History Department Staff
Head of Department
Undergraduate Tutor
Admissions Tutor
MA Convenor
Research Tutor
Daud Ali
Senior Lecturer in Early Indian History
History of medieval South India: courtly culture in early medieval India
- Tel: 020 7898 4627
- Email: da7@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 303
T H Barrett
Professor of East Asian History
History of Chinese religion, notably Taoism and Buddhism; pre-modern Chinese history, especially the Tang period
- Tel: 020 7898 4765
- Email: tb2@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 330A
- On Sabbatical:2009/10
Ian Brown
Professor of Economic History of SE Asia
The modern economic and political history of South East Asia; the economic impact of the inter-war depression on South East Asia
- Tel: 020 7898 4607
- Email: ib@soas.ac.uk
Michael W. Charney
Senior Lecturer in the History of South East Asia
The social, cultural, and intellectual history of Buddhist South East Asia, warfare in non-Western societies, and transport (especially railways) and information technology in colonial South East Asia
- Tel: 020 7898 4612
- Email: mc62@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 325
- Office Hours: Thursdays, 2-3pm
William Gervase Clarence-Smith
Professor of the Economic History of Asia and Africa
History of Islam, sexuality, diasporas, slavery, stimulants, rubber, livestock and textiles, with special reference to Maritime South East Asia
- Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4608
- Email: wc2@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 314
- Office Hours: On leave Sept 09-Aug 10
Frank Dikötter
Professor of Modern Chinese History
Social and cultural history of modern China
- Tel: 020 7898 4623
- Email: fd3@soas.ac.uk
Wayne Dooling
Senior Lecturer in African History
Early colonial South African history; slavery and emancipation in the Cape Colony
- Tel: 020 7898 4628
- Email: wd2@soas.ac.uk
Benjamin Fortna
Senior Lecturer in the Modern History of the Middle East
Modern Middle Eastern History, the late Ottoman empire, late Ottoman education and literature
- Tel: 020 7898 4632
- Email: bf7@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 304
Nelida Fuccaro
Lecturer in Modern History of the Arab Middle East
Modern Middle Eastern history, especially Iraq, Persian Gulf and Syria; urban social history; colonialism, ethnicity and nationalism; Kurdish history
- Tel: 020 7898 4618
- Email: nf2@soas.ac.uk
Christopher Gerteis
Lecturer in the History of Contemporary Japan
Modern and Contemporary Japanese history. Social and cultural history of the 20th century, especially the intersection of consumer capitalism and historical memory.
- Tel: 020 7898 4093
- Email: cg24@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 305
- Office Hours: Mon: 12:00-13:00; Wed: 11:30-12:30; and by appt
Konrad Hirschler
Senior Lecturer in the History of the Near and Middle East
Cultural and social history of the premodern Middle East; historiography; history of reading; Crusades in the Middle East
- Tel: 020 7898 4602
- Email: kh20@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 323
- Office Hours: Tuesdays 15:00-16:00 (and by appointment)
Andrea Janku
Senior Lecturer in the History of China
China, Social and Cultural History; The Early Press and the History of Communication; Environmental History
- Tel: 020 7898 4636
- Email: aj7@soas.ac.uk
Sunil Kumar
Reader in the History of Mediaeval India
History of medieval South India: courtly culture in early medieval India
- Tel: 020 7898 4625
- Email: sk114@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 309
- Office Hours: Mondays 11:30 – 13:00 and by appointment
Lars Laamann
Lecturer in the History of China
Popular religions in early modern China (16th-20th cc); Christianity in china (18th-20th cc); Opium and other narcotics (18th-20th cc); Manchu history (16th-20th cc)
- Tel: 020 7898 4634
- Email: ll10@soas.ac.uk
Angus Lockyer
Lecturer in the History of Japan
Modernisation and modernity in Japan; world’s fairs, international and industrial exhibitions
- Tel: 020 7898 4626
- Email: al21@soas.ac.uk
Tom McCaskie
Professor of African History
History and culture of Asante and Africa; comparative history; history of ideas; historiography
- Tel: 020 7898 4606
- Email: tm2@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 311b
John Parker
Senior Lecturer in the History of Africa
Early modern and modern West African history, especially social and political history of Ghana
- Tel: 020 7898 4635
- Email: jp23@soas.ac.uk
Richard Reid
Reader in the History of Africa
Warfare in Eastern Africa; Politics of the Horn
- Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4774
- Email: rr15@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 321
Peter Robb
Professor of the History of India
The history of modern South Asia; early Calcutta, c.1780-1830, Indian agrarian history, especially Bihar and Eastern India.
- Tel: 0207 898 4614
- Email: pr4@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 4411
Mandy Sadan
Lecturer in the History of South East Asia
Ethnicity and conflict in mainland South East Asia, cultural production, non-national histories of Eastern Himalayas and South East Asian Massif and the South, South East and East Asian borderworlds of Burma
- Tel: 020 7898 4622
- Email: ms114@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 311a
Shabnum Tejani
Lecturer in the History of Modern South Asia
Nineteenth and twentieth century social and intellectual history, particularly of the Bombay Presidency; communalism and nationalism in India; debates around secularism and religious intolerance
- Tel: 020 7898 4613
- Email: st40@soas.ac.uk
Heidi Walcher
Lecturer in the History of the Near and Middle East
Political and social history of 19th century Iran; Qajar urban history
- Tel: 020 7898 4662
- Email: hw15@soas.ac.uk
Teaching Fellows
Arshi Khan
Senior Teaching Fellow
Islamisation in Pakistan, Effectiveness of Zakat, Zia era
- Tel: 020 7898 4627
- Email: ak94@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 303
- Office Hours: Wednesdays from 5-6pm
George Lane
Senior Teaching Fellow in the History of the Middle East and Central Asia
Specialization the Ilkhanate. Interested in Iran's relations with Yuan China and development of Toluid Mongol rule.
- Tel: 020 7898 4285
- Email: gl1@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 301
Rhiannon Stephens
Senior Teaching Fellow
Early African History, gender, kinship, reproduction, poverty, Uganda, Great Lakes, historical linguistics.
- Tel: 020 7898 4605
- Email: rs91@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 307
- Office Hours: Friday 11-12
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Valentina Boretti
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
- Tel: 020 7898 4603
- Email: vb16@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 4416
Bhangya Bhukya
British Academy Visiting Fellow
Modern South Asian history
- Email: bb22@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 4408
- Office Hours: 10.00 am to 5.00 pm on all working days
Research Associates
Nur Masalha
Professorial Research Associate
Modern Middle Eastern history and politics; Holy Land studies
- Email: nm59@soas.ac.uk
James R Brennan
Research Associate
History of urbanisation and nationalism in modern East Africa; Indian ocean diasporas
- Email: jb2@soas.ac.uk
Raquel Reyes
Research Associate
Historical perspectives on sexuality in the Philippines and South East Asia; medicine, culture and society in the colonial Philippines; Philippine literature in the 19th and 20th centuries. British Academy-funded project – Scientific Reason and Sexual Knowledge in 19th century Philippines.
- Tel: 020 7898 4590
- Email: rr14@soas.ac.uk
Emeritus Staff
G R Hawting
Emeritus Professor
Pre-modern Islamic and Middle Eastern history; the origins and early development of Islam in the Middle East
- Email: gh@soas.ac.uk
Avril A Powell
Emeritus Reader
Islam in South Asia; Mughal history; Muslim-Christian relations
- Email: ap5@soas.ac.uk
