Amit Kumar Mishra

Affiliation

Dean , School of Global Affairs

Email

amitmishra@aud.ac.in

Orcid

Orchid Id 0000-0003-4728-0778

Qualification

Ph.D. from Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Title of Ph.D. thesis: ‘Into Servitude: Indian Labour Diaspora in Mauritius; 1834-1922’. July 2006.
M.Phil. from Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Title: ‘Political Mobilisation and Nationalist Movement in Localities: Quit Indian Movement in Ballia District of UP’. award January 2001.
M.A. Modern History, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. 1998

Past Experience

Assistant Professor (Senior Scale), Centre for Study of Indian Diaspora, University of Hyderabad, 7^th January 2008 till 18 May 2018
Fellow, Weatherhead Initiative on Global History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (USA) AY 2014-15 (on leave from University of Hyderabad)
Post-Doctoral Fellow, South Asian Studies Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 6^th August 2006 – 29^th December 2007

Area of Expertise

My research interests include colonial and imperial histories from global south, Indian diaspora, causes and consequences of labour mobility, histories of labour intermediation, reading transnational migration from perspectives of state-society etc.

Awards

Fellow, Royal Historical Society, UK (2024 onwards)
Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (2017 onwards)
First Chancellor’s Award for excellence in teaching and research, 2013 (Rs One Lakh Research Grant and a Citation)
Consultant, Truth and Justice Commission, Govt. of Mauritius, Mauritius (2010-11)
Visiting Fellowship, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme/ Paris (France) December 2008, December 2009
Charles Wallace Visiting Fellow for archival research in London and Oxford (September-October 2004)
Junior Research Fellowship from Indian Council of Historical Research, India
Member, International Advisory Board, Global Girmit Institute, Suva (Fiji) and Canberra (Australia)
Member, National Advisory Committee, Centre for Diaspora Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala (2014-19) Nominated by UGC
Referee, UNESCO Memory of World Register for inscription of Indentured Immigration Records, Mauritius, nominated by Ministry of Arts and Culture, Govt. of Mauritius, 2012
Member, Consultative Committee to set up helpline for Indian diasporic students, MHRD, Govt. of India, 2012
Official Nominee of Indian government (Ministry of Culture) in SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka Meeting on South Asian Diaspora, March 2012
Member, Editorial Board, Man in India
Coordinator, Study in India Programme, University of Hyderabad (2009-2014)
Member, Committee to Setup helpline for Indian students abroad, MHRD, Govt. of India, 2012

Publications

A. Published

1. Books

‘Bonded Self, National Disgrace and Human Misery: Indian Nationalists and Campaign for Abolition of Indentured Labour Emigration’, Monograph, University of Mauritius Press, Mauritius, 2017, ISBN 978-99903-73-44-8
‘Mauritius’; Monograph in Afro-Asian Series of National Book Trust of India, New Delhi, 2009 ISBN 978-81-237-5432-1 (book is translated into Oriya and Hindi languages)

2. Articles

‘उपनिवेश काल में प्रतिबंध और प्रवासी साहित्य’ लमही वर्ष १६, अंक ४, अप्रैल- जून २०२४ पृष्ठ ३८३-३९४ (यू जी सी केयर)
‘Subtexts of Servitude: Anti-Vagrancy Laws and Mobility of Indian Labour Diaspora in Mauritius’ article in Journal of People’s History and Culture, Vol. 9, No.1, June 2023 ISSN 2395-7379 (UGC Care) pp 1-20
‘Imperial Liberalism and Noblesse Oblige: Ideological Debates and Dilemmas on Indentured Labour Emigration from India’ article in Satraachee, Vol.39, No.3, April-June 2023 ISSN 2348-8425 (UGC Care) pp 54-61
‘Beneficiaries of Empire: Mapping the Trajectories of Transformation of Indian Labour Diaspora in Mauritius’ article in Journal of People’s History and Culture, Vol. 8, No.2, December 2022 ISSN 2395-7379 (UGC Care)pp 20-42
‘Diaspora, Development and Indian State’ article in The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs (Routledge) November 2016 ISSN 0035-8533 (print) 1474-029X (online) pp. 701-721
‘Legitimately Married: Regulating Marriage among Indian Labour Diaspora in Mauritius’, Article, Migration and Diaspora, Vol.4, No.2, July 2021, ISSN 2581-9437 pp. 82-103
‘Indian Indentured Labourers in Mauritius: Reassessing the New System of Slavery vs Free Labour Debate’, Article in Studies in History, Sage, London and New Delhi, December 2009 ISSN 0257-6430 (print) 0973-080X (online) pp. 229-251
‘Articulation of Transnational Identities among Sikh Youth in Singapore’, Article, Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies, Vol. IX, No 17, 2017 ISSN 0974-7192 pp.5-17
‘Indian Labour Diaspora; Issues and Experiences’, Article, Journal of Mauritian Studies, Mauritius, November 2004 ISBN 978-99903-3-977-2 pp. 110-129

3. Book Chapters

‘Girmit as a Global Labour Regime: Essentials, Expansion and Exceptions’, chapter in Singh, Neha and Sajaudeen Chapparban eds. Literature of Girmitiya: History, Culture and Identity, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023, ISBN 978-981-19-4620-2 pp. 197-226
‘Global Histories of Migration(s)’ chapter in Beckert, Sven and Dominic Sachsenmaier eds. Global History; Globally, Bloomsbury London 2018, ISBN 978-1-35003-635-2 pp. 195-214
‘Sikhs in Singapore’, chapter in Jacobsen, Knut A., Gurinder Singh Mann and Kristina Myrvold eds. Encyclopaedia of Sikkhism, Vol.1, Brill, Leiden, 2017, ISBN 978-90-04-29745-6 pp. 551-555
‘Sirdars, Kanganies and Maistries: Intermediaries in Indian Labour Diaspora’ chapter in Wadauer, Sigrid (ed.) History of Labour Intermediation, Berghahn, Oxford, New York, 2015 ISBN 978-1-78238-550-9 pp. 368-387
‘State Policies and the Indian Diaspora in Malaysia’ chapter in Jayaram, N. (ed.) Diversities in the Indian Diaspora: Nature, Implications, Responses, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2011 ISBN 978-0-19-807146-4 pp.82-100
‘Food Culture in the Diaspora: A Sociological Study’ chapter with Sinorita Mazumder in Sahoo, Ajaya K (ed.) Indian Diaspora and Transnationalism, Serials Publications, Delhi, 2020, ISBN 978-81-945563-0-5 pp. 153-172

4. Reports: (refereed)

Social and Economic Condition of Descendants of Indentured Labourers in Mauritius, Report, Vol. 3, Truth and Justice Commission, Govt. of Mauritius, 2011 pp. 332-337, ISBN 978-99903-1-025-2
Overview of Vagrancy Laws in Mauritius, Report, Vol. 4, Truth and Justice Commission, Govt. of Mauritius, 2011 pp. 201-211, ISBN 978-99903-1-025-2
Regulation of Indian Marriages in Mauritius, Report, Vol. 4, Truth and Justice Commission, Govt. of Mauritius, 2011 pp. 212-225, ISBN 978-99903-1-025-2 (co-authored with Pamela Sooben)
Education and Mobility, Report, Vol. 4, Truth and Justice Commission, Govt. of Mauritius, 2011 pp. 259-272, ISBN 978-99903-1-025-2

4. Invited Pieces, Conference Proceedings, Reviews

Foreword (with detailed introduction) to Report on the Condition of Indian Immigrants in Mauritius, JWP Muir-Mackenzie (1895), University of Mauritius Press, Mauritius, 2017, ISBN 978-99903-73-43-1
‘Home and Away’ invited write up in Times Higher Education 2015 ISBN: 978-93-84038-27-4
‘Cultural Continuum of Indians in Diaspora’, Conference Proceeding, International Conference on Diasporic Cultures of South Asia During 18^th and 19^th Centuries, SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo ISBN 978-955-0567-05-8

Seminar/Conferences

Keynotes, Invited Lectures

Keynote, ‘Ending Indenture: Regime, Resistance, Remains’, International Conference on Abolition of Indenture in Global Perspective, International Centre for Research on Slavery and Indenture, University of Mauritius, 28-30 September 2017
Invited Talk ‘Survivors of Servitude: Mapping Trajectories of Transformation in Indian Diaspora in Mauritius’ organised by the Centre for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies, Tufts University, Medford, USA on 8 April 2015
Seminar Presentation ‘Indentured Indian Labour Regimes: Situating Peripheral Labour in Global Historical Context’ Weatherhead Initiative on Global History, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA on 23 February 2015
Keynote, International Workshop on Diaspora, Development and Civic Engagement, NWO-WOTRO sponsored workshop, 25-27 January 2014, Hyderabad
Public Lecture ‘Wished to Remain Continuous: Cultural Continuum in Old Indian Diaspora’ 16 June 2013, Organised by the Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET), Lund Municipality and Lund University, Sweden.
Invited Talk ‘From Rainbow to Reality: Mauritian Miracle of Managing Cultural Diversity and Truth and Justice Commission’ on 29 April 2013 organised by the Department of Religious Studies and Diversity Program, Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, USA.
Myron Weiner seminar, ‘Beyond the Rhetoric of remittances: Diaspora, Development and the Indian State’, 24 April 2013 at Inter-University Committee on International Migration, Centre for International Studies, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Lecture ‘Empire, Nation and Diaspora’ on 15^th February 2011 organised by the University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius.
Keynote Address, International Conference ‘Migration and Settlement in South West Indian Ocean: Shifting Paradigms’, 10-12 Nov. 2010, Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius
‘Trajectories of Diasporic Transformation: Indian Diaspora in Malaysia, Mauritius and Fiji’, invited talk on 27 May 2009 at Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius.
‘Beneficiaries of Empire? Mapping the Transformation of Indian Labour Diaspora in Mauritius’ presentation at the South Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore, Singapore on 29^th August 2007.
‘We Recognise Our Obligation; Indian Nationalists and the Indian Labour Diaspora’, invited talk at the Department of History, University of Sussex, Brighton (UK) on 6^th October, 2004.
‘Studying Indian Labour Diaspora; Issues and Experiences’, invited talk at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius on 31^st May, 2004.
‘Archival Sources for Studying Indian Labour Diaspora’, invited talk at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, organised by the Aapravasi Ghat Trust, Mauritius on 21^st May, 2004.

Conference Presentations

‘Servitude to Subalternity: Indian Indentured Labour in Malaysia’ in International Conference on Slavery, Indentured Labour, Migration Their Impact on Present Societies, Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname 6^th to 10^th June 2023
‘Managed Mobilities, Imperial Durabilities: Indian Labour Diaspora beyond the Confines of Indentured Labour Regime’ in International Conference on Legacy of Slavery and Indentured Labour: Linking the Past with Future, 18-23 June 2018, Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Paramaribo, Suriname
‘Dreams of Cows, Realities in Chains: Transformation from Bondage to Freedom in Indian Labour Diaspora’ in International Workshop on ‘Freedom, Bondage, Future and Selves in Central Asia, Middle East and Africa’ 17-18 September 2015, University Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
‘Indian Indentured Labourers in Indian Ocean’ in International conference ‘Towards the Establishment of the Indentured Labour Route’ 3-5 November 2014, Aapravasi Ghat Trust Fund, Port Louis, Mauritius.
‘Indian Sikhs in Singapore to Singaporean Sikhs: Dialectics and Dialogic of Identity Formation among Young Sikhs in Singapore’, in International conference ‘Young Sikhs in Global World: Negotiating Identity, Tradition and Authority’, 18-19 June 2013 organised by Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, Sweden.
‘Subtexts of Servitude: Indentured Indian Labour Regime in British Plantation Colonies’ in an international conference on Global History of Agrarian Labour Regimes 1750-2000, 25-27 April 2013, organised by the Weatherhead Initiative on Global History, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
‘Diaspora, Development and Indian State’ in an International Conference ‘India-China: Comparing the Paths of Development’ December 10-12, 2012 organised by the School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University Malaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Presented a paper, as the official nominee of government of India, titled ‘The Cultural Continuum of Indian Diaspora: Issues and Experiences’ in the international conference ‘Circulation of Cultures and Cultures of Circulation in South Asia’ in Galle, Sri Lanka, 15-18 March 2012, organised by SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Resource Person and Speaker, International Workshop on Labour Intermediation, 27-28 November 2009, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
‘Intermediaries in Indian Labour Diaspora’ presented in International roundtable on Intermediaries in Global Labour Relations, 5 December 2008, organised by the Free University, Brussels, Belgium.
‘Mapping the Transformation of Indian Diaspora in Mauritius and Making of a Multicultural Society’ presented in international seminar ‘The Indian Ocean: the largest cultural continuum in the world’, organised by the Zanzibar Indian Ocean Research Institute, Zanzibar from 15^th to 17^th August 2008.
‘Subtexts of Servitude: Anti-Vagrancy Laws and Mobility of Indian Indentured Labourers’ paper presented in an international conference organised by National Centre for Scientific Research and Maison des Sciences de l’ Homme, Paris (France) on 28^th September 2007.
‘Indian Indentured Labourers in Plantation Colonies: The New System of Slavery vs Free Labour Debate’, paper presented in international conference on ‘Global Labour History and the Question of Freedom and Unfreedom’, organised by the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, (Institute for Advanced Study) Berlin (Germany), 16^th to 18^th December 2006.

Chair, Discussant etc.

Discussant, ‘Into a Great Nation: Mennonites and Germany in a Global Era’ presentation by Ben Goossen, Harvard University, at Weatherhead Initiative on Global History, Harvard University 5 May 2015
Chair, session on Immigration and Settlement, International Conference ‘Migration and Settlement in South West Indian Ocean: Shifting Paradigms’, 10-12 Nov. 2010, MGI, Mauritius
Chair, Academic Session 9, international conference ‘Circulation of Cultures and Cultures of Circulation in South Asia’ in Galle, Sri Lanka, 15-18 March 2012, organised by SAARC Cultural Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Conference, Seminars, Workshops (In India)

Chief Guest and Guest Lecture, ‘Necessity or Nostalgia: Cultural Continuum in Old Indian Diaspora’ International Conference on Girmitiya Descendants: Past, Present and Future, Lucknow University, Lucknow, 30 January 2024
Plenary lecture ‘Not so Passive, Not so Docile: Life History of Coolie Doctor Goonam in the Apartheid Era South Africa’, International Conference on Indian Diaspora Women and Patriarchy: Questions on Inclusion, Cultural Identity, and Violence, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 18 December 2023.
Valedictory Address, International Conference on Diversities in Indian Diaspora, Centre for Diaspora Studies, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhi Nagar, 25 February 2023
Plenary Speaker, International Conference, The Saga of Girmitiya Migration: Re-engaging the Homeland, Culture, History, and Memory, Manipal University Jaipur, 27-29 April 2022
Keynote, on Indian Diaspora and its Roots from Bhojpuri Region, SVP College, Bhabhua, Bihar 22-23 January 2021
Panellist, Academic Freedom and Research Ethics in Higher Education, organised by Institute of Ethnic Studies, University Kebangsan, Malaysia and SGT University, Gurugram 13 November 2019
‘Gandhi in Diaspora and Gandhi on Diaspora: Some Reflections’, plenary speaker in National Conference on Gandhian Discourse in Humanities and Social Sciences, Malviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, 2-3 October 2019
‘But no one has a right to coerce others: Some Reflections on Gandhiji and Human Rights’ invited speaker in National Seminar Thought and Activism: Perspectives on Gandhi organised by Department of History, College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi, 25-26 September 2019
‘Articulation of Transnational Identities Among Sikh Youth in Singapore’ paper presented in an international conference on ‘Indian Diaspora and Transnationalism: Global Perspectives’ jointly Organised by UGC Centre for Study of Indian Diaspora, Hyderabad & Organization for Diaspora Initiative, New Delhi 4-5 October 2018
‘Imperial Liberalism, Noblesse Oblige and Indian Labour Diaspora in 19^th Century’ paper in an International Workshop on ‘Reconsideration of 19^th Century from Asian Perspective’, 7^th-8^th January 2016, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
‘Diaspora, Development and Indian State’, paper in an international conference on ‘Patterns of Social and Economic Change in Colonial and Independent India’ , JNU, New Delhi 21-22 December 2013.
Resource Person, workshop on ‘Migration of Highly Skilled Indians to Netherlands and Notions of Citizenship and Civic Engagement’, organised by the South Asia desk of International Institute of Social History and Dr Ellen Ball, Free University, Amsterdam in Kolkata, 11-12 February 2013.
‘Historiography of Indian Labour Diaspora’ in an international conference ‘Historiographical Engagements in India: A Symposium in Honour of Prof R S Sharma’, organised by the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, New Delhi, 27^th to 29^th January 2012.
‘Role of Intermediaries in the Overseas Labour Migration’, paper presented in national seminar on People on Move: Internal and External Migrations in South India, Osmania University, Hyderabad, 26-27 August 2011.
‘Indian Diaspora in Mauritius and Fiji: Comparative Perspectives’ paper presented in international conference Indentured Migration: History, Memory and Popular Culture, 28^th and 29^th November, 2010, GB Pant Institute, Allahabad and Govt. of Surinam.
‘Wording the Diasporic World: Representations of Indian Diaspora’ plenary paper in an international conference on Literatures of Indian Diaspora, RMNL University, Faizabad, 10^th - 11^th January 2010.
‘State Policies and Indian Diaspora in Malaysia’ paper presented in international seminar on ‘Diversities in Indian Diaspora’, organised by the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (Shimla) and Institute for Social and Economic Change (Bangalore), 7^th to 9^th May 2008.
‘Gandhi and Girmitiyas’ paper presented in an international seminar organised by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi on 31^st January and 1^st February 2008.
‘Indian Diaspora in Mauritius’ paper presented in international conference on ‘Writing Twentieth Century History: From Colony to Nation’, organised by Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), 27^th to 29^th March, 2006.

E. Invited Talks (in India)

‘Diaspora Studies: New Methodological Routes and Approaches’ invited lecture, International workshop on Research Methods and Approaches to Migration and Diaspora Studies, organised by Central University Gujarat in collaboration with University of East London and Centre for Research on Migration, Refugee and Belonging (UK) 30 June – 2 July 2020
‘Wording the Diasporic World: Literature(s) of Indian Diaspora, Rani Channamma University, Belgavi, 11 May 2020 (online)
Two Lecture on Globalisation and Diaspora, and two lectures on Multiculturalism, Orientation Course for Social Sciences, GG Central University, Bilaspur 20 and 21 January 2020
Two lectures on Theory and Literature of Diaspora, Refresher Course in English, GG Central University, Bilaspur 19 December 2019
‘Indians in Diaspora’, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad, 12 February 2016
‘Are We All Really Multiculturalist Now? Multiculturalism and Its Limitations in Contemporary Context’, HRDC, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, 11 January 2016
‘Multiculturalism, Diasporic Identity and Émigré Nationalism: Indians in US’ HRDC, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, 11 January 2016
‘Historiographies of Indian Indentured Diaspora’, HRDC, JNU, New Delhi, 8 January 2016
‘Wording the Diasporic World: Literature of Indian Diaspora’ , Academic Staff College, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, 12 January 2015
‘Representing Indians in Diaspora’ SN School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, 21 October 2013
‘Indians in Diaspora: Issues and Experiences’, SN School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, 22 October 2012
‘Representations of Indian Diaspora’, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad, 5 September 2012
‘Empire and Migration’ invited talk at Academic Staff College, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad on 27^th February 2008
‘Indian Diaspora in South East Asia’ invited talk to the university and college teachers at UGC Academic Staff College, SV University, Tirupati, India on 25 February, 2008

F . Chair, Discussant etc (in India)

Panellist, Panel Discussion on Literatures of Indian Diaspora, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi - Gyan Darshan TV, 6 September 2019
Chair, inaugural session of national seminar on ‘Human Rights and Contestation in the Contemporary Times’ organised by Amity Institute of International Studies, Amity University Noida,14-15 February 2019
Discussant for launch of book Through the Diasporic Lens edited by Dr Nandini C Sen, JNU, New Delhi, 22 September 2018,
Chair, panel on Diaspora and Transnationalism: Evolving Patterns and Dimensions, in international conference ‘Transnationalism, Culture and Diaspora in the Era of Globalisation’ organised by Centre for Study of Diaspora, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, 21-23 February 2018.
Chaired and introduced Prof Sven Beckert’s (Harvard University) Special Lecture ‘Empire of Cotton: The Global Origins of Modern Capitalism’ on 21 December 2013 at JNU, New Delhi.