‘South Asian Studies at Stanford Podcast’: Sharing the other sides of the story

“I want listeners to understand the breadth of the study of South Asia,” Lalita du Perron, host of the “South Asian Studies at Stanford Podcast” (SASSpod) and associate director of the Center for South Asian Studies, said. 

Since 2020, du Perron has shared conversations with students, faculty and alumni affiliated with South Asian Studies at Stanford through her podcast, SASSpod. Du Perron said she started the podcast to open a window into the multifaceted culture of South Asia, a culture that might be misrepresented by mainstream media coverage, which often conveys a single narrative. 

“Remember that there’s probably another side to the story,” du Perron said.

For du Perron, there are many different ways of looking at South Asia. 

“It’s not just politics, it’s not just anthropology, it’s not just religious studies — it’s all of those things and more,” she said. 

Du Perron joined Stanford in 2019, beginning SASSpod at the start of the pandemic. After the pandemic stripped her scheduled lectures of a physical audience, du Perron turned to podcasting.

Since then, du Perron has released 87 episodes on subjects spanning mental health in the South Asian community to a student-led forum by Pakistani and Indian students to foster open discussion at Stanford. 

For Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a 2024-25 John S. Knight Journalism fellow, her episode was an opportunity to discuss her experience reporting for The Wire, an independent Indian news outlet, as well as her personal and professional goals at Stanford. 

“[SASSpod] was an introduction to the South Asian audience that I’m here,” Sherwani said.

2024-25 South Asia-Markaz fellow Zarif Ahsan and 2024-25 Abbasi-Markaz fellow Arwa Faruk hoped to convey the history, character and current geopolitical moment of Bangladesh in their episode. 

“I hope listeners take away the idea of power in people — that the power is in their hands, in their communities, to fight against systems of oppression and injustice,” Faruk wrote in an email to The Daily. 

Another episode featured Aimen Ejaz ’27 and Luv Jawahrani ’27, cofounders of the Indo-Pak Dosti Forum, a student-led forum by Pakistani and Indian students aimed at fostering open discussion at Stanford. 

Jawahrani wanted listeners to appreciate that “dosti [friendship between India and Pakistan is not just a possibility — it is the future, waiting to be claimed by a generation bold enough to transcend history,” Jawahrani wrote in an email to The Daily.

Before recording, du Perron speaks with her guests about what the episode’s content might look like. For guests sharing sensitive topics, du Perron tells them that they’ll have editorial capabilities, she said.

“I try to have a little bit of a roadmap, but I find if it’s too fixed for people, it doesn’t sound like a nice, spontaneous conversation,” du Perron said. She draws from a few of her favorite podcasts, including “Reality Alert,” “KQED’s forum,” “The Guardian” and “Handsome.” 

Despite SASSpod’s more “academic” conversations, du Perron said she hopes to foster a conversational mood. “Obviously, we don’t laugh quite as much, but I do try to be very natural,” du Perron said. Her chief goal, however, is to provide a window into South Asian Studies and encourage her listeners to learn more about South Asian nations, she said. 

“It’s not all hopeless, the way that it’s portrayed in mainstream media,” du Perron said. “There’s more than that.”

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