Neeti Nair

Neeti Nair is Professor of History at the University of Virginia, with affiliate faculty status in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She teaches courses on the Partition of India, blasphemy politics, and modern South Asian history.

• Ph.D. from Tufts University (2005)
• Specializes in modern South Asia, legal history, and transnational diplomacy

Her research explores secularism, belonging, and state ideology through case studies of the Gandhi assassination trial, Ayodhya mobilization, and Pakistani/Bangladeshi constitutional debates. She is author of award-winning monographs on Partition-era Hindu politics and postcolonial secularism.

Notable awards include the 2025 Association for Asian Studies Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize and multiple fellowships from NEH, Mellon Foundation, and Woodrow Wilson Center. Her 15+ peer-reviewed articles and edited special issues examine South Asian legal history, inter-religious politics, and postcolonial identity formation.

• 2025: Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize
• 2017-18, 2024-25: Woodrow Wilson International Center Fellow
• 2016-17: Frederick Burkhardt Fellow (ACLS)