Somak Biswas

Dr. Somak Biswas is an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge and a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow, specializing in the history of race, sexuality, and migration in twentieth-century Britain and South Asia.

His educational background includes:

• MA and MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
• PhD from the University of Warwick, UK

Dr. Biswas's research critically examines how HIV/AIDS shaped British border practices and Black/South Asian activism, alongside western Indophilia's role in reproducing caste, class, and gender hierarchies through guru-disciple relationships. His work bridges cultural history, imperial studies, and transnational queer politics, emphasizing marginalized voices in postcolonial contexts.

Recent publications reveal three key trajectories: 1) Historical intersections of race/sexuality in health crises, 2) Transnational religious movements between South Asia and the West, and 3) Contemporary queer resistance under authoritarian regimes.

His scholarly recognition includes:

• Gladstone Book Prize 2024 (Royal Historical Society) for Passages through India

As a Wellcome Trust Fellow, he leads an independent HIV/AIDS border practices project. He convenes the MPhil module 'Race and Empire in Modern British History' and co-runs the Labour History Cluster, mentoring early-career researchers in imperial labour studies while teaching Part IA papers O7, O9, and O11.

He actively shapes collaborative scholarship through the Labour History Cluster, which connects scholars examining global labour movements across colonial and postcolonial contexts.