I am Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, and I also hold appointments at the Institute for Globalization and the Human Condition and Centre for Global Peace, Justice and Health. My work focuses on imperialism, race, and anticolonialism in 18th-20th century political thought. In recent years, I’ve been particularly interested in South Asian intellectual history, comparative political theory, and the intersection of natural and human sciences. I teach courses on anticolonial and decolonial theory, liberalism and empire, Marxism, grassroots democracy, Indian political thought, and Gandhi's politics, though the list changes regularly.
I’m currently working on two projects. The first, Evolution Against Empire, considers how colonized thinkers and dissidents drew on Darwinian evolutionism to resist imperialism, colonialism, and racial supremacism at the turn of the 20th century. Over a book-length treatment, I excavate the political thought of anti-imperialists appealing to Darwinism to undermine the theoretical foundations and political practices of empire. The second, Gandhi’s Politics of Service, examines the concept of service (seva) in Mohandas K. Gandhi’s political thought. While most political theory on Gandhi focuses on the critical aspects of his anticolonialism – satyagraha campaigns, nonviolent civil disobedience – I recover his constructive vision of a decolonized India. Relatedly, I am working on a new co-edited collection of Gandhi’s political writings. The first project is supported by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, the second, by a SSHRC Insight Grant.
My book, Liberalism, Diversity and Domination: Kant, Mill and the Government of Difference, investigates how different strands of liberal political theory respond to race, imperialism, and gender. My research has also appeared in journals such as the American Political Science Review, Perspectives on Politics, Modern Intellectual History, Polity, Constellations, and History of Political Thought.
I received my PhD from the University of Toronto and was Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago prior to joining McMaster.
