South Asia EH Workshop

Dear All,

We would like to distribute the finalised programme of presenters for the South Asia workshop 2021 hosted by the LSE Economic History department, where the theme is ‘South Asia through a Global lens.’ The workshop will be held on Friday 14 May between 9:15 – 5:00 (UK time) via Zoom. Please find the complete programme below.

This year, the workshop will additionally include an expert panel discussion on South Asia’s place in global economic history.

Panellists will broadly discuss the following topics on South Asian Economic history:

1. Is South Asia well represented within the global economic history literature?
2. Is there an overfocus on colonialism in South Asian economic history?
3. What have been the biggest limitations to the development of South Asian economic history?
4. What does the future of South Asian economic history look like?

If anyone would like to join for all or part of the workshop, or learn more about the workshop, please check out the links below.

To register and receive the zoom link: https://lse.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItfuusrzMiHNE7GycLn0U-ebK0lRGyHpUo

To visit the event website: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-History/Events/2020-21/South-Asia-Through-a-Global-Lens

For questions and queries, please contact either Safya Morshed at s.morshed@lse.ac.uk or Alka Raman at a.p.raman@lse.ac.uk.

South Asia through a Global Lens Programme

9:15-9:30 Introduction

9:30-11:00 Session 1: Global Contests in South Asia, Chair: Safya Morshed

• The prominence of peripheral actors in South Asian commercial history: uses of the East India Company archive. By Edmond Smith, University of Manchester
• Economic shocks and temple desecrations in medieval India.  By Rohit Ticku, Chapman University. Co-authors: Anand Shrivastava (Azim Premji University) and Sriya Iyer (University of Cambridge)
• Trade disruption, industrialisation, and the setting sun of British colonial rule in India.  By Bjoern Brey, AMSE & University of Nottingham. Co-author: Roberto Bonfatti (University of Padova)

11:00-11:15 Tea Break

11:15-12:45 Session 2: Labour and Migration from a World View, Chair: Alka Raman

• The 1918 influenza pandemic in India: Mortality estimates and correlates. By Chinmay Tumbe, IIM Ahmedabad
• Franchise expansion and electoral Mobilization: How caste and migration shaped India’s colonial politics. By Ashish Aggarwal, University of Warwick. Co-authors: Ritam Chaury (Johns Hopkins University) and Pravithra Suryanarayan (Johns Hopkins University)
• Monopsony and moral hazard:  state-sponsored indentureship in the nineteenth century as a contract-enforcement mechanism. By Alexander Persaud, University of Richmond

12:45-1:15 Lunch break

1:15-2:45 Session 3: Global Connections and Comparisons, Chair: Dr Maanik Nath

• An umbrella system: South Asia in the early modern Atlantic.  By Kazuo Kobayashi, Waseda University
• Supply of labour during early industrialization: Agricultural systems, textile factory work and gender in Japan and India, ca. 1880-1940. By Aditi Dixit, Utrecht University. Co-author: Elise Van Nederveen Meerkerk (Utrecht University)
• A capital mistake? Tracing the origins of financial globalization in early modern Eurasian interaction. By Alberto Feenstra, Leiden University

Tea Break: 2:45-3:00

3:00-4:45: Panel Discussion

Discussion on South Asia’s place in global economic history, expert panel comprising:

• Chair: Dr Leigh Gardner (LSE)
• Professor Bishnupriya Gupta (University of Warwick)
• Professor B.R. (Tom) Tomlinson (SOAS)
• Professor Giorgio Riello (European University Institute & University of Warwick)
• Professor Tirthankar Roy (LSE)

We look forward to what should be a lively day of research focused on South Asian economic history!

Kind Regards,

Alka and Safya