University of Oxford
Centre for Intellectual History
Search

Sana Shah

Placeholder Image
DPhil Student
Somerville College
DPhil Student
sana.shah@some.ox.ac.uk

Research Topic

History, memory and Identity in postcolonial nations

Supervisor: Dr Faridah Zaman

 

Research Interests

 

My research aims to study the relationship between history and memory in configuring political identity, in the aftermath of and as a consequence of the collapse of the empire and the rescission of colonial rule from India. I further attempt to explore what kind of challenges does this relationship raises for the enterprise of history-writing. The questions involved have a bearing on the conception of the nation-state as a product of colonialism, which catapults a project of homogenisation on the one hand and the adoption of the liberal paradigm on the other hand to accommodate differences based on identity. I employ a diverse set of methods for this study, ranging from archival method to textual analysis based on close readings, as well as oral-history interviews with cultural interlocutors and a set of visual methods. 

In addition to this, there are a range of issues and questions of interest that I engage with in different capacities. Prior to beginning my studies at Oxford, I completed an MPhil degree in Political theory as a Junior Research Fellow from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. My dissertation analysed the question of religious diversity within liberal paradigm and different modes for governance of religious diversity, including the United Kingdom, India, the United States and France. The study, focusing on Locke, Mill, and Rawls,  pivoted on the history of three major political forces: colonialism, enlightenment and modernity, to trace the history of religious accommodation, its development in political thought and how it drives community relations, which may be captured through public and community histories. I carried this interest as a research query further which led me to take up the role of Research Assistant with the community history project 'A Muslim History of Oxford', a collaborative research project between the History Faculty  and  Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative (EMHAI).  

I am also interested in issues in political theory and traditions and its intersections with philosophy of history and questions in knowledge-production. Alongside my doctoral work, I have been developing a broader research agenda on the methodological foundations of political theory and democratic governance in South Asia, particularly how theory emerges through historical and political contestation rather than as a fixed canon and finds its way into democratic practices. My work is historically grounded but centrally engages with questions in political theory, and it sits at the intersection of political theory, philosophy of history, and postcolonial thought. 

Besides these research interests and projects, I am keen to work for supporting Research & Learning, particularly for students studying Social Sciences & Humanities at public institutions in non-metropolitan regions. To this end, I and some of my colleagues and friends have designed a non-profit initiative called the 'Kashf Initiative'. 

 

Selected Book Reviews

Selected Academic & Press Publications

Selected Paper Presentations:

  • Paper presentation, co-authored and co-presented with Monika (University of Cambridge), on 'Uses and Abuses of the Decolonial' at University of Warwick, 17th May 2025.

  • Paper presentation, supported by Alan Hodge Fund, Somerville College, at the International Network for theory of history international conference on History and Responsibility, organised at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, 22nd of May to 24th of May 2024.

  • Paper presentation at the international, inter- and transdisciplinary conference on 'The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 75: Rethinking and Constructing its Future Together' from 6 to 8 December 2023 at Ghent University, Belgium
  • Paper presentation at the Achievements and perspectives of cultural and social memory research, Technical University of Berlin, Germany, 27th to 29th September 2023, supported by MCR Development Grant, Somerville College.

  • Paper presentation at the 7th Annual Memory Studies Association Conference, Newcastle, United Kingdom, 3rd July to 7th July 2023.

  • Paper presentation at the History of Memory and Emotions Workshop, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom on 6th of March 2023.

  • Paper presentation with Jigyasa Sogarwal at the International Memory Studies Conference on Memory in a Digital Age, organized by Centre for Memory Studies,  Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, from 23rd to 25th August,  2022.

  • Paper presentation with Aishwarya Bhattacharyya at the International Conference on Memory in Transition: Intersections, Contestations, Futures, organized by Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal, from 3 to 5 March, 2022. 

  • Paper Presentation with Aishwarya Bhattacharyya at Eighth Annual Paris Islamophobia Conference on France's "Separatism" Trope and the Colonial Present, under the aegis of Islamophobia Studies Centre, Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, Centre for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley, January 2022. 

  • Paper presentation at the ECR conference, International Actors and the contestations of liberal democracy, organised by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile's Institute of Political Science, The Cluster of Excellence, "Contestation of the Liberal Script" and the Pontificia Universidad Católica do Rio de Janeiro's Institute of International Relations, March 2021.

Roles: 

 

Features:

 
Region South Asia