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Current Chair
Toyin Falola - 2016
The Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Falola is a distinguished scholar of African history and a member of the Library of Congress Scholars Council. At the Kluge Center, Falola will research a project titled, “African Immigrant Communities in the United States.” Read announcement
Past Chairs
Juan Cole - 2016
A prominent scholar and blogger who writes on the Muslim world’s relationship with the West, Cole's “Informed Comment” blog provides historical context to modern-day events in the Muslim world. He has commented extensively on al-Qaida, the Taliban, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. At the Kluge Center, Cole will research a project titled, “The Idea of Peace in the Quran.” Read announcement
Marie Arana - 2015
A renowned author and journalist, Arana is former editor-in-chief of the Washington Post’s “Book World” and author of an award-winning biography of Simón Bolívar. She also serves on the Library of Congress Scholars Council. At the Kluge Center, Arana will research a new book about three obsessions she asserts have held Latin Americans in their grip for the past thousand years: the excavation of precious metals, a culture of violence, and fervent adherence to religious institutions. Read announcement
Sanjay Subrahmanyam - 2013
A distinguished professor of history at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and founding director of UCLA’s Center for India and South Asia, Subrahmanyam has published extensively on the medieval and early modern history of India, the Indian Ocean world and Eurasia. At the Kluge Center he researched two themes connected to South Asia: first-person narratives from early modern South Asia, and French contacts and dealings with South Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries. Read announcement
Celso Lafer - 2005
A former Brazilian minister of foreign relations, Lafer recently served as chairman of the Department of Jurisprudence and General Theory of Law at the Law School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He was twice minister of foreign relations of Brazil, in 1992 and in 2001-2002. Read announcement
Christopher Bayly - 2005
The former Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at Cambridge University, during his residency at the Kluge Center Bayly researched the emergence and transformation of liberal ideas among the intelligentsia of India. Bayly participated in a joint project with other scholars in the United States, India and Great Britain to reassess the history of ideas in colonial India. Read announcement
Lamin Sanneh - 2004
The D. Willis James Professor of Missions & World Christianity and professor of history at Yale University, at the Kluge Center Sanneh researched the institutions of Islamic governance and law before, during and after British rule in Nigeria. Read announcement
- Lecture: “The Changing Face of Christianity: Africa, the West and the World”
- Lecture: “Sacred Truth and Secular Agency: Sharia Norms and Political Enforcement”
- Event: “#ScholarFest: Life/Present: Personal & Cultural Identity in a Multicultural World”
- Event: “#ScholarFest: Freedom of Expression & Why it Matters”
Romila Thapar - 2003
The first holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South, Thapar is the pre-eminent historian of early India. Her research has profoundly changed the way India’s past is understood both at home and around the world. Thapar has written or coauthored 15 substantial books, and her influence has reached beyond the academy and into school textbooks. Read announcement
- Symposium: “Stories of our Nations, Footprints of our Souls: History Textbooks in Middle Schools and High Schools” | More
- Lecture: “Perceptions of the Past in Early India” | More
- Kluge Prize winner: Romila Thapar
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About the Program
Purpose
A senior scholar position to research the history and cultures of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the islands of the Pacific including Australia and New Zealand.
Appointment
By the Librarian of Congress.
Research Focus
The appointed scholar conducts research that focuses on the history and cultures of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the islands of the Pacific including Australia and New Zealand, using the immense foreign language collections in the specialized reading rooms of the Library of Congress.
Contributions
The goal is for research that will illuminate knowledge of the history and cultures of the southern hemisphere that will contribute toward the public good.
It is hoped that the Chairholder will pursue a new and refreshing voice in the intellectual milieu of Washington, D.C., and will bring both philosophical depth and historical perspective to the research.
An address towards the end of the chairholder's tenure is one of the major intellectual occasions at the Library of Congress.
About Kluge Chairs
Five Kluge Chairs are articulated in the founding documents of The John W. Kluge Center.
The chairs are broadly defined to correspond to groupings among the Library's vast collections: American Law and Governance, Countries and Cultures of the North, Countries and Cultures of the South, Technology and Society, and Modern Culture.
The occupants of the chairs are senior scholars of great accomplishment chosen solely for their intellectual and communicative abilities and free to pursue their own research in the Library's collections.
Taken together, these broadly defined Chairs bring a critical mass of the world's leading thinkers to Washington from all over America and the world. Their presence provides an opportunity for a new type of dialog with political leaders, in an authentically scholarly atmosphere.
Find more information on Kluge Chairs in the Kluge Center charter.
Selection of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South
The Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South is appointed by the Librarian of Congress.
No applications or nominations are accepted for this senior scholar position.
To view other scholar opportunities, please return to the Chairs & Fellowships page.
Learn More
Have questions about chairs, fellowships & partnerships at The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress?
Email us at: [email protected]
Write to us at:
The John W. Kluge Center
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave SE
Washington DC 20540-4860
Subscribe to our RSS Feed:
To learn about news, events, and
application and nomination periods.
Subscribe now
