rbakshi

Fair enough. Given your choices, I'd say SOAS or Oxford. The M.A. at SOAS is a one year program, though, expensive, but it gives you access to a host of scholars at other UoL institutions (at the top of my head I can think of Anna Contandini in History of Art at SOAS and Susan Babaie at the Courtauld). Moreover, London is an amazing location to be in. I cannot stress the importance of being in a place that you want to live in. Personally, for myself, I cannot imagine being in Leiden or some godforsaken central European town with a village-like atmosphere with nothing to do, and given the current political climate even brace myself for rampant racism. But, then again, that is just me. A diverse and vibrant city, such as London, has numerous advantages not just in terms of coursework and archives, but also in terms of opportunities (for instance, conferences, internships, and research positions). If the university brand is of importance, then, nothing can beat Oxford. The Faculty of Oriental Studies is well-respected, the Khalili Research Centre is based at Oxford (I believe it is solely devoted to studies in islamic art and architecture, but I could be mistaken), and the geographic and chronological breadth of courses offered at Oxford is second to none. In fact, as I was looking at research programs the M.Phil./D.Phil. in Islamic art and architecture was on my shortlist, particularly because of the complex and rigorous coursework involved. Oxford isn't too far from London, so a day trip is always a possibility. Plus, it is fairly diverse in terms of its student population, but remember Oxford is no Cal Berkeley or Toronto. In my opinion, the deciding factor here should be funding. Which institution is funding you the most? Does it make sense to go into debt at Oxford or London, if the same outcome can be achieved at Leiden and/or CEU? Do not discount the importance of fellowships on your resume, as my M.A. supervisor once advised, funding begets funding. The more awards/honours/fellowships you have on your C.V. the more you are likely to get (granted not in all cases but generally that's how it works). Have you been offered any funding at Oxford or SOAS? If you have, I would jump at either. If not, then, you have a choice to make. Good luck! P.S. My area is early modern Islamic empires as well, though, I study Mughal (and I'm an art historian by training). If you're in Vienna, make sure you consult Ebba Koch (a Mughal art historian). What's your specific area?

Give it up, @northeastregional, you sound like a bully.

McGill's Institute of Islamic Studies is a possibility. Toronto has the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, which is an excellent program. UBC recently hired an Ottoman specialist (though in art history). Also, Minnesota has a historian, Giancarlo Casale, and an art historian, Sinem Casale, specializing in Ottoman Turkey. Hope this helps.

Anyone considering going to the University of Windsor should seriously reconsider their decision. This is, of course, my biased opinion, but I think it is important to present a fuller picture to contextualize the situation. In my experience, it is a highly disreputable institution (for many reasons details of which I shall refrain from going into). It is a thoroughly bigoted environment, racist, homophobic, cliquey, and I would go so far as to say misogynist as well. Such rampant bigotry is visible amongst the students, the staff, the faculty, and the general citizenry. The University itself operates a "ponzi" scheme by recruiting international students to feed the much needed infrastructure developments on campus. None of its programs are well reputed, those that are are a far cry from sophisticated or analytical. An institution that has developed a means to survive through international student money without any adequate (let alone equal) investments in international student welfare (for instance, there are limited vegetarian options on campus, where such options exist "two spring rolls" form an entire meal, no facilities for food on campus past 11pm, little to no guidance from international affairs/recruitment staff, no scholarships/funding, no accommodation of gay/lesbian international students, and so on). The city itself reeks of desperation like a cinematic actress long past her prime hanging on to shards of long lost glory. Windsor's downtown is one of the worst I've seen in Canada, in fact, at first glance, it does not look like it is a part of Canada at all. As a country that prides itself on its multiculturalism (which in itself is debatable in our day and age but a point for another day) and diversity, Windsor refuses to accept that spirit of inclusion. There are far better options in Ontario, especially if you are spending good money on a graduate degree.

There's Susan Babaie at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Avinoam Shalem and Zainab Bahrani at Columbia University could also be possible advisors. Anneka Lenssen at the University of California, Berkeley, is a recent hire and an excellent advisor for this area, incidentally she graduated from MIT. Hope this helps.

Hi Joy93, As far as I've been advised by a potential supervisor at a U.S. school (for a PHD statement), I was told not to sound as if I have my mind made up about a particular topic because that could be seen by the committee as a sign of not wanting to avail the intellectual diversity of the department. When going through 500 applications for roughly 5-6 spots (at most top-ranked schools), the committee wants a student who will have an idea about his/her research interests (for example and these are rather broad for a reason: gender, patronage, critical theory, etc.), yet, still be open to the department's intellectual currents. For instance, a student could be applying to work with a South Asianist (with a dissertation area in pre-modern Nepal) but would draw upon methodologically from the Western Medievalist, Modernist, Islamicist, and/or East Asianist. This suggests an openness to new experiences on the part of a student. Having said that, most statements usually begin with a research area/topic/object that you want to investigate. Begin by raising major/pertinent questions around your topic in such a manner as to address the geographic, chronological, and methodological strengths of the department and not just your supervisor. By addressing the department you show the committee your reasons to be in their program over and above another program. After all, you're working not just with a particular supervisor but with an entire department. This is what I've been advised, but take it with a pinch of salt, as our situations are different (I'm applying for a PHD, you're applying for an M.A., our areas are probably different). As for rolling admissions, as far as I know most schools wait till after the application deadline to inform applicants. Finally, if you are applying to M.A. programs have you considered some in Canada. There are excellent standalone M.A. programs at Toronto, McGill, UBC, Victoria, Queens, and Montreal. Hope this helps.

Ethan Matt Kavaler at the University of Toronto specializes in Northern Renaissance Art. He currently has one student, but I'm not sure if he's taking more.

There's Elizabeth Harney on the graduate faculty at the University of Toronto, though, her home department is based at UTSC (for undergraduate teaching only). Research areas include modern and contemporary African art, African diasporas, and postcolonial theory.

Have you thought of Canadian schools? Most good schools here offer terminal MA's. I can speak for Toronto's program, which is both methodologically challenging and in recent years geographically diverse as well. Sadly, Toronto does not offer scholarships to international students (but at $16,500 for a one year M.A. it is considerably cheaper than schools like Williams, not to mention the kind of international exposure it gives you). There are OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarship) and SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) grants but the latter is open only to Canadians, the OGS, on the other hand, is open to international students as well. Here's a list of some terminal M.A. programs in Canada (most have some form of funding available for students either as entering fellowships or TA/RA positions): University of Toronto, Department of Fine Art, Toronto, ON McGill University, Department of Art History and Communications Studies, Montreal, QC University of British Columbia, Department of Art History and Visual Art, Vancouver, BC (an interesting Alumni profile page exists as well) University of Victoria, Department of Art History & Visual Studies, Victoria, BC Queen's University, Department of Art History & Art Conservation, Kingston, ON (least diverse of the six, no faculty specializing in non-western areas, such as East Asian, South/east Asian, or Islamic art) University of Montreal, Department d'histoire de l'art et d'etudes cinematographiques, Montreal, QC (French) There are other programs at Concordia, Carleton, Alberta, and York, but they're fairly provincial and as international students that might not be the best environment.

Taking a cue from I've decided to put up a similar post on South Asian Art just to highlight the diversity of options that I came across in my own research into programs, funding, curatorial opportunities, and supervisors. SCHOLARS Canada Anthony Welch, Victoria (Emeritus professor now) Melia Belli-Bose, Victoria (recent hire, so I'm not sure she will be supervising students) Deepali Dewan, ROM/Toronto Kajri Jain, Toronto (at UTM but teaches graduate courses at U of T St. George) Hussein Keshani, UBC-Okanagan Katherine Hacker, UBC Marcus Millwright, Victoria (not a South Asianist, but is supervising one dissertation in Islamic South Asia) Astri Wright, Victoria (not a South Asianist, but teaches courses on South Asia) Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Queens (works on early modern Jesuit/European encounters with Mughal India, an interesting temporal tangent) United States Sugata Ray, Berkeley Rebecca Brown, Johns Hopkins Pika Ghosh, UNC Chapel Hill Mrinalini Rajagopalan, Pittsburgh Madhuri Desai, Penn State Jinah Kim, Harvard (though her area is mostly Buddhist, so I wouldn't see her as a South Asianist, but she is classified as such. Alternately, both David Roxburgh and Gurlu Necipoglu have supervised dissertations in Islamic South Asia) Dipti Khera, NYU/IFA Finbarr Barry Flood, NYU/IFA (an Islamicist by area, but is supervising three South Asia related dissertations at the moment) Vidya Dehejia, Columbia Ifthikar Dadi, Cornell Daniel Ehnbom, Virginia (there's also Mehr Faruqi at another department, so there's breadth to Virginia's South Asia offerings) Nanchiket Chanchani, Michigan (there's also William Glover at Michigan's History department whose interests lie in British colonial architecture) Michael Meister, Pennsylvania (not sure if he's still taking students) Tamara Sears, Yale (Timothy Barringer also supervises South Asian topics, as does Kishwar Rizvi) Anna Seastrand, Chicago (does not supervise graduate students, though, Chicago offers more research opportunities in the South Asia program) Catherine and Frederick Asher, Minnesota (Emeritus professors now) John and Susan Huntington, Ohio State (Emeritus professors now) Swati Chattopadhyay, UCSB (primarily an architectural historian) Sonal Khullar, Washington Robert Brown, UCLA Saloni Mathur, UCLA Janice Leoshko, Texas-Austin Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke (not an art historian, but her work straddles our discipline) MUSEUMS & INSTITUTIONS Canada Royal Ontario Museum, Department of South Asia, Toronto, ON Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, ON Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC (mainly a strong Japanese and Chinese collection with some South Asian artifacts represented) United States Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of South and Southeast Asia, New York, NY Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Department of South Asia, Los Angeles, CA Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Slacker Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Harvard Art Museums, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Boston, MA Norton Simon Museum, Department of Asian Art, Pasadena, CA Peabody Essex Museum, Department of Indian Art, Salem, MA Philadelphia Museum of Art, Department of Indian & Himalayan Art, Philadelphia, PA INTERNSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, & FUNDING J.N.Tata Endowment, open to students with a first degree from an Indian university as a part-loan, part-scholarship program. Inlaks Scholarships, open to Indian nationals below 30 years of age as full scholarships. Fulbright Nehru Awards, open to Indian nationals for Masters-level study (only) at a U.S. institution. This is a start. Please add to this list, especially scholars/schools and funding, internships, fellowships, as it helps us all (we are in the same boat, right!).

Excellent replies on the topic. I'm going to add some Canadian schools specializing in South Asian art (of which two I've studied at). The best South Asian program in Canada is at the University of Toronto. The Department of Art History boasts not one but two South Asianists, Dr. Kajri Jain (affiliated to UTM) and Dr. Deepali Dewan (affiliated to the ROM). Apart from Art History, Toronto boasts a strong South Asian presence in other departments, such as English, Economics, History, and Political Science. The language programs are equally strong with Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and Panjabi on offer at any given time (though not all languages are simultaneously offered except Sanskrit, which is based out of the Department of East Asian Civilizations). Furthermore, the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations is an excellent source for studies in Islamic South Asia. Toronto also houses a strong South Asian diaspora population, which is reflected in the arts and culture scene of the city, most notably with the Aga Khan Museum based there. In coming years, this will be a strong South Asia program like Minnesota in its heyday under the Ashers (which is not surprising because Dewan was a student of Catherine and Frederick Asher). The next best program is at UBC (the University of British Columbia) with an equally strong South Asia focus. Dr. Katherine Hacker is the resident South Asianist in the Department of Art History. Other departments also have a strong South Asia focus, and like Toronto, UBC also houses a separate Centre for South Asia. Vancouver has an equally large South Asian population, which results in a vibrant cultural presence in Van's urban fabric. There is also Dr. Hussein Keshani at UBC-Okanagan, who specializes in Late Mughal/Islamic art and architecture. Last time I checked, UBC was looking to hire an Islamicist as well, whether s/he focuses on South Asia or not can be judged only after the hiring has been completed. That being said, if UBC doesn't actively recruit students in South Asian art, especially those coming from India/Pakistan (i.e. international students) and starts to diversify from its traditional leanings, it will soon lose out on its competitive edge, which is as it stands rather flimsy. Finally, a strong contender for a South Asia focus is the University of Victoria. Dr. Anthony Welch is a authority on India's Early Sultanate (particularly Tughlaq) art and architecture, which he teaches in a series of undergraduate courses. His graduate seminars pertain to two major areas: Mughal India and Safavi Iran. Apart from him, the Department of Art History and Visual Culture boasts another Islamicist, Dr. Marcus Millwright, and a Southeast Asianist, Dr. Astri Wright. As far as I'm aware, UVic is one of few Canadian art history programs offering courses in Southeast Asian art. The Centre for Studies in Religion and Society (CSRS) along with the Department of History complement the research and teaching in South Asia, and if things work out, then, there'll be two more South Asianists at UVic (a historian and an art historian). Incidentally, Huseein Keshain (at UBC) studied with Dr. Welch at UVic. Moreover, UVic boasts a significant number of graduate students in South Asian art history (both masters and doctoral level). Many of these M.A. level students continue in doctoral programs in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K.. A major drawback, though, is that Victoria is a small town with limited off-campus opportunities, if any at all. Like Toronto, UVic is slowly broadening its South Asia focus by investing in archives, graduate students, and new faculty.