Faculty

PhD (January 2004-December 2007)

• Institution: Leiden University, The Netherlands

Awarded in     : December 2007

• Title of Research: The Ali Rajas of Cannanore: Status and Identity at the interface of Commercial and Political Expansion, 1663-1723

Articles and Other Publications

• “The VOC and the Prospects of Trade between Cannanore and Mysore in the late Seventeenth century, in K. S. Mathew & Joy Varkey (eds.), Winds of Spices: Essays on Portuguese Establishments in Medieval India with Special Reference to Cannanore (Tellichery, 2006) pp.205-230.

• “Asian Trade Networks and the Dutch East India Company: Commercial relations between Cannanore and the VOC in the seventeenth century (1602-1663)”, in Journal of the Institute for Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2/2 (2007), pp. 216-236.

• “I am not going to call myself a Global Historian”: An Interview with C.A. Bayly

by Binu John, Itinerario, 31/1 (2007), 7-14.

• “Entangled Histories: Reflecting on Coloniality and Postcolonialiy”, Conference Report, H-SOZ-U-KULT@H-NET.MSU.EDU, (2010).

• “Conceptualising Coloniality in South Asia: Changing Perspective”, Comparativ 21/1 (2011), 20-25.

•  “Scourge of the Seas: Malabar Pirates and the European Expansion in the Indian Ocean (c. 1600-1800)”, in Pius Malekandathil (ed.), The Indian Ocean in the Making of Early Modern India, Manohar, New Delhi, 2016, pp. 263-290.

• “Port Cities Bazaars and ‘Frontier Regimes: The Political Economy of Malabar (c.1500-1800), in T. Muhammedali (ed.) Histories Unbounded: Selected Papers of Third Kerala History Congress, Current Books, Kottayam, 2019, pp.255-278.

Book

·       Lords of the Sea: The Ali Rajas of Cannanore and the Political Economy of Malabar, 1663-1723, Brill Publishers (Leiden/Boston, 2012).

(Reviewed by Prof. Dietmar Rothermund and Prof. Markus Vink)

Conference and Workshop Presentations

·      ‘Ali Rajas of Cannanore: Status and Identity at the interface of Commercial and Political Expansion -1663-1723’, 3rd TANAP Workshop, 2003, Xiamen, China.

·      ‘Asian Trade networks and the Dutch East India Company: Commercial relations between Cannanore and the VOC in the seventeenth century, 1602-1663’.  International Seminar on Portuguese Factories, Fortresses and Settlements in India with Special Reference to Cannanore, Cannanore, February 20-24, 2005.

·       ‘Political Elites in the Early Modern Kerala’, Institute for Middle Eastern and Asian Studies, University of Bonn, Germany, 6 July 2007. ‘Islam in Perspective: Politicization of Islam under Colonial Hegemony in Malabar, South India, 1900-1947’, Kolloquien der Schule für Historische Forschung, Bielefeld University, 8 December 2009.

·       ‘Pirates of the Malabar Coast: A Historical Analysis’, International Seminar - Monsoon Asia in the Age of Revolutions (1780-1830): Changes of Regime and their Aftermath, Mumbai University, 12-14 January 2010.

·       ‘Observing the ´Other’: The Dutch Information-gathering in the Early Modern Malabar, South India´, International Seminar on European Maritime Activities in Peninsular India, 1500-1800, Tellicherry, Kerala, 18-20 January 2010.

·       ‘Political Culture and Maritime Trade in Early Modern Malabar, South India’, Trading Cultures across the Indian Ocean Workshop, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, 1 July 2011.

·       ‘The Dutch East India Company and the Opium Trade in Malabar (1663-1700)’, Third Encompass Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 15-17 August 2011.

·       ‘Western ‘Modernity’ and ‘Oriental Women’: The Gender of Social Reform Movements in South India’, Culture and Modernity in South India, International Seminar, Maharajas College Ernakulam, Kerala, India, 16 September 2011.

·       ‘Uprooted: Indian Ocean Slave Trade on the Malabar Coast during the Early Modern Period’, CAPAS International Conference, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 28-30, November 2011.

·       ‘The Dutch East India Company and the Opium Trade in Malabar (1663-1700)’, International Seminar on Maritime Malabar, Cochin, India, 9-11, December 2011.

·       ‘Religion and Social Conflict in South India: A Long-term Perspective’, Colloquium Presentation, Department of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany, 24 April 2012.

·       ‘Early Modern European Trade Enclaves in Asia: A Study on Dutch Cochin, National Seminar – ‘Winds of Power: Perspectives on European Interactions and the Making of Cochin’, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala, India, 21-23 March 2013.

·       ‘The Port City of Cranganore in the Early Modern Period: Pepper Trade and the Indo-European Interactions in the Age of Expansion’, International Seminar on ‘Imperial Rome, Indian Ocean Regions and Muziris: Recent Researches and New Perspectives on Maritime Trade, Christ College, Irinjalakuda, 8-12 September 2013.

·       ‘Pre-Modern Malabar Coast and the Indian Ocean Slave Trade”, National Seminar – ‘Chinese Trade Networks and Mercantilism in Malabar during the Medieval Period’, in Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam, Kerala, India, 25-26 September 2014.

·        ‘Brahmins, Kings, and Merchants” Re-imagining Early Modern Kerala Society’, National Seminar – ‘Marginalised and the Mainstream: Problematising the Social History of Kerala, University of Calicut, Kerala, India, 23-24 November 2015.

·       ‘Malabar Coast and the Indian Ocean Trade in the Early Modern Period: The Career of the Dutch East India Company’, ICHR National Seminar on ‘Indian Ocean Trade and South India: Contours of Inter-Continental Contacts’, Calicut University, Kerala, India, 20-21 July 2016.

·       ‘Port Cities, Bazaars and ‘Frontier Regimes’: The Political Economy of Malabar’, Kerala History Congress: Third Annual Session, Farook College, Calicut, Kerala, India, 9-11 Dec. 2017.

·       ‘Maritime Trade in Early Modern Malabar: Some Observations’, National Seminar on ‘Connecting Panthalayani: From Local to the Transoceanic’, SARBTM Govt. College, Koyilandy, 4-5 January 2018.

·       ‘“Strange Allies”: The Dutch East India Company’s Encounter with the St. Thomas Christians of South India’, International Seminar on ‘St. Thomas Christians through the Ages: A Historiographical Approach, Mannanam, Kottayam, India, Jan. 30- Feb.1 2018.

·       “Problematizing ‘Religion’ and ‘Conversion’ in Indian with special reference to Kerala” Kerala History Congress: 4^th Annual Session and International Congress” University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, 20-22 December 2018.

·       “The Pre-History of Communalism Revisited: Trade, Politics and Social Conflicts in Early Modern Malabar”, International Seminar on “Early Modern and Colonial in History: Concepts and Cases in South Asia”, Farook College, Kozhikode, 4-5 March 2019.

·       “Dutch Sources on Kerala History”, Invited Lecture, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala, 3 May 2019.

·       “Uprooted: Indian Ocean Slave Trade on the Malabar Coast during the Early-Modern Period”, Backwaters Collective on Metaphysics and Politics, IXth Annual Conference, July 25-28, 2019, Kochi.

Awards and Fellowships

• University Gold Medal in Masters
• TANAP scholarship for doing PhD research in Leiden University [2004-2007]
• Fellowship from International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), the Netherlands (February 2008-May 2008)

Areas of Interest

• Dynamics of Socio-Political formations in the Early Modern and Modern South India.

• Indian Ocean History and Merchant Communities

Other Qualifications

• National Eligibility for Lectureship

University Grants Commission, New Delhi.

• Certificate in Portuguese Language Course

Centro de Língua Portuguesa/ Instituto Camoes 2001

 Dutch Language Certificate

• Certificate in German (B2)

Teaching Experience

• 2009-2012, Teaching in Bielefeld University, Germany, in ‘Transnational History’
• 2012-, Assistant Professor, Christ College, Calicut University, Kerala, India