Professor Siobhan Lambert-Hurley
BA (University of British Columbia) and PhD (School of Oriental and African Studies, London
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Professor of Global History
Director of Research and Innovation
+44 114 22 22586
Full contact details
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
91探花
S3 7RA
- Profile
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I completed my BA in Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver before moving to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London to study for my PhD in History.
I joined the University of 91探花 in 2015 from the Department of Politics, History and International Relations at Loughborough University.
My research on women, gender and Islam in South Asia has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the AHRC, the British Academy, HEFCE, and the Social Studies and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and I was visiting faculty at the University of British Columbia in 2013-14 and 2017.
I led an international research network funded by the AHRC on 鈥榃omen鈥檚 Autobiography in Islamic Societies鈥 and a teaching project funded by the Higher Education Academy on 鈥楢ccessing Muslim Lives: Translating and Digitising Autobiographical writing for Teaching and Learning鈥. Subsequently, I led a Leverhulme Trust-funded project on 'Veiled Voyagers: Muslim Women Travellers from Asia and the Middle East' (2015-18).More recently, I have led projects supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund. These include 'Advancing Female Literacy and Empowerment in Pakistan and India through Life Writing' (2019-21) and 'Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India' (2019-23).From 2024 to 2027, I hold a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for a project entitled 'A Bountiful Spread: Eating and Etiquette in Muslim South Asia'.
- Research interests
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I am a cultural historian of modern South Asia with particular interests in women, gender and Islam. I have written on education, social and political organisations, Indian princely states, the culture of travel, missionaries, food and personal narratives. There is a strong interdisciplinary aspect to my research reflected in my analyses of how different literary genres, including reformist writing, travelogues and autobiography, have evolved in South Asia in the modern period.
My early work focused on Muslim women鈥檚 participation in socio-religious reform movements in India in the early twentieth century. My first monograph, Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage (Routledge, 2007), emphasised the role of Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal, the female ruler of a Muslim principality in central India, in providing essential leadership and patronage to a burgeoning network of Indian women reformers. Emerging out of this work were two book projects that used travel writing by South Asian Muslim women to offer insights into imperial and global history: an edited edition of a nineteenth century hajj narrative entitled A Princess鈥檚 Pilgrimage: Sikandar Begam鈥檚 A Pilgrimage to Mecca (Indiana University Press, 2008) and a co-authored book with Sunil Sharma entitled Atiya鈥檚 Journeys: A Muslim Woman from Colonial Bombay to Edwardian Britain (Oxford University Press, 2010). The latter鈥檚 significance to a project of historicising a multicultural Britain also led to contributions to the AHRC project,
My next project focused on autobiographical writing by Muslim women in South Asia. The aim was to trace changing notions of the self in the modern period by examining how women write their lives in a social and cultural context that idealises women鈥檚 anonymity. This research has led to journal articles in Modern Asian Studies, Journal of Women鈥檚 History and Journal of the History of Sexuality, as well as two major book projects: an edited volume with Anshu Malhotra entitled (Duke University Press, 2015; Zubaan, 2017) and a monograph entitled (Stanford University Press, 2018). Connected was my leadership of an international research network funded by the AHRC on 鈥榃omen鈥檚 Autobiography in Islamic Societies鈥 (2010-11) and a teaching project funded by the Higher Education Academy on .
From autobiography, I turned to travel writing. From 2015-18, I led a three-year project entitled 'Veiled Voyagers: Muslim Women Travellers from Asia and the Middle East' funded by the Leverhulme Trust. It was a collaborative project with (Boston University) and (Northwestern University). Veiled Voyagers recovered, translated, annotated and analyzed Muslim women鈥檚 travel writing from a range of languages in order to draw out the gendered relationships that inhere between travel and Muslim identities, nationalism, and the shaping of global power. The project鈥檚 main output is (Indiana University Press, 2022; Zubaan, 2024). There is also an of Muslim women鈥檚 travel texts in both the original and translation.
More recently, my research has shifted to address global challenges linked to the UN's . First off, I led a QR GCRF project entitled 'Advancing Female Literacy and Empowerment in Pakistan and India through Life Writing' (2019-21). It used historical research linked to women's life writing to advance female literacy and empowerment in Pakistan and India through two linked strands: (i) Biography as Inspiration; and (ii) Autobiography as Voice. Resources and programmes were developed through collaboration with established NGO partners in Pakistan and India, including , , Pakistan's Children and (see 'Public Engagement' for more information). The collaboration with MSK is examined in an .
I also lead a project on (with funding from GCRF-AHRC 2019-23 and HEIF 2022-24). Bringing food historians, sociologists, literary scholars and plant scientists into dialogue with heritage practitioners, authors, cooks and street vendors, it addresses challenges linked to local communities and food sustainability in India. On the context and thinking behind this project, see in Scroll.in. On our rice-growing programme, see '' inThe Indian Express. Publications include a special issue on for Global Food History (2023) and (Picador, 2023).
I will continue my work on food histories of Muslim South Asia during a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2024-27).
You can see me talk on in the McMillan Lecture Series at MIT (November 2023).
- Publications
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Books
- Elusive Lives: Gender, Autobiography, and the Self in Muslim South Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- . Stanford University Press.
- . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- . Routledge.
Edited books
- Special issue: 鈥楩orgotten Food Histories of South Asia': Global Food History, Volume 9, Issue 2..
- Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance and Autobiography in South Asia. New Delhi: Zubaan.
- Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia. Durham NC: Duke University Press.
- A Princess's Pilgrimage: Nawab Sikandar Begum's A Pilgrimage to Mecca. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
- Rhetoric and Reality: Gender and the Colonial Experience in South Asia. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Journal articles
- 鈥淗uman or not, everyone has their own habits and tastes鈥: food, identity and difference in Muslim South Asia. Global Food History.
- . Journal of the History of Sexuality, 23(2), 155-181.
- . Modern Asian Studies, 48(3), 569-595.
- . Journal of Women's History, 25(2), 61-84.
- . Gender, Place & Culture, 17(1), 115-128.
- Courtly Indian women in late imperial India. GENDER PLACE AND CULTURE, 17(1), 120-122.
- . Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature, 93(1), 183-199.
- . Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature, 90(1), 207-232.
- . Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature, 89(1), 204-230.
- The garden of the eight paradises: Babur and the culture of empire in central Asia, Afghanistan, and India (1483-1530).. JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES, 64(2), 491-492.
- . Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature, 88(1), 195-243.
- . Journal of Women's History, 16(2), 40-65.
- . Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature, 87(1), 191-224.
- . South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 26(2), 165-191.
- . Canadian Journal of History, 34(3), 497-498.
- Out of India: The Journeys of the Begam of Bhopal, 1901-1930. Women's Studies International Forum, 21(3), 293-309.
- Resurrecting Tilak Chandan: The Fall and Future Rise of Local Rice Varieties in North India. Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies.
Chapters
- , Muslim Women in Britain, 1850-1950 (pp. 159-180). Oxford University Press
- , Speaking of the Self (pp. 230-254). Duke University Press
- , Speaking of the Self (pp. 1-30). Duke University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. ix-xii). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 97-124). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 249-272). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 1-28). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 189-194). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 29-56). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 125-154). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 57-96). Stanford University Press
- , Elusive Lives (pp. 155-188). Stanford University Press
- In Murphy A & Mahn C (Ed.), Partition and the Practice of Memory (pp. 115-136). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- , India in Britain (pp. 64-79). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Palgrave Macmillan UK
- , Atiya's Journeys (pp. 1-10). Oxford University Press
- , Atiya's Journeys (pp. 49-61). Oxford University Press
- , Atiya's Journeys (pp. 17-42). Oxford University Press
- , Atiya's Journeys (pp. 83-96). Oxford University Press
- , Atiya's Journeys (pp. 65-78). Oxford University Press
- , Atiya's Journeys (pp. 100-105). Oxford University Press
- , Atiya's Journeys (pp. 109-216). Oxford University Press
- Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Muslim Women Write Their Journeys Abroad: A Bibliographic Essay In Bhattacharji S (Ed.), Travel Writing in India (pp. 28-39). Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
- , Behind the Veil (pp. 116-138). Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Subtle Subversions and Presumptuous Interventions: Reforming Women鈥檚 Health in Bhopal State In Ghosh A (Ed.), Behind the Veil: Resistance, Women and the Everyday in Colonial South Asia (pp. 116-138). Delhi: Permanent Black.
- VEILING AND SECLUSION, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. 100-+).
- STATE AND SOCIETY, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. 44-+).
- SCHOLARS AND SCHOOLS, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. 73-+).
- RIGHTS AND DUTIES, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. 144-+).
- MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. IX-+).
- MODELS AND INHERITANCES, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. 13-+).
- MEDICINE AND MOTHERHOOD, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. 124-+).
- MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal CONCLUSIONS, MUSLIM WOMEN, REFORM AND PRINCELY PATRONAGE - NAWAB SULTAN JAHAN BEGAM OF BHOPAL (pp. 176-+).
- Out of India: The Journeys of the Begam of Bhopal, 1901-1930 In Ballantyne T & Burton A (Ed.), Bodies in Contact: Rethinking Colonial Encounters in World History (pp. 293-309). Durham NC: Duke University Press.
- Introduction: A Princess Revealed, Memoirs of a Rebel Princess (pp. xiii-xxxix). Karachi: Oxford University Press.
- , Speaking of the Self (pp. 230-254). Duke University Press
- Routledge
- , Travel Writing in the Nineteenth Century (pp. 107-128). Anthem Press
Book reviews
- Review of M. Reza Pirbhai鈥檚 Fatima Jinnah: Mother of the Nation. H-Net Reviews, April 2020.
- Elusive Lives: Gender, Autobiography, and the Self in Muslim South Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Research group
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- White Rose South Asia Network
- Institute for Sustainable Food
- Migration Research Group
- Institute for Global Sustainable Development
- Centre for Contemporary and Modern History
Research supervision
I welcome research students and postdoctoral fellows interested in women鈥檚 history, Islam, autobiography, the culture of travel, education, food and/or princely states in modern South Asia.
- Completed Research Students
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- Maxmillian Drephal, 鈥楾he British Legation in Kabul: The Coloniality of Diplomacy in Independent Afghanistan, 1922-48鈥, (Loughborough University).
- Postdoctoral Fellows
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- Dr Mobeen Hussain, 鈥榃omen and Unani Tibb: Targets and Transmitters of Plural Health Systems, c. 1910-1970鈥 (Wellcome Trust Early Career Award, 2024-28)
- Dr Neha Vermani, 鈥楥urating Nature: Domestic Garden and Masculinity in Mughal South Asia鈥 (Newton International Fellowship, 2022-24)
- Dr Radha Kapuria,''Subverting Borders: Musicians, Nationalism and Memory in Punjab, 1947鈥1991' (Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship, 2019-22)
- Grants
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- Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship, September 2024-August 2027: Principal investigator for project entitled 鈥楢 Bountiful Spread: Eating and Etiquette in Muslim South Asia鈥
- GCRF-AHRC Project Grant, November 2019-April 2023: Principal investigator for collaborative research and impact project entitled 鈥楩orgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India鈥
- Sustainable Partnership Award, QR GCRF, May 2019-July 2021: Principal investigator for collaborative research and impact project entitled 鈥楢dvancing Female Literacy and Empowerment in Pakistan and India through Life Writing鈥
- Leverhulme Project Grant, The Leverhulme Trust, September 2015-August 2018: Principal investigator for collaborative research project entitled 鈥榁eiled Voyagers: Muslim Women Travellers from Asia and the Middle East鈥.
- Leverhulme Research Fellowship, The Leverhulme Trust, August 2013-August 2014: Principal investigator for project entitled 鈥楾he Self Unveiled: Autobiographical Writings by Muslim Women in South Asia鈥.
- Islamic Studies Network, Higher Education Authority, January 2011-January 2012: Principal investigator for project entitled 鈥楢ccessing Muslim Lives: Translating and Digitising Autobiographical Writings for Teaching and Learning鈥.
- International Research Network Grant, Arts and Humanities Research Council, January 2010-December 2011: Principal investigator for international research network entitled 鈥榃omen鈥檚 Autobiography in Islamic Societies: The Ultimate Unveiling?鈥
- Teaching interests
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Global, Islamic and South Asian history
- Teaching activities
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Undergraduate:
- HST117 - The Making of the Twentieth Century
- HST120 - History Workshop: Debating the British Empire
- HST21009 - Asian Britain: Travel, Migration, Diaspora
- HST3307 - Decolonising History: Empires, Colonialism and Power
Postgraduate:
- HST6066 - Autobiography, Identity and the Self in Muslim South Asia
- HST6606 - The World in Connection: Themes in Global History
- HST61019 - Worlds of Labour: Working Class Lives in Colonial South Asia
- HST61021: Food and Drink
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Co-editor, Gender & History
- Journal of Pakistan Women鈥檚 Studies 鈥 Member of Advisory Board
- Women and Society: Journal for the Centre for Women鈥檚 Studies, Aligarh Muslim University - Member of Advisory Board
Administrative roles:
My main administrative roles at the University of 91探花 are linked to the Department of History鈥檚 Research and Innovation Committee. I have acted as Departmental Director of Research (February 2018-August 2024) and, before that Deputy Director of Research (2015-16, autumn 2017). I have also fulfilled the roles of Impact Case Study Lead, Public Engagement Officer, Ethics Officer, Equality & Diversity Officer and Library Liaison Officer. I have sat on the steering committees for the Humanities Research Institute and the Centre for Contemporary and Modern History. I have been faculty liaison to the India Country Group and History liaison to the Institute for Global Sustainable Development, as well as a Department and Faculty Mentor to several early career staff. I have convened the MA in Global History and acted as a personal tutor to MA students. I also lead the White Rose South Asia Network.
- Public engagement
I have shown my commitment to public engagement with South Asian and Muslim history in a number of ways. Both of my challenge-focused research projects have supported a wide range of public activities in India and Pakistan, including a , heritage food festivals in Delhi and Bhopal and educational programmes for girls and women delivered through local NGOs. Popular publications from the projects include: , ed. Claire Chambers (Picador, 2021) (published in Pakistan by and in the UK by Beacon Books under the title ) and , ed. with Tarana Husain Khan and Claire Chambers (Picador, 2023). We have also produced a series of six (in English and Urdu) on inspirational Muslim women from South Asian history, a virtual rekhtigoi performance on , and a documentary entitled (dir. Yousuf Saeed). Video clips from our oral history programme are on the . My work with Mahashakti Seva Kendra is captured in a short and an for History Workshop's digital magazine.
With a grant from the Higher Education Academy and further funding from the Leverhulme Trust and 91探花's Arts Enterprise, I developed a new digital archive, 鈥樷, in collaboration with partners at the University of Oxford and Northwestern University. Though used primarily in higher education, it also enables the general public to explore the lives of men and women in the Muslim world from the sixteenth century to now through their autobiographical writings.
I have worked with in 91探花 to produce an immersive theatre and virtual performance based on my research entitled 'Veiled Voyagers - a Mahfil'. This project was showcased at Festival of the Mind 2018, Migration Matters 2019 and South Asian Heritage Month 2020. An audio play based on this performance is available . For Festival of the Mind 2022, I collaborated with students, digital studio and 91探花 Museums to create an interactive virtual display, 鈥極wnership and the Price of Empire鈥, on debates and dialogue around the repatriation of museum objects.
I have given a number of public talks, including at , , Bradford Literature Festival, , , Bloomsbury Festival in London, Faiz Festival in Lahore, the Sanchaari Sanskritik Parv in Allahabad, Planet to Plate, Migration Matters and Off the Shelf in 91探花. I have also delivered lectures for A-level students, and I am keen to pursue further links with schools, using the history of South Asians in Britain to facilitate discussion of multiculturalism and citizenship.
In the media:
I have also worked as a contributor and consultant on a number of historical documentary projects for the BBC and other television networks. Programmes on which I have appeared include 鈥楾he Maharara鈥檚 Motor Car: The Story of Rolls Royce in India鈥 and 鈥楬eir Hunters鈥.
I have also published journalistic pieces in the British and Indian press for magazines and newspapers, like City Limits, Outlook Traveller, The Hindustan Times, Quartz India and The Independent. Recent pieces include:
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