In conversation with The Probe, Prof. Vinay Lal provides critical insights on how the idea of India has unravelled.
Dr. Vinay Lal is a Professor of History and Asian American Studies at UCLA. He earned his Ph.D. with Distinction from the University of Chicago in 1992 after undergraduate and Master’s degrees in literature and philosophy from Johns Hopkins University. He writes widely on Indian history, historiography, public and popular culture in India, the Indian diaspora, colonialism, human rights, American politics, the architecture of nonviolence, Gandhi, and the global politics of knowledge systems. He has also authored over 20 books.
At UCLA, Vinay teaches a cycle of undergraduate courses on the history of Indian Civilization, British India, and contemporary South Asia as well as contemporary world history (covering the period from the Industrial Revolution to the present). He also teaches a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate seminars on Indian politics and religion, history and theory, the historiography of modern India, nationalism and colonialism, Indian cinema, comparative studies in colonialism, comparative studies in structures of oppression, history and postcolonial theory, and the politics of knowledge systems.
