Myron Weiner
Myron Weiner in office, 1987 Courtesy of the MIT Museum
Myron Weiner (1931-1999) was a renowned political scientist who made significant contributions to the study of migration, ethnic conflict, child labor, and democratization in South Asia. He joined MIT in 1961 and over the next three decades forged a long-lasting connection between the Institute and India through his research, teaching, and mentoring of several generations of graduate students.
Born in 1931 to a Jewish family living in New York City, Weiner’s early life was deeply influenced by the Holocaust and Hitler’s defeat in Germany, instilling in him a deep aversion to violence. He found inspiration in Mahatma Gandhi’s belief in non-violent civil disopedience or Satyagraha. His alignment with Gandhi’s principles sparked a broader interest in India’s freedom movement and an academic and personal interest in the political philosophy and efficacy of non-violence. At the same time, Professor Weiner was keenly interested in India’s great democratic experiment in the early 1950s - the first of its kind in the post-war era of decolonization. India’s ethno-religious diversity and the granting of universal franchise to a largely illiterate citizenry made India a prime location for studying a wide array of problems in political science.
Professor Weiner came to MIT in 1961, six years after receiving his PhD from Princeton University. He had been a founding member of the Department of South Asian Languages and Studies at the University of Chicago before joining the Institute. He not only brought the study of South Asia to MIT, but became closely involved in the Center for International Studies (CIS). Weiner’s knowledge of South Asia and new ideas in the field brought scholars from other institutions across the Greater Boston area to MIT. Professor Weiner served as Director of CIS from 1987-1992. He often participated in the Joint Faculty Seminar on Political Development (JOSPOD), a Harvard-MIT committee on developing countries which lasted for 25 years and attracted many new researchers into the field. He also served on an Inter-University Committee on International Migration Seminar Series to explore factors affecting population movements and their impact on sending and receiving countries. In Fall 2005, this seminar series was renamed the Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration.
Myron and Sheila Weiner, Jantar Mantar, Delhi, c. 1953 Courtesy of Tali Datskovsky
For over four decades, as a graduate student and professor, Weiner visited India almost every year, cultivating personal and professional connections in the country. He developed a working proficiency with Hindi and Bengali, learned to cook Indian food, and sent his children to Indian schools to immerse himself and his family in South Asia. There, interested in the comparisons between India and other developing countries—particularly communist China—Weiner observed how political parties were formed and structured, the impact of ethnic violence on Indian communities, and migration. He went beyond simply examining political and cultural texts as he interviewed thousands of ordinary people from remote villages, asking basic questions to establish, for example, to what extent violence led people to leave their ancestral homes. Weiner’s in-depth research on how the formation of nativist and religiously-motivated political movements affected the flight of refugees remains relevant today, especially in the context of increasing globalization, migration, and potential for such movements to influence international politics.
While in India, Weiner also witnessed firsthand the presence of child labor and used his work to advocate for its abolition. Using the political techniques he had developed in his work on migration, he authored what has been later called his crowning achievement: The Child and the State in India: Child Labor and Education Policy in Comparative Perspective, which had a major impact debates to end child labor and mandate schooling until the age of 14.
Myron and Sheila Weiner, c. 1953 Courtesy of Tali Datskovsky
Myron and Sheila Weiner on a road trip to India, 1958 Courtesy of Tali Datskovsky
Myron and Sheila Weiner on a roadtrip to India, 1958 Courtesy of Tali Datskovsky
With thanks to Beth Ben-Avraham, Tali Datskovsky, Richard Samuel, Ashutosh Varshney, and Steven Wilkinson.