William
R. Pinch (Vijay)
Department
of History, Wesleyan University
238 Church
Street, Middletown, CT 06459-0002
phone:
(860) 685-2399 fax: (860) 685-2781
email:
wpinch@wesleyan.edu
Degrees:
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Ph.D. 1990, University of Virginia [Dissertation:
“Being Vaishnava, Becoming Kshatriya: Culture, Belief, and Identity
in Northern India, 1800-1950”]
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M.A. 1986 and B.A. 1982, University
of Virginia
Positions:
-
1998-
Associate Professor of History, Wesleyan University
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1991-1998 Assistant Professor
of History, Wesleyan University
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1990-1991 Assistant Dean, Faculty
of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia
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Spring 1990 Adjunct Lecturer, History,
College of William and Mary
Current Project:
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Killing Ascetics in Indian History,
1500 - 2000
Publications:
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"Same Difference in India and Europe."
A review of Bernard S. Cohn,
Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge:
The British in India (Princeton, 1996) and Christopher A. Bayly, Empire
and Information: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India,
1780-1870 (Cambridge, UK, 1996)," History and Theory (1999)
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"History, Devotion, and The Search for
Nabhadas of Galta," in Daud Ali and Avril Powell (ed.), Invoking the
Past: The Uses of History in South Asia (forthcoming, Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1999), 328-360.
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"Who was Himmat Bahadur Anupgiri Gosain?
Ascetics, Rajputs, and the British in Bundelkhand, ca. 1800," Indian
Economic and Social History Review, 35, 3 (November 1998): 293-335.
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“Historicity, Hagiography, and Hierarchy
in Gangetic India, 1918-1936,” in William Radice (ed.), Swami Vivekananda
and the Modernisation of Hinduism (Delhi: Oxford University Press,
1998), 244-263
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Peasants and Monks in British India
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996)
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“Reinventing Ramanand: Caste and
History in Gangetic India,” Modern Asian Studies 30, 3 (1996): 549-572
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“Soldier Monks and Militant Sadhus,”
in David Ludden (ed.), Contesting the Nation: Religion, Community,
and the Politics of Democracy in India (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania, 1996), 140-162; also published by Oxford University Press,
Delhi, as Making India Hindu: Community, Conflict, and the Politics
of Democracy
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“Poppy and the Peasant: A Look
at the Structure of Agrarian Society in Nineteenth-Century Bihar,” Explorations
[India] 1, 2 (July 1987): 25-35
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“Opium and the Peasant in North India,”
Essays
in History 30 (1987): 37-59
Invited Talks and Conference Papers:
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"Killing Ascetics: Godmen and
Violence in Indian History," Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University,
12 April 1999.
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“Subaltern
Sadhus?
Political Ascetics in Indian Myth, Memory, and History,"Walter Hauser
Festschrift, University of Virginia, 24-25 May 1997; presented as “Subaltern
Sadhus? Towards a Military Genealogy of North Indian Asceticism”
at Tufts University (Rethinking South Asian History conference), 9-10 May
1997; and as “Powerful Ascetics: Devotion, Discipline, and Armed
Sadhus” at Cambridge University (The New Military History of South Asia
conference), 15-17 July 1997
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"Nabhadas and the Bhaktamala:
Monasticism, Devotion, and Historical Consciousness, ca. 1600-1910,” The
Place of the Past: Uses of History in South Asia Workshop, School of Oriental
and African Studies, University of London, 16-18 April 1997
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“Peasants, Monks, and Indian History,”
Cornell University South Asia Lecture, 31 March 1997
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"Who Was Himmat Bahadur? Mercenaries
and Sadhus in Bundelkhand, ca. 1800,” Association for Asian Studies
national meeting, 12 April 1996, Honolulu
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“Soldier Ascetics in Northern India,”
Center for South Asian Studies Seminar, Edinburgh University, 9 May 1995
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“Soldier Monks and Militant Sadhus,”
South Asia Lecture, South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania,
2 March 1994
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“Hagiography and Historicity in North
India,” Modernisation of Hinduism Conference, School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London, 26-27 November 1993
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“Subaltern Sadhus? (reflections
on gosains, bairagis, and shudras),” Work in Progress
Seminar, South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 31 March
1993
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“Swami Dharnidharacharya and Kshatriya
Political Identity in Gangetic India, 1891-1930,” Association for Asian
Studies, Washington, D.C., 5 April 1992
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“Partisan Pasts in Ayodhya, 1918-1921:
Remembering Ramananda and Ramanuja,” Myth, Memory, and History Symposium,
Center for South Asian Studies, University of Virginia, 7 March 1992
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“Ramanandis, Vaishnava
Ideas, and Caste Identity Movements in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century
Gangetic North India,” Center for South Asia Studies at the University
of California, Berkeley, 10 February 1990; and South Asia Colloquium, North
Carolina State University, 2 March 1990
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“Sadhus and Social Change:
Ascetic Settlement Patterns and Agrarian Caste Power in Gangetic South
Bihar, 1909-1916,” Mid-Atlantic States Association for Asian Studies, Washington,
D.C., 22 October 1989.
Reviews:
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C. A. Bayly, Empire and Information:
Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 1780-1870
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), Journal of Asian and
African Studies (forthcoming)
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Dane Kennedy, The Magic Mountains:
Hill Stations and the British Raj (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1996), Journal of Asian History (forthcoming)
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"The Bandit Queen" (directed by Shekhar
Kapur, 1994), American Historical Review 101, 4 (October 1996):
1149-1150
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Carl W. Ernst, Eternal Garden:
Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1992), International Journal of
Middle East Studies (May 1994): 350-352
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With Manu Goswami, review of a conference
on “Public Policy and Social Change in Contemporary India,” University
of Virginia Center for South Asian Studies Newsletter 4, 2 (Spring
1991): 1-2,10
External Grants:
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1996-97 American Council of Learned
Societies/Social Science Research Council Advanced Area Research Award
(two summers research in London)
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1994-95 Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research
Abroad Training Grant, U.S. Department of Education
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1994-95 American Institute of Indian
Studies, Senior Research Fellowship (declined)
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1986-87 Social Science Research Council,
International Doctoral Dissertation Research and Write-up Award
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1986-87 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation
Research Abroad Grant, U.S. Department of Education
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1986-87 American Institute of Indian
Studies, Junior Research Fellowship (declined)
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1985 South Asia Regional Studies Center,
University of Pennsylvania, Urdu Language fellowship (summer)
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1983-89 U.S. Department of Education,
National Resource Fellowship (Title VI/FLAS): Hindi (1983-85, 1988-89)
and Persian (1985-86)
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1982-83 American Institute of Indian
Studies, Hindi Language fellowship, New Delhi
Committees and Service:
History Deparment:
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Religion and History Concentration Group,
1997-98
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Field Advisor, Africa, Asia, and Latin
America; and European Imperialism and the Third World, 1997-98
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Honors Thesis Prize Adjudication Committee,
1995-96
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Field Advisor, European Imperialism
and the Third World, 1993-94
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Honors Committee, 1992-93, 1993-94
Public Affairs Center:
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Social Science Commputing Committee
(formerly Data Lab Committee), 1997-
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Davenport Grants Committee, 1992
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Hewlett Grant sponsor for Professor
Romila Thapar, October 1992
University:
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Educational Policy Committee, 1997-
(chair, fall 1998)
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Curricular Renewal Implementation Committee,
1998-
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Humanities/SocialScience/Library Facility
Planning Committee, 1997-98
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Davenport Building Subcommittee, 1997-98
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Fulbright Fellowship Committee, 1997
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Navaratri Lecture-Symposium co-organizer
(with Philip Wagoner), 1997
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Less Commonly Taught Languages Faculty
Task Force, 1997
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Frosh Advising, 1992-94, 1995-96
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Ethnomusicology Ph.D. Committee, for
Zoe Sherinian, 1994-1998
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Advisory Committee, 1993-94
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South and Southeast Asia Faculty Circle,
1993-present
National:
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South Asia Book Review Editor (with
Indira Peterson at Mt. Holyoke), Journal of Asian Studies, 1998-
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New England Association for Asian Studies,
Fall 1997 meeting, program committee
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U. S. Department of Education, Fulbright-Hays
Awards evaluation panel
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National Endowment for the Humanities,
College and University Research Awards evaluation panel
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Manuscript Review for Westview Press
Thesis Direction:
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Timothy Whyte, "Slavery in the Himalayas,"
Department of History, 1997-1998. Received High Honors, Dutcher Prize,
and nominated for University Honors.
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Duncan Goldberg, “Irregular Genesis:
A Selective Study of Founders and Formations of Irregular Soldiery in the
British Empire,” Department of History, 1995-96. Received Honors.
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James Leiken, “The Fury of Bengal:
A Psychobiographical Portrait of Subhas Chandra Bose,” Department of History,
1995-96. Received Honors.
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Prasanna Rasiah, “Tamil Cultural Scholarship
in Sri Lanka,” Department of History, 1993-94. Received Honors.
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Amit Nigam, “Participatory Development:
India’s ‘Operation Flood’ Program,” College of Social Studies, 1993-94.
Recipient of Davenport Grant for research in India, summer 1993.
Received High Honors.
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Geetanjali Chander, “Leprosy in India,”
Department of History, 1992-93. Recipient of Davenport Grant for research
in India and London, summer 1992. Received High Honors, Butler Prize,
and nominated for University Honors.
Courses Taught and Developed:
Frosh seminars:
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HIST 105 Slaves, Souls, and Spices
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HIST 109 Colonial India in Fiction and
Film
Introductory surveys:
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HIST 257 India and Indology
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HIST 258 Imperial India
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HIST 259 The Indian Nation
Advanced seminars:
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HIST 323 Religion and History
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HIST 324 Social Change in India
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HIST 327 War and Society in India
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HIST 329 The Indo-Muslim World