A workshop on the imperial transition in South Asia - Chicago 6-7 May 2023

Organised by Steve Pincus and Sunit Singh from the University of Chicago and generously co-sponsored by the University’s Nicholson Center and Commmitee on Southern Asian Studies, “From the Mughals to The Raj: A workshop on the imperial transition in South Asia from Mughal rule to the British Raj” featured Tiraana Bains – Dartmouth College; Felicia Gottmann – Northumbria University; Anirban Karak – New York University; Spencer Leonard – James Madison University; Rupali Mishra – Auburn University; Prasannan Parthasarathi – Boston College; Andrew Sartori – New York University; Sunit Singh – University of Chicago; Anurag Sinha – University of Minnesota; James Vaughn – University of Chicago; and Nicholas Hoover Wilson – Stony Brook University.

The aim was to bring together a select group of scholars invested in reopening central questions about the formation of the British empire in India by interrogating the notion that an autocratic and illiberal imperium as was eventually erected by the East India Company in India could have taken shape without serious debate, contestation, or politics. The workshop gave established and young scholars the chance to share and receive constructive feedback on work in progress, consisting of precirculated papers by each of the participants. It was a fantastic opportunity for in depth discussion and it allowed Felicia to gain incredibly valuable feedback on her work of the transnational networks of Europeans from different East India Companies in 1750s Bengal and the Coromandel coast.

Very many thanks to Steve Pincus and Sunit Singh for the generous invitation and the organisation!

More information including the full programme can be found here: https://voices.uchicago.edu/mughals-to-raj/