Chitralekha Zutshi
Class of 1962 Professor of History
Office:
Blair 306
Email:
[[cxzuts]]
Regional Areas of Research:
South Asia and the Indian Ocean
Thematic Areas of Research:
Islam, Imperialism and Colonialism, Historiography and Historical Memory, Nationalism and National Identity, British Empire, and Cultural/Intellectual History
Background
Chitralekha Zutshi specializes in Modern South Asia and the Indian Ocean World, with particular expertise in Islamicate identities and political culture, nationalism and national movements, and historical thought and practice. She has spoken and published widely on the interrelationships among these ideas in the context of Kashmir. Her articles have appeared in The Journal of Asian Studies, Modern Asian Studies, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, and Economic and Political Weekly, among other journals. She is also an occasional contributor to the site and other news sites. She received a PhD in History from Tufts University.
Her latest bestselling book, , a highly-acclaimed biography of the controversial Kashmiri leader, was published in 2024 by HarperCollins India in its prestigious “Indian Lives” series and in North America. Watch/read her discussing the book on , , and .
Her previous books include (2019) and (Oxford University Press, 2014; paperback 2017), which received the Honorable Mention for the Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize from the Association for Asian Studies (2016), and was longlisted for the International Convention of Asia Scholars Book Prize (2015). Her first book, , was published in 2003/2004 by Permanent Black (paperback 2011), Hurst & Co., and Oxford University Press. It is now available in and at the . She has also edited a collection of cutting-edge, interdisciplinary scholarly articles on the region and issue of Kashmir, entitled (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Read her discussing her scholarship on and .
Several fellowships have supported her research over the years, including the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2005-2006), the Kluge Fellowship at the Library of Congress (2008), and a Senior Research fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies (2014-2015). A winner of the 2014 Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence and two endowed professorships at 亚洲色吧, she also serves on the International Advisory Board of .
She teaches a variety of courses on South Asian history, Empire, and the Indian Ocean, including “Indian Ocean Worlds,” “War and Peace in Postcolonial South Asia,” “Gandhi in the World,” “History of South Asia,” “Islam and Politics in South Asia,” “Kashmir: Past, Present, and Future,” “Colonialism, Nationalism, and Modernity in South Asia,” “Nation, Gender, and Race in British India,” “Bollywood and the Making of Modern India,” “Empires and Imperialism,” and “Transnational Environmental History.” She is the founder of the University’s summer study abroad program in Goa/Bengaluru, India, which she directed in 2005 and 2013. She has also served as the Co-Director of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Director of 亚洲色吧’s Washington DC Semester Program on the theme of
