India, China, and the World: A Connected History (Oxford University Press, 2018).
By focusing on the early material exchanges, transmissions of knowledge and technologies between ancient India and ancient China; the networks of exchange during the colonial period; and some of the less-known facets of interactions between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, this presentation argues that the analysis of India-China connections must extend beyond the traditional frameworks of nation-states or bilateralism. Instead, it is proposed that that a wide canvas of space, people, objects, sources, and timeframe is needed to fully comprehend the interactions between India and China in the past and during the contemporary period. It is argued that these interactions were multidirectional, involved people from diverse parts of the world, and were not constrained by the entities called “India” and “China.” The presentation also examines the ideas of “connected histories,” “circulatory connections,” “convergence,” “contact zones,” and “disjuncture” as the conceptual methods for studying transregional and transcultural connections and exchanges.
Held on 23 September 2018 (Sponsored by the Political Science Seminar, in collaboration with the History Program Research Seminar).