Harvard’s South Asian Journal revamps with makeover

India New England | Articles | Magazine focuses on issues in region with potentially important global impact: "The magazine had been in existence for two years when current editor-in-chief, Monica Rana, took the helm in the fall of 2004 and decided it was time for an upgrade. “For the first couple years there was just random material written by students,” Thapa says.

“The editor-in-chief was always changing so there was no continuity or structure, no sense of a real magazine.” A new direction was taken when Thapa and Rana went to the America India Foundation to see what others thought about the idea of bringing the magazine to the next level. Members of the organization’s Boston chapter turned out to be very receptive.

“They gave us the initial push in helping make this a really professional journal,” says Thapa. In addition to encouragement, members of the foundation helped by providing contacts for potential contributors.

The journal now contains articles written by experts in various fields, in addition to articles by students. The most recent issue includes articles by Kunda Dixit, editor and publisher of the Nepali Times, and by the director of the India-based Institute for Topical Studies, B. Raman.

Rana also wanted to go beyond the random sampling of the past and bring more coherence to the magazine by giving a theme to each issue in a “Features” section, along with more general stories in an “Issues and Insights” section.

The current issue takes terrorism as its theme, with articles ranging from the crisis in Jammu and Kashmir to stories about ongoing fighting in Sri Lanka and Nepal.

When covering such issues, Thapa stressed the importance South Asian Journal places on giving all sides in the debate an equal voice. With the first magazine there was uncertainty over how tight a deadline to give to potential and often very busy contributors, and indeed there were some who initially promised to write but ended up being too busy to do so. Nonetheless, Thapa concedes that it’s to be expected before a regular pool of writers is established, and despite some logistical problems the results have been positive.

A distributor in India has expressed some interest and Thapa brought copies of the magazine with her when she was home in Nepal this past summer.

Apart from those with a direct connection to the region, there’s reason to believe general readers will also appreciate what the journal has to offer.

“South Asia is such a dynamic place right now, there’s so much happening from one day to the next,” Thapa says. “The issues there are major ones with many dimensions that often don’t get the coverage that they should. It’s a place that’s far away for some, but people should know what’s happening there because it’s going to shape how the world will look in years to come.”

For more information about the South Asian Journal, please visit www.harvardsaa.org/saj."