Prema Kurien

{{Short description|Indian-American sociologist (born 1963)}} {{Infobox person  | name = Prema Ann Kurien | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|5|10}}<ref name="PhD thesis"/> | birth_place = Thiruvalla, Kerala, India  | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = Professor | language = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Delhi School of Economics<br>Brown University | organization = Syracuse University | notable_works = ''Kaleidoscopic Ethnicity'': International Migration and the Reconstruction of Community Identities in India | influences = | influenced = | awards = Asia/Asian America book award, American Sociological Association | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/directory/prema-kurien|Maxwell Website}} | portaldisp = | module = {{Infobox scientist | embed = yes | fields = Sociology, Religion and human migration | thesis_title = Ethnicity, migration and social change: A study of three emigrant communities in Kerala, India | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/openview/b41631cfb0bb59c961e6094f17b4c74e | thesis_year = 1993 | doctoral_advisor = Dietrich Rueschemeyer | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = }} }} '''Prema Ann Kurien''' (born 1963) is an Indian American professor of sociology at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. She specializes in the interplay between religion and immigration experiences, with focus on people from India. She has written a number of articles and books on aspects of this subject.<ref name=Maxwell/> Her 2002 book ''Kaleidoscopic Ethnicity: International Migration and the Reconstruction of Community Identities in India'' was co-winner of the 2003 Asia/Asian America book award from the American Sociological Association.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/__A_Place_at_the_Multicultural_Table_40.html |title=A Place at the Multicultural Table |publisher=Rutgers University Press |accessdate=2012-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822084118/http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/__A_Place_at_the_Multicultural_Table_40.html |archive-date=2010-08-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Birth and education== Prema Kurien was born in Kerala, India. She attended the Women's Christian College, Chennai, earning a BA in psychology in 1983, and the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, where she gained an MA degree in sociology in 1986. After moving to the United States, she attended Brown University, earning M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology in 1989 and 1993, respectively.<ref name="PhD thesis">{{cite thesis |last1=Kurien |first1=Prema Ann |title=Ethnicity, migration and social change: A study of three emigrant communities in Kerala, India |via=ProQuest |type=PhD |date=1993 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/b41631cfb0bb59c961e6094f17b4c74e |access-date=23 April 2023 |publisher=Brown University |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Wilson>{{cite web |url=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/staff/prema-kurien |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416082914/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/staff/prema-kurien |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 16, 2013 |title=Prema Kurien |publisher=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars |accessdate=2012-03-27}}</ref>

==Career== Kurien was visiting assistant professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Knox College, from 1992 to 1994, then assistant professor at the Department of Sociology and Director of the Human Diversity Program at Chapman University from 1994 to 1995. From 1995 to 2003 she was assistant professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Southern California, then obtained her present position of associate professor in the Department of Sociology of Syracuse University.<ref name=Wilson/>

She has received postdoctoral fellowships and grants from the Carnegie Corporation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the American Institute of Indian Studies and the Louisville Institute.<ref name=RandD/> She was a fellow and then an affiliate fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion in Princeton University from 2000 to 2003. She was a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from September 2006 to May 2007.<ref name=Wilson/>

Kurien has participated in the Association for the Sociology of Religion, and the Religion section of the American Sociological Association. She is a member of the editorial board of the American Sociological Review and the annual publication of Society for Asian North American Christian Studies. She is a member of the National Science Foundation Dissertation Panel.<ref name=RandD>{{cite web |url=http://www.religionanddiversity.ca/media/uploads/kurien%20bio.pdf |title=Prema A. Kurien |work=The Religion and Diversity Project |accessdate=2012-03-27 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> She was the president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in 2021.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kurien |first1=Prema |title=2021 SSSR Presidential Address: Religion as Social Location—Global and Comparative Perspectives |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |date=March 2022 |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=5–20 |doi=10.1111/jssr.12782 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12782 |access-date=23 April 2023 |language=en |issn=0021-8294|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 2022, Kurian was named the director for the South Asia Center (SAC) in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Youngman |first1=Jessica |title=As New Leader Takes Helm, South Asia Center Receives $1.05M in Federal Grants |url=https://news.syr.edu/blog/2022/12/19/as-new-leader-takes-helm-south-asia-center-receives-1-05-million-in-federal-grants/ |access-date=23 April 2023 |work=Syracuse University News |date=19 December 2022}}</ref>

In 2024, she was named the Daicoff Faculty Scholar at Maxwell.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Melo |first1=Mikayla |title=Prema Kurien Recognized as Maxwell School's Daicoff Faculty Scholar |url=https://news.syr.edu/blog/2024/07/29/prema-kurien-recognized-as-maxwell-schools-daicoff-faculty-scholar/ |access-date=31 July 2024 |work=Syracuse University News |date=29 July 2024}}</ref>

==Publications== Kurien was editor of a special issue of the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2004, on ''The Impact of Immigrants on American Institutions''. She has published many articles in peer-reviewed journals. Prema Kurien's books are:<ref name=Maxwell>{{cite web |url=http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/faculty.aspx?id=6442451245 |title=Prema Kurien |publisher=Syracuse University |accessdate=2012-03-27}}</ref> * {{cite book |author=Prema A. Kurien |year=2002 |title=Kaleidoscopic Ethnicity: International Migration and the Reconstruction of Community Identities in India |publisher=Rutgers University Press |pages=332 |isbn=081353089X}} * {{cite book |author=Prema A. Kurien |year=2007 |title=A Place at the Table: Multiculturalism and the Development of an American Hinduism |publisher=Rutgers University Press |pages=320 |isbn=978-0813540566}}

Her ''Kaleidoscopic Ethnicity'' is primarily an anthropological work. It investigates the ways in which Malayali migrants from three different Kerala communities handle the opportunities and challenges of working in the Gulf. Three villages are studied, one predominantly Muslim, one Hindu and one Christian. She shows how the different cultures of these three villages were shaped by their historical experience, and how they profoundly influenced the way in which the villagers coped with the new challenges.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1925/stories/20021220000907400.htm |title=Sensitising to the ethnic dimension |author=Ratna Naidu |magazine=Frontline |volume=19 |issue=25 |date=December 7–20, 2002 |accessdate=2012-03-27}}</ref>

In ''A Place at the Multicultural Table'' Kurien reviews the ways in which Hindu American organizations are trying to address the question of cultural identity for Hindu Americans, including immigrants and those born in the US. She looks at the emerging "American Hinduism", an organized, standardized and politicized version of the more diverse Hinduism of India. Kurien makes the point that most American Hindus have no connection to the small group of ideologues who lead Hindutva-related organisations in the US, but few actively oppose the Hindutva movement. The vast majority are silent, falling between the extremes.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-bookreview/article1446079.ece |work=The Hindu |date=January 2, 2008 |title=Hinduism in the U.S. |author=Sudhakshina Rangaswami |accessdate=2012-03-27}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/directory/prema-kurien}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurien, Prema}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American women Category:21st-century Indian women Category:American sociologists Category:American women sociologists Category:Brown University alumni Category:Chapman University faculty Category:Delhi School of Economics alumni Category:Knox College (Illinois) faculty Category:Princeton University fellows Category:Syracuse University faculty Category:University of Southern California faculty Category:Women's Christian College, Chennai alumni Category:Women scientists from Kerala Category:American people of Malayali descent