History Colloquium: “Surra and the Emergence of Tropical Veterinary Medicine in Colonial India”

Professor Hevia is an historian of empire and imperialism in eastern and central Asia, primarily focused on the British Empire in India and southeast Asia and the Qing empire in China. His research has addressed the causes and justifications for conflict; how empire in Asia became normalized within Europe through markets, exhibitions, and various forms of public media; and how the events of the nineteenth century are remembered in contemporary China. This work resulted in two books, both published by Duke University Press: Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793 (1995) and English Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century China (2003). His more recent work is about how the British in India developed and became dependent upon the production of useful knowledge about populations and geography to maintain their Asian empire. The first part of this project is about military intelligence and is published in The Imperial Security State: British Colonial Knowledge and Empire-building in Asia (Cambridge, 2012). The second part of the project addresses military logistics, the uses of pack animals in warfare, and the physical transformation of the Punjab as a resource for supporting a security regime in northwest India. The paper that he will be discussing, which can be found in attachment, is from this project.

History Colloquium:

“Surra and the Emergence of Tropical Veterinary Medicine in Colonial India”

James Hevia, Department of History, University of Chicago

Monday, March 28, 3:00-5:00, Carr 229

A reception will follow

We will also be doing a pro-seminar on with Professor Hevia with HIS702 at 6:30-9:00 the same evening on The Imperial Security State: British Colonial Knowledge and Empire-building in Asia (Cambridge, 2012). Dinner will be served. RSVP to Bruce Hall, Associate Professor of History at Duke University, at bh71@duke.edu.