What is your favorite class to teach? Why?

It’s probably History of Contemporary India and South Asia (HIST 2393). The course discusses history from 1947 when India and Pakistan became politically independent, through to the present moment. I learn something new each time I teach this class, both from my students, and from my own research into the very recent past and current trends. I’m also excited to be teaching a new course in the fall on the Global History of Contraception and Abortion (HIST 4625). This connects directly to my current research, and gives me the chance to explore some new histories as well!

Tell us about your current research. 

This June I’ll be publishing a book based on my research, Reproductive Politics and the Making of Modern India. The book looks at how India played a pivotal role in global conversations about population and reproduction during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  I’m interested in how and why people across the political spectrum—from feminists to eugenicsts—believed that regulating reproduction was necessary to limit population and promote economic development.  The book documents some of the devasting implications of this logic, which ultimately demonized some women’s reproduction as the cause of national and planetary catastrophe.

What current research in your field excites you? Who is doing that research? 

When I started in graduate school, the history of South Asia seemed to stop in 1947. Now, there is lots of exciting historical work being done on postcolonial India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh that connects more recent history to a longer colonial past, and also links the countries of South Asia to global historical shifts and trends.  I’m also excited about recent work in transnational feminist histories, which expands our view of where feminists were, what they were doing, and how they were in conversation across borders.

What’s a fun fact about you that we might not know? 

Before becoming a historian, I thought seriously about dancing professionally. I didn’t take that path, of course, but I’m still an avid dance enthusiast.

What do you do for entertainment in your “down time” (during COVID or non-COVID)? 

One of my favorite COVID down time activities has been taking walks/hikes in Columbus metroparks.  My goal is to visit every metropark before the end of this semester!