Ravinder Kaur

Short presentation

Ravinder Kaur, Associate Professor of Modern South Asian Studies directs the Centre of Global South Asian Studies.

Kaur works across the disciplines of history, anthropology, and international politics. Her long term research has focused on two critical transformations in the history of modern India.

Her most recent work delves into the transformation of postcolonial India into an 'attractive investment destination’ in the 21st century global economy. The study examines the wider speculative phenomenon of the  emergence of BRICS nations as economic powerhouses in the global south. This work has been turned into a second monograph called "Brand New Nation" (Stanford University Press, 2020).

Her previous research focused on India's mid-20th century transformation into a postcolonial nation-state. At the heart of this enquiry are the questions of memory and migration, caste/class differences, refugee resettlement policies in the making of modern citizenship after the 1947 Partition. This work has been published as a monograph entitled "Since 1947: Partition Narratives among the Punjabi Migrants of Delhi" (Oxford University Press 2007, 2018) as well as several journal articles. 

She is currently working on the question of "Emerging Worlds" and the yet unfolding connections between Asia and Africa via a study of new trade connections. She is the Primary Investigator of two major projects: ‘Emerging Worlds: Explorations of New South-South Connections’ (2014-2019) and ‘Nation in Motion: Globalization, Governance and Development in New India’ (2010-2015) which have been concluded.  

Some of her readings can be accessed here 

Books/Special Issues (selected)

Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in Twenty-First Century India (Stanford University Press 2020)

Since 1947: Partition Narratives among Punjabi Migrants of Delhi', Oxford University Press, 2007 (new edition 2018)

Social Mobility in post-reform India, Special Issue, Contemporary South Asia, Volume 24, Issue 3 (Co-editor: Nandini Sundar, September 2016)

Aesthetics of Arrival: Spectacle, Capital, Novelty in India, Special issue, Identities: Global Studies in Power and Culture, Volume 23, Number 3 (co-editor: Thomas Blom Hansen, 2016)

Journal Articles (selected)

World as Commodity: Or, How the "Third World" Became an "Emerging Market", Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 2018, Volume 38(2): 377-395

I am India Shining: The Investor Citizen and the Indelible Icon of Good Times, Journal of Asian Studies,  2016, Volume 75 (3): 621-648

Writing History in a Paperless World: Archives of the Future, History Workshop Journal, Spring 2015, Volume 79, Number 1, 242-253

Distinctive Citizenship: Refugees, Subjects and Postcolonial State in India’s Partition, Cultural and Social History, Volume 6, Number 4, 429-446. 2009.

Reviews of my book "Since 1947" (selected)

Mushirul Hassan, Outlook India; Urvashi Butalia, Financial Express; Ian Talbot, H-Net Asia; Michael Hawley, Journal of Asian Studies; Satish Saberwal, Contributions to Indian Sociology; Antony Copley, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society; Suparna Banerjee Refugee Watch; Shalini Sharma, Journal of Punjab Studies; Tahir Kamran, Journal of Punjab Studies; Katja Rikkonen, Journal of South Asian Development; Harsh Mander, Seminar;  Asian Affairs; Jennifer Hyndman

Teaching

Core Courses

• Videnskabsteori
• Globalilzation and Development in South Asia
• South Asian Societies
• Introduction to India and South Asia

PhD Supervision

• I welcome PhD supervision in broad areas of contemporary history, politics, and anthropology of South Asia. Specifically, my area of expertise relates to the making of the postcolonial State, nation and nationalism; visual politics, histories of the Third World, emerging markets, refugee resettlement, Partition memory and citizenship.