Ian Talbot is Emeritus Professor in the History of Modern South Asia at the University of Southampton, where he was formerly Head of the History Department and Founding Director of the Centre for Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies. He completed his undergraduate studies at Royal Holloway, University of London where he received a BA (First Class Honours) in Modern History, Economic History and Politics. He also received an MA in History from the University of Oxford and a PhD in History from the University of London.
His current research interests focus on the Environmental History of South Asia. His previous research was on British diplomacy in Pakistan. He completed the research and writing up of this study whilst holding a Fellowship at Harvard in 2018. The work was published by Routledge in 2021 under the title of The History of British Diplomacy in Pakistan. Ian Talbot has written extensively on the themes of the colonial Punjab, the Partition of India, and the political history of Pakistan. His works on Partition include Divided Cities: Partition and Its aftermath in Lahore and Amritsar 1947-1957 (OUP 2006); and The Partition of India (with Gurharpal Singh, CUP 2009). His first major publication, Punjab and the Raj (Manohar 1988) set the region’s division in the wider sweep of colonial administration of the province. The study has been republished in 2020 in the Manohar Classics series. His works on Pakistan include, Pakistan: A Modern History (Hurst 2009) and Pakistan: A New History (Hurst, 2012). Recent Publications include, The History of British Diplomacy in Pakistan (Routledge 2021); A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas (Yale 2016) and (with Tahir Kamran) Lahore in the Time of the Raj (Penguin, 2016); The History of British Diplomacy in Pakistan (Routledge, 2021).
Ian Talbot can provide mentoring and expertise in all the above areas of his research specialisms.
Research Interests:
My key interests are the environmental history of South Asia, the history of British and US public diplomacy in Pakistan, the history of the colonial Punjab, the 1947 Partition of India, the history of Pakistan and the urban environmental history in modern South Asia.
Publications:
The History of British Diplomacy in Pakistan (Routledge, 2021)
Routledge Handbook of Autocratization in South Asia
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