Benjamin Cohen | Professor
Benjamin Cohen
Professor
801/581-6805
CTIHB 217
About
Benjamin B. Cohen is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Utah. He is a scholar of South Asia with a particular interest in the early-modern and modern periods of the subcontinent’s history. Trained in the languages of the Deccan, Cohen works in Telugu, Urdu, and Hindi. His first monograph explored a discrete set of Hindu countryside kings in India’s largest princely state, Hyderabad, led by Muslim rulers (Kingship and Colonialism in India’s Deccan, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). His second book broke new ground with a pan-South Asia exploration of civil society explored through the lens of social clubs (In the Club: Associational Life in Colonial India, Manchester University Press, 2015, Studies in Imperialism). He returns to the Deccan in his third monograph that explores a late nineteenth century sex scandal (An Appeal to the Ladies of Hyderabad: Scandal in the Raj, Harvard University Press, 2019). He has also published (2019, with Orient BlackSwan, Hyderabad) an edited collection of family papers from the Wanaparthy samasthan. Before joining the academy, Cohen was a singer-songwriter, barista, and nightclub manager—but not all at the same time.
- BA, Earlham College
- MA, University of Wisonsin-Madison
- PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
My primary research focus is on the social and cultural history of early modern and modern India. I have published work on Hyderabad and the Deccan as well as on pan-Indian topics including language, gender, race, and environment - all of which intersect with India's colonial and pre-colonial pasts.
Books:
(2023) (Indian edition.) Kingship and Colonialism in India’s Deccan: 1850-1948. Manohar Books, New Delhi.
(2019) An Appeal to the Ladies of Hyderabad: Scandal in the Raj. Harvard University Press. Indian edition (2020).
(2019) The Pleasures at your side: Papers from the Wanaparthy Samasthan, 1832-1911. Edited by Benjamin B. Cohen. Orient BlackSwan Press, Hyderabad, India.
(2015) In The Club: Associational Life in Colonial India. Manchester University Press (Studies in Imperialism Series). Indian edition: Orient BlackSwan Press, 2015.
(2007) Kingship and Colonialism in India’s Deccan: 1850-1948. Palgrave Macmillan.
Articles and Chapters:
(2022) ““The water flows under the bridge and we pass above it...” Infrastructure, Transport and State Power: The Bridges of Hyderabad City, India c. 16th to 20th centuries.” Journal of Transportation History. Vol. 44, No. 1. pp. 1-23.
(2022)“‘This Has Not Been Done Because It Was Not Made Any One's Business to Do It.’ Conserving Hyderabad City's Hussain Sagar Tank in the Late Nineteenth Century.” pp. 1-16. Urban History.
(2021)“Social Clubs in a Princely State. The Case from Hyderabad, Deccan.” 1-15. Indian Historical Review.
(2021) “Modern India: The Historical Context.” Understanding Contemporary India. Third Edition.(ed. DeVotta and Ganguly) Lynn Rienner.
(2020)“From Soldier to Spectacle: Africans and the langar procession in Hyderabad.” South Asian History and Culture. Vol. 11, No. 4. pp. 374-389.
(2020) “The African Guard of Wanaparthy and Hyderabad.” African Rulers and Generals in India (Afro-South Asia in the Global African Diaspora) Vol. I., edited by Omar H. Ali, Kenneth Robbins, Beheroze Shroff and Jazmin Graves. University of North Carolina at Greensboro Ethiopian and East African Studies Project and Ahmedabad Sidi Heritage and Educational Center. pp. 101-113.
(2019) “Water in Medieval Telangana: Repair, Restore and Beyond” pp. 171-176 in Second International Seminar on Telangana Through the Ages: Perspectives from Early and Medieval Periods. Hyderabad.
(2017) “Transfers of Power: A Hydrosocial View of Hyderabad.” pp. 76-86. In The Princely States and the Making of Modern India. (eds: D.A. Prasanna, K. Sadashiva). Manipal University Press, India.
Modern India; Medieval India; Ancient India; Environmental History of India; Asian History to 1500; Asian History since 1500; The Global Indian Ocean; Senior Seminar.
2022-2023 American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Short-term Fellowship.
2022-2023 University Faculty Fellow, University of Utah.
2016-2017 Tanner Humanities Center Fellow.
2016-2017 Environmental Humanities Professorship, University of Utah.
2016 (Fall Semester) Sabbatical leave.
2016 College of Humanities Kickstart Grant.
2015-2016 US Government, "Practical Research in Support of Sustainable Urbanization", Hyderabad, India.
2015-2016 Environmental Humanities Professorship, University of Utah.
2015 Asia Center Travel Grant, University of Utah.
2015 College of Humanities International Travel Grant recipient.
2013 American Institute of Indian Studies Conference Award (co-PI), New Delhi.