Research and Publications
Dr. Sherman's research concerns the cultural and political history of India in the transition from colonial rule to independence in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Her research explores conceptions of citizenship, belonging and the idea of the minority in Indian politics; Arab and Afghan migration to and from India; early postcolonial democracy and the first elections; language politics, multilingualism and the creation of linguistic states; and violence and criminal justice in South Asia. Her current project uses archival resources from the former princely state of Hyderabad (Deccan), as well as from the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to explore these issues in South India.
Dr. Sherman returned to the LSE in 2010. She studied International Relations and History at the LSE for her undergraduate degree, and then completed her doctoral work, entitled, 'The Politics of Punishment and State Violence in India', at Cambridge University. In 2004 she was awarded a Harry Frank Guggenheim Dissertation Fellowship for this research. She began her academic career teaching Extra-European History at Cambridge, and before moving to the LSE, she held a post as AHRC Research Fellow at Royal Holloway University of London, on a collaborative research project entitled, 'From Subjects to Citizens: Society and the Everyday State in India and Pakistan, 1947-64'.
Her first book, State Violence and Punishment in India (Routledge, 2010), was both a study of the many techniques of state coercion and a cultural history of the ways in which Indians imbue practices of punishment with their own meaning, and re-interpret acts of state violence in their own political campaigns. She is currently working on a manuscript for a monograph on the postcolonial history of Hyderabad State and South India with the working title, 'Anxieties of Belonging: Citizenship and the Idea of the Minority in Postcolonial South India, 1948-56'.
Click here for more on publications by Dr Taylor Sherman|
Teaching and Supervision
Dr Sherman's teaching at the LSE reflects the research interests outlined above. She teaches the following courses:
At undergraduate level:
HY113: From Empire to Independence: the Extra-European World in the Twentieth Century| (taught jointly with other members of staff in the Department)
HY117: Rule Britannia: Britain and Empire from 1780 to the Present Day| (taught jointly with other members of staff in the Department)
HY233: Empire and Nation: Britain and India since 1750|
At Master's level:
HY423: Empire, Colonialism and Globalisation| (taught jointly with other members of staff in the Department)
HY433: Cultural Encounters from the Renaissance to the Modern World| (taught jointly with other members of staff in the Department)
HY509: Contemporary International History Seminar| (taught jointly with other members of staff in the Department)
Contact Details
Office: Room EAS:E601
Telephone: 020 7107 5002
Email Address: t.c.sherman@lse.ac.uk|
Office Hours
Monday, 15:30-16:30 and
Wednesday, 12:00-13:00