Dr. Seema Alavi's Favourite Books

In Asian Waters: Oceanic Worlds from Yemen to Yokohama by Eric Tagliacozzo, Princeton University Press

Written in a light and joyful way, this delightful and sweeping history of Asia’s waterways over 500 years takes readers across the sea routes straddling the Middle East, East Africa, India and East Asia, introducing us to the people, products, ships and ideas that criss-crossed the oceans and shaped the emergence of the modern world.

Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire by Sujit Sivasundaram, William Collins

This book is a must read as it explores the archives in a string of port cities along the Indian and Pacific Ocean, allowing the voices of indigenous communities and their tumultuous politics to be heard amidst the caco-phony of Eurocentric global histories.

A Sea of Debt: Law and Economic Life in the Western Indian Ocean, 1780-1950 by Fahad Bishara, Cambridge University Press

This delightful book was one of the first to introduce me to the role of Asian jurists, bankers and Indian capital in the propping up of Indian Ocean Sultanates. Its rich detail offers a rethink on the interaction between Asian financial networks and the Western-framed capitalist expansion in the Indian Ocean.

Hurt Sentiments: Secularism and Belonging in South Asia by Neeti Nair, Harvard University Press

This brand new book offers a refreshing insight into the development of majoritarianism in post-partition South Asia. It discusses the political reluctance to define secularism inIndia and the ways in which the hurt sentiments of the minority and majority shape law and political discourse in the sub-continent.

Brown Skins, White Coats: Race Science in India, 1920–66 by Projit Bihari Mukharji, Chicago University Press

The book is engaging in its focus on the non-Euro-centric view of the history of Science. It forefronts India in the development of race science and makes a compelling case for how India appropriated and used race science to its own advantage as it steered itself on the path of post-colonial nation-making.

Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bloomsbury

This fascinating historical novel set in 20th century Tanzania explores the social history of slavery and the slave trade through the history of its young protagonist Yusuf whose merchant owner travels with him across the slave routes of east Africa.

Ancient India: Culture of Contradictions by Upinder Singh, Aleph

This exceptionally well written and researched book delves into our past to cull out an exciting history of ancient India that is—contrary to received wisdom—riveted with tensions and contradictions: between inequality and salvation, desire and detachment, goddesses and misogyny, violence and non-violence. A must-read for all historians and general readers interested in our ancient past.

Homeless on Google Earth by Mukul Kesavan, Orient Blackswan

I love this collection of political essays that are not just insightful but also well-written and deeply engaging.

Searching for Ashoka: Questing for a Buddhist King from India to Thailand by Nayanjyot Lahiri, Permanent Black

The beautifully written book explores the history of Ashoka’s legacy across the Buddhist sites of Asia including Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. It pioneers the study of working with the afterlife of Kings and Empires using a combination of texts and archaeological insights.

In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh, Penguin

This is my all-time favourite. It introduces the reader to the thrill of combining history and anthropology and producing a thrilling narrative about the social history of rural Egypt.

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