Amit Kumar
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Political Economy
- History of the Princely state of Jammu and Kashmir
- Histories and Cultures of Western Himalayas
- Memory and History
- Artisanal Histories
- Questions of being and becoming, Nomadic histories
Biography
Amit received his MA from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He completed his MPhil and PhD degrees from Department of History, University of Delhi. In his PhD, Amit focused on the weaving communities of Kashmir and defended his PhD thesis titled ‘Colonialism and Weaving Communities of Kashmir: 1846−1950’ in 2020.
Before joining the School of Arts and Sciences at Azim Premji University, Amit worked as Assistant Professor (Ad-hoc), Dept. of History, Hansraj College, University of Delhi from August 2013 to December 2016 and as Assistant Professor in History Srinagar Women’s College, Srinagar from June 2017 to August 2020. In 2016, Amit was awarded Volkswagen visiting fellowship at International Institute of Social History (IISH), Amsterdam for 6 months as a ‘Global History Project fellow’.
Courses
Doing History
This is a foundational course that will teach students some of the basic learning blocks of History such as timelines and sources, Historical Methods, and Historiography.
Colonial India: Polity, Economy and Culture
How was the course of Indian history shaped by colonial governance? How did the East India Company slowly become the colonial state?
Publications
Peer Reviewed Articles
- Kumar, A., & Dar, F. (2015). Marginality and Historiography: The Case of Kashmir’s History. Economic and Political Weekly, 50(39), 37 – 44.
- Kumar, A. (2014). Politics of Pre-election Riots in Kishtwar. Economic and Political Weekly, 49(8), 82 – 85
Books
- Kumar, A. (forthcoming, 2022). Precious Threads, Precarious Lives: Histories of Shawl and Silk Industries of Kashmir 1846 – 1950. Taylor and Francis (Routledge) Pvt. Ltd.
- Kumar, A., Dar, Fayaz A. & Tandup, C. Our Pasts, Class VI textbook for Jammu and Kashmir Board of School education (JKBOSE).
Book Reviews
- Kumar, A. (2018). Romila Thapar, Rāmīn Ğahānbiglū and Neeladri Bhattacharya, Talking History. Society and Culture in South Asia, 5(1), 155 – 157. doi:10.1177/2393861718787897
- Kumar, A. (2017). Imagining Kashmir: Emplotment and colonialism. Contemporary South Asia, 25(3), 323 – 324. doi:10.1080/09584935.2017.1362205
- Kumar, A. (n.d.). Review, Garden of Solitude. Counter Currents, 23rd March 2011. https://www.countercurrents.org/kumar230311.htm
Popular Articles
- Kumar, A. (2020, December 29). Camus In Kashmir: Outlook Magazine. https://magazine.outlookindia.com/story/india-news-camus-in-kashmir/304134
- Kumar, A. (2020, September 22). Charting new territories. Himal Southasian. https://www.himalmag.com/charting-new-territories-review-kashmir-2020/
- Kumar, A. (2018, May 25). History as Politics: On Writing Past. Wande Magazine. https://www.wandemag.com/history-as-politics-on-writing-past/
- Kumar, A. (2017, June 10). ‘The report documents how Amarnath Yatra is used as a right-wing nationalist battle cry by the state’. Wande Magazine. https://www.wandemag.com/amarnath-yatra-is-used-as-a-right-wing-nationalist-battle-cry-by-the-state/
- ‘Kumar, A. (2017, April 12). ‘Dutch election results can be seen as a temporary and tiny relief from the right-wing onslaught,’ says historian Gijs Kessler. Outlook Magazine. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/dutch-election-results-a-temporary-and-tiny-relief-from-the-right-wing-onslaught/298522
- Kumar, A. (2016, September 06). ‘Convoluted Understanding Of Kashmir Emerges From A Horrible Understanding Of Kashmir History’. Outlook Magazine. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/convoluted-understanding-of-kashmir-emerges-from-a-horrible-understanding-of-its/297183
- Kumar, A. (2013,January 28). Reclaim Gramsci, The Revolutionary! https://bargad.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/gramsci/
Conferences
- Presented a paper, ‘Nature and the Sources of Capital in the 20th Century Kashmiri Textile Industry’ at the international conference, Frontiers of Accumulation, 13 – 14th May, 2019 at University of Copenhagen.
- Presented a paper titled ‘Rethinking Colonialism in Kashmir History’ at the 24th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS 2016) at the University of Warsaw, Poland from 27th July-30th July 2016.
- Presented a paper ‘Marginality and Historiography: The Case of Kashmir History’ at an International Conference Diversity, Margins and Dialogue: Local, National and Transnational Cultures held at University of Pune from 2nd to 4th January 2014.
Awards
- Awarded a bursary of $850 by the academic committee of the conference ‘Frontiers of Accumulation’ 13 – 14 May 2019 at the University of Copenhagen.
- Volkswagen visiting fellow at International Institute of Social History (IISH), Amsterdam for 6 months as a ‘Global History Project fellow’ from February, 2017 with a fellowship of 1600 € per month.
- Awarded a bursary worth 3000 PLN (Polish Zloty) by the Academic Committee of the 24th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS 2016).
- Awarded Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship (RGNF) by University Grants Commission, Govt. of India in 2011
- Qualified University Grants Commission (UGC) National eligibility test (NET) in Dec 2012.
Guest Lecture
‘Research Methodology’ to the M.Phil./PhD students of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Arts and Science College for Women, Srinagar on 8th, 11th and 14th of August 2017.