This volume is a scholarly response to those who accuse western academics of studying non-western societies through culturally-prejudiced frames of reference. Prepared by the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) in recognition of fifty years of India's Independence, the first part of the volume provides a detailed history of the study of India in the United States and the role of the AIIS in that study. The second part of the volume includes contributions from twenty-seven U.S. scholars representing a wide range of academic disciplines, from anthropology and archaeology to theatre and women's studies. All the scholars identify ways in which working in India has led them and others in their field to reconsider Western-based theories, classification systems, and methods of organising knowledge. This volume richly illustrates the invigoration of scholarship when it is stimulated by concepts and data spanning cultural, historical, linguistic, and regional boundaries.