Historical Legacies and Ethnic Conflict: Evidence from 12 Centuries of Hindu-Muslim Violence in India

Ajay Verghese is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. His research is focused on Indian politics, ethnicity, political violence, and historical legacies. His book, The Colonial Origins of Ethnic Violence in India, was published by Stanford University Press in 2016. From 2017-18 he will be a Fulbright scholar in India to study the effects of socioeconomic development on Hindu and Muslim religiosity. This lecture will address a key topic of relevance to South Asia: it will explore how historical legacies shape contemporary Hindu-Muslim riots in India. It covers a key gap in our curriculum, especially pertaining to political science.

Sponsors: South Asian Studies Program, Political Science Department, Department of Religion, and Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs