Manas Dutta, PhD is Assistant Professor in the Department of History in the Aliah University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India and his current area of research covers issues related to War and Conflict in South Asia, with a special focus on Civil-Military relations in the Global South. Along with this, he is also investigating, as part of his recent research on War and Genocide Studies, on the involvement of native Indian Soldiers in the First World War, with a special emphasis on their performance in the Western Front. He has received the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship (CWIT) for collecting research materials in the British Library, United Kingdom in 2016. In 2018, he has been awarded the Summer Research Fellowship in the Institute of Critical Social Inquiry (ICSI) in the New School for Social Research, New York, USA. He has been one of the co-Investigators of  the major Project titled, ‘New Social Movements, Media and Civil Society in Contemporary India: Paradigm Shifts in Public Protest and Political Mobilization’ under the aegis of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi since 2016 and received research project grants from the Nazrul Centre for Social and Cultural Studies (NCSCS), Kazi Nazrul University, West Bengal and from the Aliah University for doing research on ‘Nazrul and War-front’ and ‘Bengali and Muslim Soldiers and the First World War’ respectively in 2020.

He is one of the editorial members of the Kairos, A Journal of Critical Symposium. He is also a part of the Postcolonial Studies Association of the Global South (PSAGS). He has contributed in journals such as Contemporary South Asia, History and Sociology of South Asia, Economic and Political Weekly, Indian Historical Review, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, International Bibliography of Military History and Historiography, Journal of Defence Studies, Journal of Military History.

Education

M.A. in History and PhD.

Teaching Experience

More than 10 years.

Field of Specialization

Indian History, Military History of South Asia, History of Dalit Studies and History of Science, Technology, Medicine and Environment in South Asia.

Research Area

Indian History and Military History of South Asia

Experience

More than 10 years.

Conference Papers Published

“Understanding the Social Complexities in the Madras Army, 1807-1858” paper presented at the Indian History Congress at Gour Bangha University, Feb 2011 and published in the Proceedings of IHC in the Modern India Section. ISSN: 2249-1937

“Discipline and Punishment of the Madras Army under Colonial period, 1752-1760” paper presented at the Indian History Congress at Panjabi University, Patiala, Feb 2012 published in the proceedings of Indian History Congress volume in Modern India Section. ISSN: 2249-1937

Bharat Itihase Adhunik kale Samarik Itihas Charcha: Ekti Alochana”, (Bengali) published in the Itihas Anusandhan-28 (Proceedings of the Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad, ISBN: 978-81-910874-4-4

Journal Papers Published

“Disciplining the Madras Army During the Early Years of the English East India Company’s Dominance in South India”, The Societal Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2012, ISSN: 2029-2236 (Print), 2029-2244 (Online)

“The Madras Presidency Army: Recruitment Doctrine and Training Mechanism, 1800-1857”, The Inclusive, Vol.1, Issue 1, 2012, ISSN: 2278-9758

“Revisiting the Role of the Paraiyans in the Madras Presidency Army, c. 1801-1894”, The Inclusive,Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2012

 “Revisiting the Historiography of the Madras Presidency Army, 1801-1858”, Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 13, Issue 4, 2013, ISSN: 2279-0845

 “Bharat Itihase Adhunik kale Samarik Itihas Charcha: Ekti Alochana”, (Bengali) published in the Itihas Anusandhan-28 (Proceedings of the Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad, ISBN: 978-81-910874-4-4

 “The Concept of ‘New Military History’: Brief Analysis and Opportunities” published in the Indian Journal of Multidisciplinary Academic Research (IJMAR), Research and Consultancy Cell, Malda College, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2014 (January), ISSN: 2347-9884

 “Revisiting the Recommendations of the Peel Commission (1858) and the Reorganization of the Indian Army”, Exploring History, Vol. No. 2014 (June), ISSN: 2230-8490

 “Recruitment Doctrine and training Mechanism of the Black Troops in the Madras Army, 1752-1857”, The Calcutta Historical Journal, Vol. XXXI, No. 2, 2015.

 “Science and Environment: Exploring Criteria for a New Discipline”, Crossroads: The Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2015, ISSN: 2395-5864.

 “The Army as a Tool for Social Uplift: The Experience of the Paraiyans in the Madras Presidency Army, 1770-1895”, Social Scientist, Vol.44, Nos. 3-4, 2016, ISSN: 0970-0293

 “Political Turbulences and the Rebelliousness of the Madras Presidency Army: An Introspection of the Great Uprising of 1857 in Colonial South India” Indian Historical Review, (Sage), Vol. 43, No. 1, 2016, ISSN: 0376-9836 (Print), 0975-5977 (On line)

  “Exploring the Dynamics of Social Composition and Recruitment Procedures of Madras Army, 1807-1861”, History and Sociology of South Asia (Sage), Vol. 11, No. 1, 2017.

 “A Parliament for Elephants: Encroachment, Laws and Animal Rights”, along with Tirthankar Ghosh, Cafe Dissensus, Issue 41(Humanimal and the Planet Earth), December 31, 2017

Books Published

1. Ashim Kumar Sarkar, Kaushik Chakraborty and Manas Dutta (eds.), Modernity of India: Ambiguities and Deformities, Setu, Kolkata, 2014, ISBN: 978-93-80677-68-2

2. Ashim Kumar Sarkar, Kaushik Chakraborty and Manas Dutta (eds.), Prachalito Itihaser Baire: Banglar Ek A-Chartito Chalchitro, Readers Service, Kolkata, 2014, ISBN: 978-93-82623-35-9

Awards

Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) Grants, 2016

Foreign Travel Grants, Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), 2016

Summer Felowship, in the New School for Social Research, NewYork, USA, 2018

Ph.D. Thesis Guidance

Currently three research scholarls are working under my supervision.

M.Phil. Thesis Guidance

Two M.Phil Dissertations has been guideb by me.

MASTER Thesis Guidance

Three Master Thesis has been guided so far.

Project Works

1.  Co-Investigator of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) sponsored research project entitled, “New Social Movements, Media and Civil Society in Contemporary India: Paradigm Shifts in Public Protest and Political Mobilization”. The sanctioned amount of this project is Rs. 21, 00,000.  

2. Principal Investigator of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) sponsored research project entitled, “The Native and the Coloniser’s War: Exploring the Indian Soldier’s Contribution in the Great War (1914-1918)”. The sanctioned amount of this project is Rs. 1, 50,000.

3. Principal Investigator of the Minor Research Project entitled, ‘Remembering the Brave: Exploring the contribution of Muslim and Bengali Soldiers of Colonial India in the Great War, 1914-1918’. The project has been sanctioned by the Aliah University (Memo No.: AU/REG/0254/20: Dated: 14.02.2020) and the sanction amount of this project is Rs. 46,000.

Invited Lectures

1. Delivered lecture on Relocating the recent Trends in Indian History: Opportunities and Further Possibilities lecture delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Sikshamandira, Belur Math on November 28, 2014

2. Delivered lecture on Local History: Recent Trends lecture delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Sikshamandira, Belur Math on April 28, 2015

3. Revisiting the Great Mutiny of 1857 in colonial India special lecture delivered at the Ramananda Centenary College, Purulia on April 7, 2017

4. Paper on Fighting for King and Another Country: Exploring the Indian Soldier’s Contribution in the Great War, 1914-1918 delivered in the International Conference titled,  ‘India and World War One: A Centennial Commemoration to Remember Indian Soldiers’ organised by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, on November 27-28, 2018

5. Lecture delivered on the theme titled, ‘Effeminate’ in the Warfront?: Exploring the Contribution of the Bengalee Soldiers in the Great War, 1914-1918 special lecture in the Gour College, Malda on January 18, 2019

6. Lecture delivered on the theme entitled, Fighting for the ‘Other’: Exploring the Indian Soldier’s Contribution in the Great War, 1914-1918 special lecture in the Malda Women’s College, Malda on January 19, 2019

Membership Of Learned Societies

1. Life Member, Indian History Congress

2. Life Member, Paschimbanga Itihas Samity

3. Life Memebr,Itihas Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh

4. Member, Postcolonial Studies Association of the Global South (PSAGS)

5. Founding Member, Kolkata Centre for Contemporary Studies (KCCS)

Seminar/Conference/Workshop

1. The Attitudes of the British Army Officers towards the Paraiyans (Lower Caste) in the Madras Army, 1807-1895 in the National Conference titled, ‘Locating Modernity and its Parameter: Perspective India (1556-2000)’ organised by the Post-Graduate Department of History in collaboration with the Department of History, Vidyasagar University on January 21-22, 2013

2. The Mutiny at the Margin: Revisiting the Barrackpore Mutiny of 1824 in Bengal Presidency in the National Conference titled, ‘Popular Uprisings in India with Special Reference to Tamil Nadu, 1750-1850’ organised by the C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer Institute of Indological Studies, Madras and the Indian Council of Historical Studies, New Delhi on January 9-10, 2015

3. Discovering the Less Heard Voices: Medical Women and the Healthcare System in the First World war, 1914-18 in the International Conference entitled, ‘The Great War (1914) in Memories and Letters’ organised by the Post-Graduate Department of History and English, Malda College and the Indian Council of Historical Studies on April 16-17, 2015

4. Addressing Gender Discrimination and Initiating Women Empowerment: A Case for Indian Army in the College Level Seminar titled, ‘Addressing Gender Discrimination and Initiating Women Empowerment’ organised by the Post Graduate Department of English, Malda College, May 5, 2015

5. Exploring the Discriminating Question: Women and the Indian Army in the State Level Seminar on, ‘Existence of Discrimination among the Men, Women and Third Sex: Historical Background and Present day Reality’ organised by the Panchokot Mahavidyalaya, Purulia on January 5, 2017 (Resource person)

6. Fighting for King and Another Country: Exploring the Indian Soldier’s Contribution in the Great War, 1914-1918 in the International Conference titled, ‘World War 100: A Centennial Symposium’ organised by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA on October, 27-28, 2017.