CASI Director Named

Tariq Thachil has been named Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) and Associate Professor of Political Science, effective July 1, 2020. As Director of CASI, he will also hold the Madan Lal Sobti Chair for the Study of Contemporary India.

Thachil comes to Penn from Vanderbilt University, where he is an associate professor of political science. He studies political parties and political behavior, social movements, ethnic politics, and urban migration, with a regional focus on South Asia. His current research examines the political consequences of rapid urbanization and internal migration in India.

Thachil’s first book, Elite Parties, Poor Voters: How Social Services Win Votes in India, was published in 2014 and received several awards, including the Gregory Luebbert Book Award for best book in comparative politics from the American Political Science Organization. His articles have appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Contemporary South Asia, Journal of Politics, and World Politics, among others. He has also written for media outlets including the Indian Express and the Washington Post. In 2019, he received the Heinz I. Eulau Award for Best Article in the American Political Science Review. Thachil holds a Ph.D. in government from Cornell and a B.A. in economics from Stanford.

“CASI is a vital part of our drive to expand global understanding of and discover global solutions to issues like sustainability, poverty, and justice,” says Steven J. Fluharty, Dean and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience. “Tariq Thachil will be an outstanding partner in this mission.”

The Madan Lal Sobti Chair was established through the generosity of numerous alumni, parents, and friends of the University.