Shankar Nair

Twitter: @_shankarnair

Technology and Industry in a Colonial Economy: Steam Cotton Ginning and
Leaf Cigarette Manufacture in Late Colonial India, 1860-1940.

My work looks at the history of steam cotton ginning and leaf cigarette ('bidi') industries in
late colonial India. It is a study of the materiality of production, the role of new and old
machines and tools, the quality of raw materials and labour, modern infrastructure, and
the social organisation of production in two contrasting but growing sectors, each
characterised by very different systems of production. It is also a comparative study,
contrasting the cotton economy of Bombay with the US South, and the bidi with various
forms of manufactured tobacco in peasant societies.

1st Supervisor: David Edgerton

2nd Supervisor: Caitjan Gainty

Bio:

Before pursuing history, I did my MSc in Theoretical Physics from Uppsala University. I subsequently taught Physics at a high school. In 2019, I was awarded the Hans Rausing (1+3) scholarship to pursue an MA in Modern History and a PhD at King’s College London.

I am interested in comparative and transnational aspects of technological innovation and use, modern science, and production. I am particularly interested in questions of global convergence and divergence in the use of techniques, systems of production, and forms of work in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Grants, Awards, and Prizes:

2020 – MA in Modern History Prize, for the highest cumulative score in the Modern History MA program.