The new Asia scholar's role in Asian/area studies: reining in the museum

Soon after completing my MA in History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, in September 2001, I applied for a doctorate at Columbia, at University of Pennsylvania, and at SOAS, all popular choices to pursue a study on South Asian Temple Architecture. Unfortunately, funding became a major issue after 9/11 and I was unable to secure a full grant. After a few years working as an independent scholar, and curator in Mumbai (working on a Parsi Zoroastrian project), my partner’s job transfer brought us to Singapore in 2005.