India in the World: 1500 to the Present

If we look back at world history in the past five hundred years, it is evident that Indian ideas, peoples, and goods helped drive world connections. From the quest to reach the Indies that drove Iberian rulers to fund costly expeditions that ultimately connected the Old World with the Americas to Gandhi’s creed of non-violence that created transnational resistance movements, India has been crucial to world history.

In what ways have the movement of goods, people, and ideas from India served to connect the world? Conversely, how has India’s global history shaped the many boundaries and inequalities that have divided the world despite―and at times because of―the transnational connections often lumped together under the aegis of globalization? Through its emphasis on both linkages and boundaries, India in the World examines the range of connections between India and the world in a truly global perspective.

Rajeshwari Dutt is Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. Her research examines race in Latin American and British Imperial history. Her latest book is Empire on Edge: The British Struggle for Order in Belize during Yucatán’s Caste War, 1847–1901 (2020).

Nico Slate is Professor in the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University. His research examines struggles against racism and imperialism in the United States and India. His most recent book is Brothers: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Race (2023).