Chicago Dialogues
Season #2 Episode 6
Introduction by Dr. Dipesh Chakrabarty
Moderators by Dr. Sunit Singh, Dr. Steven Pincus, and Dr. James M. Vaughn
The shift from Mughal rule to the British Empire in South Asia has long been a subject of interest to scholars and non-scholars alike. Old historical explanations about the decline of the Mughals and the rise of British rule have been challenged recently by new accounts in the overlapping fields of South Asian, British, and global history that have sought to reexamine some fundamental questions: Why and how did the East India Company come to acquire a territorial empire in India? What was the nature of the change? Why did Mughal power wane? What effect did this transition have on the social and economic development of the subcontinent? What relationship was there between the developing British Empire in South Asia and the loss of the British Empire in North America?
All of these important questions have been addressed in the wide-ranging writings of William Dalrymple. His work has won numerous awards and attracted readers all over the world because of his elegant and innovative interpretations. This episode of Chicago Dialogues will bring Dalrymple into conversations with three scholars from the University of Chicago interested in the emergence of British India and the British Empire more generally.
Link to attend event here.