RELS Master’s Student David Flaherty Wins Summer FLAS Scholarship

Congratulations to David Flaherty, a Master’s student in the Department of Religious Studies, who was awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) scholarship to continue his Hindi studies at the South Asia Language Institute (SASLI) at UW-Madison this summer. This summer, David will also present his research virtually at the University of Cambridge’s Gender, Sexuality, and History Workshop. His work looks at the ways Indian hijras engage with and perform on Instagram. Specifically, he analyzes the kinds of performances that hijras visually participate in on their Instagram accounts, and looks at new ways to understand these “movements” within these spaces. David specializes in gender/sexuality studies, and looks at the intersections of digital media, religion, and gender within his research. He plans to apply for PhD programs this fall and continue his work with his thesis and Hindi. We look forward to many more great things from David!