Cassie Adcock

Cassie Adcock is an Associate Professor of History and South Asian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. She teaches courses on modern South Asia, religion and politics, and historical methodology. Her educational background includes a PhD from the University of Chicago and a BA from Bard College.

Her research examines intersections of religion, politics, and law in modern India, with particular focus on:

• Constructions of secularism and religious freedom
• Historical debates around religious conversion
• Cow protection movements and minority rights
• Colonial legal frameworks
• Arya Samaj reformist activities

She has received prestigious fellowships including from the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress and Fulbright programs. Her book The Limits of Tolerance: Indian Secularism and the Politics of Religious Freedom provides a critical history of how religious freedom became defined in opposition to proselytization in colonial India.