Research Areas | Department of History
Dr Maanvender Singh
"My research interrogates the judicial and constitutional epistemology of caste and carelessness before the implementation of the Mandal Commission Report, 1990. It also engages with the historical and philosophical foundation of the political discourse on caste and classlessness by locating a critique of modern-secular political discourse, which created a vital space for making wide-reaching claims over the idea of citizenship, equality, and justice. One of the key focus areas of my work is how the law operates as a discursive practice and as a text, where the legal application of logic is grounded in socially constructed narratives."
Dr Shaheen Kelachan Thodika
"My research deals with the south Indian Kingdoms of the eighteenth century with a focus on the transmission and circulation of ideas between the European, the Ottoman worlds and the structures of power in South Asia. I further explore the connections between the discipline of history, historical records, and remembered past. He also works on contemporary history with a focus on the vernacular traditions of Southern India. I am interested in the histories of religious traditions in the Madras Presidency and the concept of minority histories in the post-colonial present."
Dr Lekshmi Chandran
"My area of specialisation is the social history of pre-colonial Kerala (which includes certain parts of the present-day state of Tamilnadu). The focus is on the everyday lives of the people in the region during pre-colonial times, to be specific familial relationships and the structure of households, both patrilineal and matrilineal. Thereby understanding the gender relations in society, how these are represented in the literary traditions, and the transformation and continuity of social institutions such as kinship and marriage practices in the region between the 9th to 17th Centuries."
Dr Aqsa Agha
"I have worked on the larger theme of political transition in Eighteenth-Century India, with an emphasis on legitimacy, political culture, and gender relations in the state of Awadh. I have explored the harem as a crucible for a political transition in Awadh. My broader research interest lies in historical processes and their impact on the social locations of class, caste, and gender."
Dr Sharmistha Chatterjee
"I work on Landscapes, Historical Archaeology, Maritime Networks, Cartography, and Digital Humanities. My PhD research is to understand the historical landscapes and local state formation in the western uplands of Bengal. I have studied the historical sites in the course of the Dwarakeswar River in the western part of Bengal in order to document the material culture in relation to the immediate landscape settings, particularly the ancient water management system. How these contribute to the local state formation and the emergence of the medieval temple town of Bishnupur is extensively discussed in my work. Understanding the changing religious ideologies in the early medieval-medieval period helped me to reinforce the integrative approach as propounded by historians."
Know Them in Detail!
- Interrogation of the judicial and constitutional epistemology of caste and carelessness before the implementation of the Mandal Commission Report, 1990.
- Engages with the historical and philosophical foundation of the political discourse on caste and classlessness by locating a critique of modern-secular political discourse. This created a vital space for making wide-reaching claims over the idea of citizenship, equality, and justice.
- How the law operates as a discursive practice and as a text, where the legal application of logic is grounded in socially constructed narratives
- The south Indian Kingdoms of the eighteenth century with focus on the transmission and circulation of ideas between the European, the Ottoman worlds and the structures of power in South Asia.
- Explores the connections between the discipline of history, historical records, and remembered past.
- Contemporary history with a focus on the vernacular traditions of Southern India.
- Histories of religious traditions in the Madras Presidency and the concept of minority histories in the post-colonial present.
- The social history of pre-colonial Kerala (which includes certain parts of the present-day state of Tamilnadu).
- The everyday lives of the people in the region during pre-colonial times, to be specific familial relationships and the structure of households, both patrilineal and matrilineal.
- Gender relations in society, how these are represented in the literary traditions and the transformation and continuity of social institutions such as kinship and marriage practices in the region between the 9th to 17th Centuries.
- The intersection of caste and gender in pre-colonial Kerala society, how Brahmanicall patriarchy defines the norms and rules for women, and how it controls female sexuality, oppressive practices like breasts tax and exclusion of women from public spaces, representations of lower caste women and creation of binaries.
- Brahmanical temples, other religious institutions, and trade guilds to understand women's economic activities, their patronage of religious institutions, and vice versa.
- The relationship between the religious institution and the region's political economy essentially plays a vital role in shaping societal norms, inheritance patterns, and social hierarchies based on gender and caste.
- Exploration of the harem as a crucible for a political transition in Awadh.
- Historical processes and their impact on the social locations of class, caste, and gender.
- Issues of human trafficking/Human Trafficking in India
- Human rights violations on the India-Bangladesh Border in the state of West Bengal
- Landscapes, Historical Archaeology, Maritime Networks, Cartography, and Digital Humanities.
- Historical landscapes and local state formation in the western uplands of Bengal.
- Historical sites in the course of the Dwarakeswar River in the western part of Bengal in order to document the material culture in relation to the immediate landscape settings, particularly the ancient water management system.
- The local state formation and the emergence of the medieval temple town of Bishnupur
- Understanding the changing religious ideologies in the early medieval-medieval period reinforces the integrative approach as propounded by historians.
- The early medieval cluster of sites adhering to Buddhist religious ideologies and an Agrahara settlement (Brahmanical) based on land donation in the western uplands of Bengal.
- Landscape and environmental factors in the emergence and endurance of the Buddhist monastic complexes in the south Bihar plains.
