Overview
My work focuses on various aspects of the legal, political, intellectual, and business histories that shaped the British Empire. My interests include the role of companies and corporations in colonial enterprise, overseas exploration and cartography, the historiography of British India, early modern economic thought, and digital and data visualization approaches to the problem of colonial sovereignty.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Professor of History
·
2024 - Present
History,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Recent Publications
Empire, Incorporated The Corporations That Built British Colonialism
Book · May 16, 2023 Philip Stern turns this view on its head, arguing that corporations drove colonial expansion and governance, creating an overlap between sovereign and commercial power that continues to shape the relationship between nations and ... ... CiteAlcohol and the Ambivalence of the Early English East India Company-State
Journal Article Historical Journal · February 1, 2022 This article explores the various roles that alcohol played in defining the governance of East India Company fortifications and settlements in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It argues that, much like elsewhere in Europe, Asia, and the colo ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
The Sandcastle Workflow: A Malleable System for Visualizing Pre-modern Maps and Views
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Endowment for the Humanities · 2020 - 2023Virtual and Augmented Reality for Digital Humanities Institute (VARDHI)
ConferenceCo-Director · Awarded by National Endowment for the Humanities · 2017 - 2020Sawyer Seminar: Corporate Rights and International Law: Past, Present, and Future
Institutional SupportPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation · 2016 - 2019View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
Columbia University ·
2004
Ph.D.