Decolonization and Its Forms of Knowledge: The Arabs in India In-person

Today, we have a fairly comprehensive idea of colonialism's forms of knowledge. Scholars have reconstructed the methods and networks of Oriental and Islamic Studies in Europe and across the North Atlantic. Far less is known about the development of such fields in Asia itself. This talk, part of a larger study focused on decolonization's forms of knowledge, focuses on the history of West Asian Studies in India after 1947. Particular attention will be paid to how ideas of a shared Indo-Arab past impacted scholarly efforts, shaped institutional arrangements, and determined political attachments. An effort will be made to link the content of thought with its conditions.