Shabnum Tejani

Dr. Shabnum Tejani is a Senior Lecturer in the History of Modern South Asia at the Department of History within the School of History, Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London. She holds a BA from Oberlin College and MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees from Columbia University. Her office is located in Russell Square: College Buildings, Room 314.

Her educational background includes:

• BA from Oberlin College
• MA, MPhil, and PhD from Columbia University

Dr. Tejani specializes in the nineteenth and twentieth century social and intellectual history of the Bombay Presidency, with particular focus on communalism and nationalism in India, and debates around secularism and religious intolerance. Her research examines how historical processes shaped religious identities, political movements, and social structures in colonial and post-colonial India. She approaches these topics through careful analysis of historical documents, intellectual debates, and social movements, providing nuanced perspectives on complex issues of identity, citizenship, and religious politics.

Dr. Tejani's scholarly output from 2007 to 2020 reveals a consistent focus on the historical development of secularism in India, examining its relationship with caste, religious identity, and political representation. Her work spans diverse topics including temple entry movements, cow protection politics, urban development in Bombay, and constitutional debates around religious minorities, demonstrating both chronological depth and thematic coherence in her research agenda.

Dr. Tejani actively supervises doctoral research, including:

• Mayukh Chakrabarty - "Cashing Lives: A History of Indian Life Insurance (1800 - 2000)"
• Kshitij Moon - "Being Men in the Shadow of Caste: A Social and Gender History of Masculinities in 20th-Century Maharashtra"