University of Heidelberg

Contact information

Karl Jaspers Centre
Voßstrasse 2, Building 4400
Room 015
69115 Heidelberg
Germany

Email:

milindabanerjee1@gmail.com

Projects

• A5 Nationising the Dynasty

Curriculum vitae

since April 2010:
Ph.D. candidate at the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows”, Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University, Germany; member of research project A5: Nationising the Dynasty; working title of thesis: “Nationizing Kings: Modern Indian Discourses on Kingship as the basis of Nationhood, 1858-1947 (with a primary focus on Bengal)”.

2008-2010:
Fellow, Centre for Advanced Studies, Department of History, University of Calcutta

2008-2010:
Guest lecturer at Presidency College, Calcutta

2008:
Part-time lecturer at Vidyasagar College, Evening Section, Calcutta

2007:
Qualified in the National Eligibility Test (NET) examinations, University Grants Commission, Government of India

2006-2008:
MA in History, University of Calcutta (Graded 1st class 1st)

2003-2006:
BA in History, University of Calcutta (Graded 1st class 1st)

Language proficiency

Bengali (mother tongue), English, Hindi, French, basic ecclesiastical Latin

Select Scholarships and Awards

since 2010: awarded a Ph.D. scholarship by the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries of Cultural Flows", Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University, Germany

2008: Gold Medal and Order of Merit,University of Calcutta 2008: Chandra Narayan Memorial Medal from Presidency College

2008: Gold Medal from Sudhir Kumar Mitra Birth Centenary Memorial Committee

2006: Hemchandra Raychoudhuri Prize

2006: Prof. Kalyan Kr. Dasgupta Memorial Scholarship

2006: Order of Merit from the University of Calcutta

2006: Prof. Ashin Das Gupta Memorial Prize

2006: Très Bien, Diplome Supérieur, Alliance Française

2006: Udayan Mukherjee Memorial Prize

Selected publications

Books

2009: Rammohun Roy: A Pilgrim’s Progress, Intellectual Strands and Premises in Rammohun Roy’s Pursuit of Reason, God, and Common Sense in Early Modern India, with a foreword by Professor Barun De, Centre for Archaeological Studies and Training, Calcutta.

2009: A History of Laughter: Ishwar Gupta and Early Modern Bengal, with a foreword by Professor Gautam Bhadra, Das Gupta and Co., Calcutta.

Articles (in peer-reviewed journals)

2010: ‘State of Nature, Civilized Society, and Social Contract: Perspectives from Early Modern Bengal on the Origin and Limits of Government’, 28, 2, 2008, pp. 1-55.

2009: ‘The Trial of Derozio, or the Scandal of Reason’, Social Scientist, 37, 7-8, 2009, pp. 60-88.

2009: '1857-r Nana Bhasha' [The Many Languages of 1857], Sahitya Parishad Patrika, Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, May, 2009 , pp. 44-55.

2008: ‘Heritage Unbound’, Journal of the Asiatic Society, 50, 4, 2008, pp. 43-110.

Book Reviews:

2011: Review of Gita Dharampal Frick, Ali Usman Qasmi and Katia Rostetter (eds.), Revisioning Iqbal as a Poet and Muslim Political Thinker, Heidelberg: Draupadi Verlag, 2010, in Internationales Asienforum, 41, 3-4, 2010, pp. 354-356.

2011: Review of Martin Moir, Not Exactly Shangri-La, Delhi: Rupa and Co., 2010, in The Middle Way, February 2011, pp. 257-258.

2010: ‘Passions of the Musafir’, Mushirul Hasan (ed.) Exploring the West: Three Travel Narratives, Munshi Itesamuddin, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, Lutfullah Khan. Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2009, in The Statesman, 14 January, 2010, Sunday Statesman, p. 2.

2009: ‘An Intellectual History of Independent India’, Rudrangshu Mukherjee (ed.) Indian Persuasions: 50 Years of SEMINAR, Selected Writings. Delhi: Roli Books, 2009, in The Statesman, 6 December, 2009, Sunday Statesman, p. 3.

2009: ‘Tragedy and Beyond’, Terry Collits and Anjana Sharma (eds.), Agamemnon’s Mask: Greek Tragedy and Beyond, in Journal of the Asiatic Society, 51, 1, 2009, pp. 91-103.

2009: ‘Eternity and the Abyss’, Gwilym Beckerlegge (ed.), Religious Movements and Identities in Modern South Asia, The Statesman, April 12, 2009, Sunday Statesman, pp. 16-17.

Other Articles

2009: ‘Probing the Present’, Report on a National Seminar on ‘Explorations in Contemporary History’, The Statesman, 10 March, 2009.

2008: ‘Where is Reason? Power, Micro-States and Metamodernity in Municipal India’, Perspectives, University of Calcutta, 2, January 2008, pp. 76-86.

2007: ‘The Word and the Flesh: Change and Continuity in delineating a Self and constructing a Community during Epochs of Globalization’, Perspectives, University of Calcutta, 150th Year Special Commemorative Volume, January 2007, pp. 206-228.

2007:‘Swadhinatar Prasangikata: Itihaser Chhatrer Drishtite’, Perspectives, University of Calcutta, 150th Year Special Commemorative Volume, January 2007, pp. 18-34.

Conference Papers

2012: ‘The King is Dead. Long Live the King!: Modern Indian Discourses on Kingship as a Basis of Nationhood (1858-1947)’, in ‘The Making of a Monarchy for the Modern World’, Kensington Palace, London, 6-8 June, as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations (forthcoming).

2011: “Time of Gods, Time of Men: Temporality and Social Transformation in ‘Early Modern’ India”, in ‘Eine Globalgeschichte der Sattelzeit, 1760-1830’, University of Bamberg, 11 March.

2011: “Conceptualizing the Historicity of ‘Caste’: The View from Bengal”, in ‘Hierarchie und Emanzipation’, University of Heidelberg, 5 February.

2010: ‘Modern Indian Discourses on Kingship as a Basis of Nationhood (1858-1947)’, in Konstanzer Meisterklasse, University of Konstanz, 26 July.

2009: ‘Derozio and the Bengal Renaissance: An Ambiguous Legacy’, at conference on ‘Nineteenth Century Bengal Revisited’, Department of History, University of Calcutta, in collaboration with Derozio Commemoration Committee and Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities, 23 March.

2008: ‘The Trial of Derozio, or The Scandal of Reason’ in the UGC-sponsored ‘National Seminar on Derozio,’Presidency College, 18 April.

2008: ‘Critique of Urban Planning’ in training programme, ‘Integrated Urban Planning’ organized by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and HIFAB International in Calcutta, 21 October, 2008

2008: ‘Saviour Cults of Roman Eurasia’,National Seminar, ‘Cross-Cultural Currents: India in the Ancient World’, Loreto College, Calcutta, 25 September.

2008: ‘What is Partition? Modernity, Postmodernity, and the Structures of a longue durée’,Seminar on ‘Partition Revisited’,Department of History, Presidency College, 2008.

2004: ‘Representation of Gender in Indian Art’ at an‘Interdisciplinary Seminar on Gender’,Presidency College.

2004: ‘What is Objectivity?’, at seminar on ‘Paradigms of Objectivity’,Presidency College, Calcutta, 2004

2004: ‘Calcutta: The City and the World’ at seminar on ‘Calcutta and History’, Department of History, Presidency College, Calcutta, 2004