The Gallatin Fellowship was established by the Feris Foundation of America in 1976 in honour of Albert Gallatin, a Geneva native and US statesman, in order to support transatlantic research — allowing advanced doctoral students from the Geneva Graduate Institute to complete their studies at prestigious universities in the United States and allowing US students to complete their studies at the Institute.
This year, one of Gallatin Fellowships has been awarded to Abha Calindi, a fifth year PhD candidate in International History and Politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She has spent Spring of 2025 on academic mobility at the French Department at Columbia University, part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) to finish writing her doctoral thesis: “Echoes of Empire: Counterinsurgency and Securitisation as Governing Paradigms from Algeria to France.” Abha Calindi began her thesis under the supervision of Professor Mohamed Mohamedou until his passing and is working with Professor Emmanuelle Saada, Chair of the French Department, and Professor Bernard Harcourt, Corliss Lamont Professor of Law and Civil Liberties, while finalising her dissertation during her semester at Columbia.
“Echoes of Empire” focuses on the counterinsurgency tactics developed during the Algerian War of Independence, which became embedded as a governing paradigm within French state structures, creating enduring patterns of surveillance, spatial control, and racialised policing that continue to shape France's approach to security and citizenship today. Through extensive archival research of recently declassified police and military archives, it demonstrates that what began as colonial military doctrine evolved into a fundamental logic of governance that has been both domesticated within France and exported globally as a template for state control.
The Gallatin Fellowship ensures I can complete my research and honour Professor Mohamedou's scholarly legacy. After his passing, having the opportunity to work with experts like Emmanuelle Saada and Bernard Harcourt, whom I collaborated with last semester, whilst accessing Columbia's resources, represents not just academic support but a way to carry forward the vital research tradition he fostered. The fellowship enables me to bring this work to completion in a way that I hope would make him proud, contributing meaningful scholarship about colonial continuities that remain deeply relevant to contemporary debates about security, citizenship, and justice.
Abha Calindi brings professional experience from the World Trade Organization, the UNHCR in Geneva, and the UK Delegation to UNESCO in Paris. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Politics from the University of Warwick, and an MPhil in Politics from the University of Cambridge.
The second Gallatin Fellowship was awarded to Anshul Verma, a fourth year doctoral candidate in the Department of International History and Politics and Research Assistant at the Albert Hirschman Center. He is a historian trained in Switzerland, India and the United States, with a postgraduate degree in History with a specialisation in Modern India from the University of Delhi, where he was awarded the University Gold Medal, and a second degree in International History from the Geneva Graduate Institute, which was supported by the Inlaks Scholarship and now the Ferris Foundation Scholarship. Currently, he is working on the Ambizione project at the Albert Hirschman Center.
Under the joint supervision of Professor G. Balachandran of the International History and Politics department and Professor Shaila Seshia Galvin of the Anthropology and Sociology department, Anshul Verma is doing his doctoral research at the Geneva Graduate Institute on the commodification and corporatisation of cow's milk in colonial India. His thesis lies at the intersectionality of colonialism and capitalism with a specific focus on dairying practices in colonial North India. The thesis uses a range of previously unused archival material ranging from Hindi periodicals, newspapers and magazines to colonial documents from a range of Indian princely states. The research work has been conducted in India, UK, Switzerland, and now the United States. On his research, Anshul Verma says, “Perhaps the most fascinating discovery I have made so far is that cow milk consumption had a very limited social base compared to its preponderance in the realm of religion — my work navigates this curiosity with a diverse range of sources and historical methodologies.”
The Gallatin Fellowship will allow me to spend my fifth year pursuing a joint program at Harvard University and Columbia University. It is an unparalleled opportunity for accessing a hitherto unexplored global repository of resources and building a strong academic network for my work and its future. The Professors, Sugata Bose and Deborah Valenze, who have agreed to sponsor me in Harvard and Columbia respectively are academic legends — learning from their feedback on my research is bound to be transformative for my work. While there is a lot of concern around the geopolitical situation right now and traveling during these interesting times, I am confident that even these experiences will inform my work and its final shape.