, 2010.
Radio France Internationale, Sol en Majeur, with Marina Marczarek, April 28, 2010.
France 24 TV (English), India Steps Security After Pune Blast, February 17, 2010.
Planète Terre TV, CERIUM – Université de Montréal, Être femme en Inde, 5 mars 2010.
Riz Khan, Al Jazeera TV, Indian Poll Outcome, May 14, 2009.
MTV Iggy, four videotaped comments, “Change: Kashmir,” May 12, 2009.
The Takeaway, WNYC – NPR, India Voting in the World’s Biggest Democracy, May 7, 2009.
USF TV, On the Issues, January 27, 2009.
PBS, Secrets of the Dead: Mumbai Massacre, Panel Discussion at Columbia University, Blogtalk Radio, December 4, 2009.
Asia Society, video excerpt, comment on Pakistan, with Salman Rushdie and Suketu Mehta, December 16, 2008.
Asia Society, full video, Understanding the Mumbai Attacks, with Salman Rushdie and Suketu Mehta, December 16, 2008.
WNYC, The Brian Lehrer Show: Mumbai Monday, December 1, 2008.
WNYC, The Brian Lehrer Show: India & Pakistan, December 1, 2008.
CNN, Live coverage Mumbai terrorist attack, November 27, 2008.
France Info, Chroniques: le livre du jour, with Philippe Vallet, February 7, 2008.
France Inter, Et pourtant elle tourne, January 28, 2008.
France Culture, Les matins, January 25, 2008.
FR3 TV, Ce soir ou jamais, “Débat sur l’Inde,” January 24, 2008.
Appeared on The Takeaway with John Hockenberry to discuss the Gangrape in New Delhi, January 8, 2013.
Moderated the panel on India's economy at the Salon l'Inde des Livres in Paris on Sunday, November 18, 2012.
Presented"De l'imitation a l'invention: l'indiennage des Lumieres" at Centre des Etudes sur l'Inde et l'Asie du Sud in Paris, France on June 1, 2012.
Spoke with Bernard Thomasson of France Info about Que faire de Gandhi aujourd’hui?, April 17, 2012.
Occupy the World: Economic and Political Implications of Ongoing Protest Movements, A Political Salon with Mira Kamdar. November 29, 2011.
Annual Solanki Lecture, Karl Anatol Center at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). April 29, 2010.
Banners Cultural Lecture Series, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana. April 28, 2010.
Politiques de la traduction, seminar of Rada IVEKOVIC, Philosophy, politics and society. Mira Kamdar, author, “Gandhi : la traduction du politique”; Orazio Irrera, philosophe. 18h30-20h30 Salle JA01, Carré des Sciences, 1 rue Descartes, 75005 Paris. April 6, 2010.
Town Hall of Denver “India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy” Denver, Colorado, January 13, 2010.
SAJA Forum, “Mumbai Attacks: PBS documentary Secrets of the Dead: Mumbai Massacre,” Columbia University, New York. December 4, 2009.
“Who is a Terrorist? Cultural Policing and the State,” a discussion with Christophe Jaffrelot, introduced and moderated by Mira Kamdar. East West Institute and World Policy Institute. November 24, 2009.
Springfield Forum, Springfield, Massachusetts, November 18, 2009.
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe International Conference, October 21-24, 2009.
“Nepal: Fall of a God King,” Discussion with photojournalist Tomas Van Houtryve. Institute for Public Knowledge, NYU. Co-sponsored by World Policy Institute and Asia Society. October 1, 2009.
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