Ian Barrow
Director of the Axinn Center for the Humanities, A. Barton Hepburn Professor of History
- Office
- Axinn Center 339
- Tel
- (802) 443-2554
- ibarrow@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- Spring 2025: Monday 10:00-12:00; Tuesday 11:00-12:00, and by appointment.
Ian Barrow is a historian of South Asia. He has written three books, most recently a history of the East India Company. His previous work focused on colonial mapping in India and Sri Lanka. He has won grants from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Institute of Indian Studies, the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies, the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies, the Social Science Research Council, and the J. B. Harley Research Fellowship program. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago, his M.A. in history from the University of Virginia, and his B.A. in the college of letters from Wesleyan University. He has served as the history department chair, the director of the South Asian Studies program, and the director of the International Studies program. Among other projects, he is currently writing on “assassination museums” in South Asia, meaning museums and memorials that have been established to honor the memory of assassinated leaders.
Courses Taught
FYSE 1034
Agatha Christie
Course Description
Agatha Christie
In this course we will explore the work and life of Agatha Christie, one of the world’s best mystery writers. We will read several of her novels published between the 1920s and 1950s, and place them in their social and political contexts. We will learn about prevailing class, race, and gender relations in Britain, imperial archaeology in the Middle East (Christie participated in, and wrote about, digs organized by her second husband), and the impacts of the two world wars. We will also explore the craft of mystery writing by presenting our own outline to a mystery. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
FYSE 1075
World War II
Course Description
World War II
In this course we will examine major leaders, ideologies, campaigns, and events of the Second World War. We will generally proceed chronologically and cover the following topics: the rise of totalitarian regimes; the causes of the war; the conquest of France and the Battle of Britain; the major campaigns in Eastern Europe and Asia; the Holocaust; D-Day; the atomic bomb; and the immediate post-war world. Sources will include primary materials housed in Middlebury College’s Special Collections, works of literature, histories, and films. Evaluation will be based on essays, presentations, and class participation.
Terms Taught
Requirements
HIST 0110
Upcoming
Modern South Asia
Course Description
Modern South Asia
This course is an introduction to the history of South Asia. We will examine such events as the remarkable rise and fall of the Mughal empire (1526-1700s), the transformation of the once-humble English East India Company into a formidable colonial state (1700s-1858), the emergence of nationalist and anti-imperialist movements led by people such as Mahatma Gandhi and M.A. Jinnah (1858-1947), and the establishment and recent histories of the new nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Readings will include primary sources, history textbooks, historical novels, and newspaper articles. We will also watch at least one historical film. Pre-1800. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
HIST 0240
History of Pakistan
Course Description
History of Pakistan
This course is a political and cultural history of Pakistan. Topics to be discussed include: the pre-independence demand for Pakistan; the partitioning of India in 1947; literary and cultural traditions; the power of the army in politics; the civil war that created Bangladesh; the wars with India; the wars in Afghanistan; the rise of Islamist parties and militant groups; the significance of the Taliban and al Qaeda; and Pakistan's relations with the US, China and India. Readings will include histories, autobiographies, novels, and newspaper and magazine accounts. Several documentary films will also be shown. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
HIST 0321
Upcoming
The 1940s
Course Description
The 1940s
The 1940s saw enormous and often violent change: a global, destructive war; ongoing privation after the formal end of hostilities; the intensification of national liberation movements; the founding of the United Nations and the establishment of a new global economic order; the beginnings of the Cold War; new artistic expressions; and the reconfiguration of sexual and cultural mores. In this course we will begin with an overview of the global scale of the second world war and, using a comparative approach, focus on examples of individual suffering. We will then study the war’s effects in select countries around the world. 3 hrs. lect. (No open to students who have already taken IGST/HIST 0473.)
Terms Taught
Requirements
HIST 0333
Science and Empire
Course Description
Science and Empire
In this course we will examine how science, medicine, and technology were used to create, manage, and justify empire. We will focus on the British empire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although the course will include comparisons to other European empires. We will also read critiques of colonial science and medicine, and learn how anti-colonial leaders and movements adapted and engineered technologies to help their efforts. (Counts for HSMT credit.)
Terms Taught
Requirements
HIST 0369
East India Company
Course Description
The East India Company
In this course you will be introduced to the English East India Company, from the 17th-century until its dissolution in 1858. Much of our focus will be on the Company’s presence in India, and we will pay particular attention to its transformation from a maritime trading company into a territorial colonial state. We will read a number of controversial texts from the period, immerse ourselves in the worlds of Company and Indian politics, and do guided research using holdings in Middlebury’s Special Collections. Topics will include the rise of the Company as a trading concern, its aggressive competition with other European trading monopolies and South Asian kingdoms, and the importance of opium in its dealings with China. We will end with a discussion of the Indian rebellion of 1857. (Not open to students who have taken HIST 1009) Pre-1800 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
HIST 0440
Current
South Asian Migrations
Course Description
South Asian Migrations
In this course we will learn about the history of migration from, within, and to South Asia. Topics to be discussed include colonial-era migrations of indentured laborers, traders, and soldiers; the refugee crisis at the partitioning of India in 1947; the return of Indians from Burma; the flight of Indians from Uganda; and the large-scale migrations of South Asians to Britain, the Gulf states, and the US. In addition to reading compelling histories, novels, and memoirs, students will write essays, deliver a presentation, learn digital humanities skills, and complete a public-facing research project. This course is part of the Axinn Center for the Humanities’ Mellon Foundation Public Humanities Initiative./
Terms Taught
Requirements
HIST 0500
Current
Upcoming
Special Research Projects
Course Description
Special research projects may only be taken during the Junior or Senior year, preferable after taking HIST 0600. Approval of department chair and project advisor is required.
Terms Taught
HIST 0600
History Research Seminar
Course Description
Writing History
In this course students discuss historical methods and writing strategies to create convincing historical narratives. With the approval and guidance of the professor, students complete a 20-25-page research paper based on primary and secondary sources. Students take this course in the fall of their junior year or with permission in the spring. If students are away for the entire junior year, they can take the course in the fall of their senior year. 3 hr. sem. Restricted to HIST, ESHI, HSMT majors and HIST minors.
Terms Taught
HIST 0700
Current
Upcoming
Senior Independent Study I
Course Description
Senior Independent Study I
The optional History Senior Thesis is written over two terms, with the final grade applying to both terms. Approval is required. Students submit thesis proposals in the spring before the year that they choose to write their thesis. Students generally begin their thesis in the fall and complete it during winter or spring. Approval is required to begin the thesis in winter or spring. All students must attend the Thesis Writer's Workshops in fall and winter semesters and work with a faculty advisor to complete a 55-70 page paper. Please see detailed guidelines under history requirements.
Terms Taught
HIST 0701
Current
Upcoming
Senior Independent Study II
Course Description
Senior Independent Study II
With departmental approval, senior history majors may write a two-term thesis under an advisor in the area of their choosing. The final grade is applied to both terms. Students must submit thesis proposals in the spring before the academic year that they choose to write their thesis. They must attend the Thesis Writers' Workshops held in the fall and winter of the academic year in which they begin the thesis. The department encourages students to write theses during the fall (0700) and winter terms (0701), but with the permission of the chair, fall/spring and winter/spring theses are also acceptable. Under exceptional circumstances, the department may approve a thesis initiated in the spring of an academic year and finished in the fall of the following year. Further information about the thesis is available from the department.
Terms Taught
IGST 0473
The 1940s
Course Description
The 1940s
The 1940s saw enormous and often violent change: a global, destructive war; ongoing privation after the formal end of hostilities; the intensification of national liberation movements; the founding of the United Nations and the establishment of a new global economic order; the beginnings of the Cold War; new artistic expressions; and the reconfiguration of sexual and cultural mores. In this course we will begin with an overview of the global scale of the second world war and, using a comparative approach, focus on examples of individual suffering. We will then study the war’s effects in select countries around the world. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
IGST 0500
Upcoming
EAS Independent Research
Course Description
East Asian Studies Independent Project
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
IGST 0501
Current
Upcoming
LAS Independent Project
Course Description
Latin American Studies Independent Project
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
IGST 0707
Current
Upcoming
SAS Senior Thesis
Course Description
South Asian Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
INTD 0500
Upcoming
Independent Study
Course Description
Independent Study
Approval Required
Terms Taught
Publications
Books:
The East India Company, 1600-1858: A Short History with Documents. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 2017.
Surveying and Mapping in Colonial Sri Lanka, 1800-1900. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Making History, Drawing Territory: British Mapping in India, c. 1756-1905. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Selected Articles:
‘Finding the Nation in Assassination: The Death of SWRD Bandaranaike and the Assertion of a Sinhalese Sri Lankan Identity,’ The Historian, Vol. 76, Issue 4, Winter 2014, 784-802.
‘The many meanings of the Black Hole of Calcutta,’ in Tall Tales and True: India, Historiography and British Imperial Imaginings, ed. by Kate Brittlebank, (Monash University Press, 2008) 7-18.
‘The Colonial Transition: South Asia, 1780-1840,’ co-written with Douglas E. Haynes, Modern Asian Studies (38:3, 2004), 469-478.
‘India for the Working Classes: The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,’ Modern Asian Studies (38:3, 2004), 677-702.
‘Surveying in Ceylon during the Nineteenth Century,’ Imago Mundi (55, 2003) 81-96.
‘From Hindustan to India: Naming Change in Changing Names,’ South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies (XXVI, 2003) 37-49.