Overview
I am a cultural historian of South Asia and the British Empire and my research over the last few years has been largely in the areas of visual studies, the history of cartography, and gender. My recent publications in this area include The Goddess and the Nation: Mapping Mother India (Duke University Press, 2010); and three edited volumes, Barefoot Across the Nation: Maqbool Fida Husain and the Idea of India (Routledge, 2010), Empires of Vision (co-edited with Martin Jay, Duke University …
Current Appointments & Affiliations
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of History
·
2018 - Present
History,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of History
·
2007 - Present
History,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Chair of the Department of History
·
2023 - Present
History,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of the International Comparative Studies Program
·
2018 - Present
International Comparative Studies,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Recent Publications
The unbearable lightness of being Mahatma
Chapter · January 6, 2025 Full text CiteBeing in the World Artfully: Institutions, Infrastructure, Interconnections
Journal Article South Asian Studies · January 1, 2024 Full text CitePassions of the tongue: Language devotion in Tamil India, 1891-1970
Book · September 1, 2023 Why would love for their language lead several men in southern India to burn themselves alive in its name? Passions of the Tongue analyzes the discourses of love, labor, and life that transformed Tamil into an object of such passionate attachment, producin ... CiteRecent Grants
Anneliese Maier Research Award
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation · 2016 - 2022Cartography and Creativity in the Age of Global Empire
ConferencePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation · 2012 - 2012Barefoot Across India: Art & The Politics of Risk
ConferencePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation · 2009 - 2010View All Grants
Recent Artistic Works
B is for Bapu: The Art of the Child in Modern India
Exhibit October 1, 2020 https://sites.duke.edu/bisforbapu/about-the-project/Iconic Interruptions, Selected Works of Gigi Scaria
Exhibit September 1, 2017 https://sites.duke.edu/iconicinterruptions/Going Global in Mughal India
Exhibit October 1, 2014 Mughal muraqqa' projectView All Artistic Works
Education, Training & Certifications
University of California, Berkeley ·
1992
Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania ·
1986
M.A.
Jawaharlal Nehru University (India) ·
1982
M.A.
University of Delhi (India) ·
1980
B.A.