New Delhi: Antara Haldar, 28, has broken the stereotype by becoming the first non-European lecturer of Law at the University of Cambridge, in its 800-year-old history. While the Faculty of Law at Cambridge is ranked as the UK’s top law department, the university, which has produced over 90 Nobel laureates, maintains its position as one of the foremost places of learning, globally.
Childhood was tough for Antara and she found herself at the crossroads many times. “The real moment of reckoning for me, however, was during my teens, when my father died after a prolonged illness. My mother and I were left with very little, in a society that was both intensely materialistic and paternalistic,” she revealed.
Antara had a choice between surrendering to self-pity and trying to eke out her own path. “Sure enough, together with my grandmother, we got through it. It has taught me a lesson about the power of unconditional support and irrational hope. On another note, it was a wrench for me to prioritise academia over the arts, which I was keen on,” she said.
Excerpts from an exclusive interview:
GULF NEWS: Would you consider being the first non-European lecturer of Law as your career’s highest point?
ANTARA HALDAR: I am honoured for being invited to play this key role in developing legal scholarship in Cambridge, but am nowhere near the peak of my career. I am hoping that the pinnacle of my career will be a fundamental breakthrough and a ‘paradigm shift’ that will have real world impact.
What changes have you brought in since your appointment?
My appointment introduces interdisciplinary (not just law and economics, but also politics, sociology and philosophy) into the mix at the Cambridge Law Faculty — traditionally an international reference point for doctrinal, black letter law, and an engagement with empirics. For instance: I argue, that theory fails if it cannot explain the lived realities of the developing world. I am involved in developing an ongoing dialogue (talks, conferences, exchanges) with the US, India and elsewhere — to help make the faculty truly global, and also in strengthening real-world linkages. I also inject a critical element, particularly aimed at questioning established hierarchies into everything I do, especially teaching. These elements change the tenor of the discourse around law quite fundamentally.
Is it correct that you have designed the law and development course being taught for the first time at Cambridge?
Yes, it is. It’s a step of enormous significance for one of the oldest and most prestigious law faculties in the world, which exported its legal system to much of the developing world, to include a course like this in its curriculum. It signals a mainstreaming of the intellectual position of the global south. Students from Cambridge Law Faculty go on to occupy positions of great power and influence. Exposed to these ideas, while acquiring their basic legal training, fundamentally alters their frames of thought, thereby sensitising them to the existence of a world outside of the industrialised West. The course is just the first step. The goal is to develop Cambridge as a major centre for research on law and development and play an active role in providing policy advice to developing world governments.
What positive influence and impact have both national and international policymakers played in your life?
I have worked with several eminent policymakers at the United Nations, the World Justice Project and at the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. But my long-time co-author and mentor, Nobel-laureate Joseph Stiglitz, has perhaps had the most profound influence. Also, Canadian environmental lawyer and activist, Michelle Swenarchuk was the person who inspired me to do law.
On what issues related to law and development do you find commonality vis-à-vis UK and India?
I have always maintained that law and development is not just a study of Third World countries. It is as much a study of the South in the North (pockets of impoverishment in wealthy countries) as the Global South. In that sense, its appeal is global. I believe it is a study of the structure of the relationship between law, economics and society, and provides insights that go far beyond geographical regions. I am doing some work on the financial crisis in the UK and US, using law and development scholarship to explain the underlying causes.
Your take on India’s right to food campaign and its implementation?
Very early in my career, I researched and campaigned for the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme and the Mid-Day Meal Programme that were precursors to the Right to Food campaign. And I must say that implementation is always more complex. My current work focuses more on the interface between the formal and informal, particularly in credit and property markets, including the issues of microfinance, inclusive finance and land titling, and the evolution of legal systems.
Would you some day prefer to go back and work in India.
I feel deeply committed and have strong links with India, my birthplace. But I have lived in the UK, US, Italy and Dubai and worked in Latin America, Asia and Africa. I’ve always gone where the project has taken me, and where I felt I could have most impact. The phenomenon of many of the major Western Universities starting campuses in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi is very interesting, as are many of the policy choices being made in these countries in the post-financial crisis order (for instance the formation of the BRICS bank). Indeed, the Middle East is an extremely interesting region in terms of development trajectories and playing an increasingly important international role. So, I would like to be more involved in this political and intellectual reawakening and am open to the right opportunity coming along — wherever that may be.
Details
- Antara Haldar was born in Mumbai.
- She did her early schooling in Dubai and was subsequently educated in Delhi, London and New York.
- She has received several awards, including: the Yorke Prize, the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders Fellowship and the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Trust Scholarship.
