The National Humanities Center (NHC) recently announced the appointment of 32 fellows for the 2025–26 academic year. Among the scholars receiving this highly prestigious award is Signe Cohen, associate professor of Religious Studies in the College of Arts and Science. 

Cohen will join others — from universities and colleges in 13 US states and the District of Columbia as well as Canada and Hong Kong — working on individual research projects at the NHC in North Carolina. 

“We are so thrilled to support the exciting and important work of these scholars,” said Martha Kelly, vice president for scholarly programs of the NHC. “They were selected from a large and highly competitive group of applicants from around the globe and across the disciplines comprising the humanities.”

During her academic year at the center, Cohen will work on her book, No Other World Than This: A History of Atheism in South Asia, exploring a largely unexamined facet of Indian intellectual history. 

“While the ancient religious traditions of South Asia have been studied in detail,” explains Cohen, “relatively little work has been done on the atheistic traditions of the subcontinent, which also have ancient roots.”

The book will include translations of relevant passages from the original languages and is intended for both academic and general audiences.

The NHC will award over $1,570,000 in fellowship grants to enable Cohen and other selected scholars to take leave from their normal academic duties and pursue research at the center. This funding is provided from the center’s endowment and by grants and awards from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the James P. Geiss & Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation, as well as contributions from alumni and friends of the center.