I am a cultural and social historian of modern South Asia with an interest in examining contestations around caste and other identities within colonial and postcolonial societies in India, and among Indian indentured migrants and postcolonial South Asian diasporas in the Netherlands. Beyond academia, I am committed to making research insights available to to a wider audience. To that end, I have written for journals like Scroll and Economic and Political Weekly; participated in various public history projects including a fellowship at Throughline (history podcast of NPR), and lectured at various public events. My discussion with authors on recently published works is available on the New Books Network podcast channel.

More information about Sanjukta Poddar

Fields of interest

Research Areas

• Memory and identity among Hindostanis in the Netherlands and South Asian Diasporas in general;
• Migration histories of indentured Indians
• Caste, Religious, and Intersectional Identities in South Asia;
• Comparative Studies of Caste and Race in a Global Context;
• History of Print Culture and Public Sphere in India;
• Urban History of Modern India;
• Literary Studies in English, Hindi, Urdu, and Bengali;
• Colonial and Postcolonial Studies; Affect Studies

List of Courses I teach/co-teach at present:

• Cultural Politics of Discrimination: Race, Color, and Caste in Asian Societies and in the World (MA Asian Studies)
• Research Methods Seminar: Culture and Politics (MA International Relations)
• Asian Societies in Motion (BA China/Japan/Korea/South-Southeast Asia)
• Nation, Community, Self: Questions of Culture in South and Southeast Asia (BA South and Southeast Asia)
• Culture and Language: South and Southeast Asia (BA International Studies)
• Language and Culture in Practice: Hindi (BA Students who have completed intermediate-level Hindi)
• BA Thesis Seminar (BA International Studies)

PhD students interested in research only on the topics of indenture and identity; caste and diaspora; and caste and urban culture in India, are welcome to send queries. However, please note that the Leiden Institute of Area Studies has no internal funds. Students from India who might be eligible for state-government fellowships for PhD abroad and are interested in these themes, are highly encouraged to apply.

Research

My current project, “Migrating Identities: Historical and Contemporary Experiences of Caste and Race among the Indian-Surinamese-Hindostani Dutch Community” is funded by the Leiden University Elise Mathilde Fund. An article from this project, “Silent Repair: Traces of Caste among Hindostanis in the Netherlands” is forthcoming in an edited volume, Powerful Silences in Public History (ed. By G.v. Englenhoven and J.v. Donkersgoed) to be published by Routledge. Based on this pilot project, I am also developing a larger project that connects migration histories of indentured Indians who Hindostanis with the memories and identities of descendants.
At the same time, I am completing my first book manuscript, tentatively titled, "Networks of Caste in Colonial North India: Print Culture, Institutions, and Urban Culture in Allahabad" based on my dissertation (University of Chicago 2022). 

Grants and awards

• Leiden University Elise Mathilde Fund for Research Project, “Migrating Identities: Historical and Contemporary Experiences of Caste and Race among the   Indian-Surinamese-Hindostani Dutch Community” (2025-2028)
• Aspasia Travel Grant (offered through Dr. Tsolin Nalbantian’s Aspasia subsidy) for the completion of monograph manuscript (2024-2025)
• Mellon Foundation-University of Chicago Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2021-2022)
• Research Award for best paper presented at 26th European Conference on South Asian Studies, 26-29 July 2021, awarded by Council of European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS)

Curriculum Vitae

• Assistant Professor (Universitair Docent 1) in Modern South Asian Culture, Leiden Institute of Area Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands, January 2023-present.
• Teaching Fellow in the Humanities (Postdoctoral Position), Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, University of Chicago, USA. September-December 2022
• Assistant Director, Center for Writing & Research Fellow, Ashoka University, Sonepat (August 2014-August 2015)
• Assistant Professor (ad hoc), Department of English, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi (July 2013-June 2014)
• Assistant Professor (ad hoc), Department of English, Indraprastha College for Women (June 2013-September 2011)          

Education

• Ph.D., M.A., South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago (2015-2022)
• M.Phil., University of Delhi (2011-2013)
• M.A., University of Delhi (2007-2009)
• B.A. (Honors),  St. Stephen’s College, Delhi (2004-2007)

Selected publications

• “Silent Repair: Traces of Caste among Hindostanis in the Netherlands.” In Powerful Silences in Public History (ed. By Gerlov van Englenhoven and Joella van Donkersgoed) London & NY: Routledge (forthcoming 2026)
• “The Decline of Multilingualism in a Divided Public Sphere: The Indian Press and Cultural Politics in Colonial Allahabad (1860–1920),” Modern Asian Studies, 2023.
• Book Review, Manan Ahmed Asif, Disrupted City: Walking the Pathways of Memory and History in Lahore. New York: New Press, 2024. American Historical Review, 2026.
• Book Review, Prachi Deshpande, Scripts of Power: Language Practices and Cultural History in Western India. New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2023, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2024.
• “Regional Archive of Allahabad in the Days of Prayagraj.” Archives of Economic Life in South and South East Asia Blog, Joint Center for History and Economics, University of Cambridge, 2021.