Nikhil Rao
Associate Professor of History
Scholar of urban history and urban economic and political development in South Asia.
Prior to joining Wellesley College in 2005, Professor Rao taught at Dartmouth College. His studies at Stanford University and the University of Chicago focused on themes in modern south Asian history (today, the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka).
His interests include transformations in urban society in 20th century south Asia and his current project investigates the formation of suburbs and suburban communities in late colonial Bombay. He is also interested in the comparative study of cities, in social theory, and in ideas of economic development in 20th century south Asia. At Wellesley his teaching focuses on south Asian history and society, offering courses on the political economy of development, the history of cities, and the formation of ethnic identities
COURSES
HIST266 The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian History
HIST270 Colonialism, Nationalism, and Decolonization in South Asia
HIST272 Political Economy of Development in Colonial and Post-Colonial South Asia
HIST273 Food, Sports, and Sex: Body Politics in South Asia
HIST275 The Emergence of Ethnic Identities in Modern South Asia
HIST276 The City in Modern South Asia
HIST367 The Indian Ocean as African, Arab, and South Asian History
HIST383 Seminar: 1947: Partition in History and Memory in South Asia
HIST395 International History Seminar: Modern Imperialisms
Education
- B.A., Stanford University
- M.A., University of Chicago
- Ph.D., University of Chicago
Currently teaching
This course examines the history of interaction of Africans, Arabs, Persians, and South Asians in the coastal regions of East Africa, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and India, which together enclose the western Indian Ocean. In the period under study (1500 to the present), European imperial expansion and a globalizing economy played an increasingly transformative role. We will read about the port cities connecting these shores; the movements and networks of people; the objects and patterns of trade; the intensifying slave trade; shared environmental and health hazards, and the exchange of legal and commercial practices, and religious and political ideas.
(HIST 367 and SAS 367 are cross-listed courses.)-
This course examines the history of interaction of Africans, Arabs, Persians, and South Asians in the coastal regions of East Africa, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and India, which together enclose the western Indian Ocean. In the period under study (1500 to the present), European imperial expansion and a globalizing economy played an increasingly transformative role. We will read about the port cities connecting these shores; the movements and networks of people; the objects and patterns of trade; the intensifying slave trade; shared environmental and health hazards, and the exchange of legal and commercial practices, and religious and political ideas. (HIST 266 and SAS 266 are cross-listed courses.)