India Statement of Purpose

For the past few months I have been working on an application to study abroad during the spring semester of 2011 in Pune, India. Below is my Statement of Purpose.

Since the beginning of my university studies, I have become fascinated by the economic and social rise of India. From an individual standpoint, the objective of contributing toward the construction of basic infrastructure, as well as that of enabling the poorest classes of Indian society to transcend the confines of their poverty is one that I find infinitely interesting and exciting. Having clearly identified economic and social development as the foundation of my career path, my interest in India is not only academic, but also professional.

I have long considered myself a student of culture. During my childhood, my family hosted four young individuals from different parts of the world while they received medical services not available to them in their home nations. I grew up with foster siblings from Honduras, the Dominican Republic, the Gambia, and India. Later travels with my family would include trips throughout North America, nearly all of Western Europe, and parts of South and East Asia. Through these experiences I gradually developed a recurring interest in discovering the broader global community. My interest in becoming active and involved in international affairs continued to grow during my first two years at the university level, where I have now turned my lifelong interest into the focal point of my academic study.

This past summer I studied abroad in Spain, focusing mostly on improving my knowledge of the Spanish language. In Madrid I interned with Fundacion Ciudad de la Esperanza y la Alegria, an international NGO that builds and supports hospitals and schools in rural regions of India. Currently I am interning with the European Atomic Forum in Brussels, Belgium, while studying both the role and function of the European Union, as well as the French language.

During the semester in Pune, I would ideally focus on development economics, the structure and function of the Indian Civil Service, the methods by which it hopes to alleviate poverty, and the current internal threats (i.e., the Maoists) to its overall stability. The semester would additionally give me a chance to network with local and regional organizations, as well as conduct ethnographic studies that I had spent the previous spring semester designing and organizing.

I have never been more convinced that the rise of India will have profound and lasting effects on the rest of the global community. In addition to its increasing economic stature and its undeniable political significance, India is also making a noteworthy contribution to soft culture via its Bollywood film industry and its spectacular group of young new pop stars. The Pune program would therefore be a phenomenal opportunity to shape the focus of my academic career while enriching it through real, concrete experiences. Through primary observation of and personal immersion in contemporary Indian society, I would gain an unparalleled opportunity to integrate myself in a culture that I have long admired from the other side of the world.

There is no better time than during one’s university studies to travel to new countries and seize opportunities that will never again be as easy nor as fruitful. In a new era of unlimited information and the instantaneous proliferation of culture and ideas, education demands more of us than it ever has before. While I may gain a strong theoretical understanding of modern India through course readings, to gain insight there is no substitute for observing it firsthand.

While in prison, Jawaharlal Nehru began his iconic book entitled “The Discovery of India.” The significance of this title was not to suggest that one man could singlehandedly discover an entire nation; rather, it was a reference to his own personal reflection on the reawakening of a diverse, broad collection of communities separated along religious, geographic, linguistic, and caste lines. Relative to other nations of the world, India as a modern political entity remains a young state, only a single generation removed from it’s founding. The study of India is, therefore, not only an exercise in the nation of India, but a collective study of the institutions of humanity, and how the essence of a national identity is expressed through the apparatus of statecraft. Through this lens, I hope to gain new awareness and have my own discovery of India.