Dr. Rajeshwari Dutt

Phone: 01905-237919, +91-862-797-4032
Email: rdutt[at]iitmandi[dot]ac[dot]in
Address: School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Mandi, VPO Kamand, District Mandi, HP, India - 175005
Rajeshwari Dutt

Bio

I am a historian of nineteenth-century Latin America and the Caribbean, with a particular interest in how empire has shaped narratives and infrastructure across the Americas. My forthcoming book examines the failed quest for a Nicaragua Canal, highlighting a central paradox: dreams of interoceanic connection were built on—and ultimately undone by—the fractured foundations of imperial rivalry and racial exclusion. Beyond my focus on the Americas I also work in Global History and especially Global South Asia examining the circulation of ideas and peoples that knit distant places together. In the classroom, I’m excited to introduce engineering students to history and to use visual texts—maps, paintings, and technical drawings—to make the past vivid for undergraduates.

Research Interests

  • Latin American history and culture
  • Indigenous and agrarian studies
  • Social and cultural history
  • Comparative India and Latin America
  • Imperial and global history
  • Borderlands, race, and empire

Education

  • Ph.D. in Social and Cultural History, Carnegie Mellon University, USA, 2012
  • M.A. in History, Carnegie Mellon University, USA, 2007
  • M. Phil. Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, India, 2005
  • B.A. Franklin and Marshall College, PA, USA, magna cum laude, 2004

Appointments

  • Associate Professor, IIT Mandi (2021–present)
  • Chair, SHSS, IIT Mandi (2015–2020)
  • Assistant Professor, IIT Mandi (2012–2021)
  • Instructor, Carnegie Mellon University (2012)

Courses Taught

  • Tribal India, Indigenous Latin America
  • Mayan America
  • Introduction to World History
  • Technology and World History
  • Research Writing
  • Research Methodology
  • The Historian's Craft
  • History of Development Thought

Books

India in the World

Dutt, Rajeshwari and Nico Slate eds. (2023)
India in the World: 1500 to the Present.
Routledge.

Empire on Edge

Dutt, Rajeshwari (2020)
Empire on Edge: The British Struggle for Order in Belize during Yucatán’s Caste War, 1847-1901.
Cambridge University Press.

Maya Caciques

Dutt, Rajeshwari (2017)
Maya Caciques in Early National Yucatán.
University of Oklahoma Press.

Journal Articles & Book Chapters

  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2024), “The Tweed Venture: The Language of Freedom and British Informal Empire on the Mosquito Shore,” Journal of Transatlantic Studies.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2023), “Emancipation and Imperialism in a Borderland: The Challenge to Settler Sovereignty over Slavery in Belize in the 1820s,” The Americas, 80 (1).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2023), “The News of 1857: The Indian Uprising and Belize during Yucatán's Caste War” in Rajeshwari Dutt and Nico Slate eds. (2023) India in the World: 1500 to the Present. Routledge.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2022), “Christie’s House: The Benefits of Mining for Failures in the Nineteenth Century,” Global Nineteenth-Century Studies, 1 (1).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2019), “Art in the Teaching of World History in the STEM Classroom: India's Institutes of Technology as a Case Study,” World History Connected.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2019), “Loyal Subjects at Empire’s Edge: Hispanics in the Vision of a Belizean Colonial Nation, 1882-1898,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 99 (1).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2017), “Business as Usual: Maya and Merchants on Yucatán-Belize border at the Onset of the Caste War,” The Americas, 74 (2).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2014), “Crossing Over: Caciques, Indigenous Politics and the Vecino World in Caste War Yucatán,” Ethnohistory, 61 (4).
  • Dasgupta, Rajeshwari (2008), “Honor in Early Spanish America: A Case Study of Conquistadores in Sixteenth Century Tucumán,” Hispanic Horizon, 26, 123-153.
  • Dasgupta, Rajeshwari (2006), “Towards the 'new man': Revolutionary Youth and Rural Agency in the Naxalite Movement,” Economic and Political Weekly, 41 (19).

Book Reviews

  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2024), Review of Patchwork Freedoms by Adriana Chira. American Historical Review, 129 (3).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2022), Review of Negotiating Heritage through Education and Archaeology. Hispanic American Historical Review, 102 (3).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2020), Review of Conflict and Carnage in Yucatán. Hispanic American Historical Review, 100 (4).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2020), Review of Violence and the Caste War of Yucatán. The Americas, 77 (4).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2019), Review of Murder in Mérida, 1792. The Americas.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2018), Review of The Mixtecs of Oaxaca. The Americas, 75 (1).
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2017), “Archaeology, Indigenous Communities and the State: Janus-Faced Approaches,” The Public Historian, 39 (4).

Conferences & Talks

  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (upcoming 2025), “Mutiny and the Maya: The Indian Uprising of 1857 in the Belize-Mexico Borderlands,” LASA/Oceania-Asia 2025.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (upcoming 2025), Chair of Panel “Cognitive Changes: Asia-Oceania and Latin America: Intellectual Encounters,” LASA/Oceania-Asia 2025.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2025), “The Tweed Venture,” Creole Talk Radio Station, Nicaragua.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2025), Chair of Panel “Informal Empires,” AHA, New York.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2025), “Emancipation and British Informal Empire in Mosquito Shore, 1837–45,” AHA, New York.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2023), “Emancipation and Imperialism,” NICH at 20, Belize.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2023), “The Nicaragua Canal and the Turn Towards Panama,” Society for Caribbean Studies, UK.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2022), “The Link That Divides,” LASA, USA.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2022), “News of 1857,” AHA, USA.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2021), “Sepoy Mutiny and Belize,” Indo-Caribbean Cultural Center, Trinidad.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2021), “Race, Imperialism and Transatlantic Rivalry in the Quest for the Nicaraguan Canal,” TSA, Lisbon.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2021), “Mutiny and Empire,” Society for Caribbean Studies, UK.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2021), “The Caste War of Yucatán,” Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington D.C.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2021), “Emancipation and Imperialism in a Borderland,” PSU Belize Symposium.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2020), “India-Latin America Connections,” JNU Webinar.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2019), “Being ‘Indian’ in the Post-Emancipation World,” TSA, Lancaster.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2019), “Loyal Subjects at Empire’s Edge,” AHA, Chicago.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2018), “Cost of Protection,” Britain and the World, Exeter.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2017), “Hispanics and National Identity,” Britain and the World, Austin.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2016), “British Merchants and Mayas in Caste War Belize,” Britain and the World, London.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2015), “Between Two Worlds,” Britain and the World, Austin.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2015), “Teaching Across Cultures and Place,” AHA, New York.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2014), “Comparative History as a Teaching Tool,” AHA, Washington D.C.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2013), “Revisiting Indigenous Agency,” Mid-Atlantic World History Association, Baltimore.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2013), “Mayan Caciques in the Late Colonial and Early National Periods,” Instituto Cervantes, New Delhi.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2013), “Webs of Power,” LASA, Washington D.C.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2013), “Becoming Political,” Univ. of Pennsylvania.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2011), “Crossing Over,” CMU Graduate Forum.
  • Dutt, Rajeshwari (2011), “Getting Personal,” Penn State University.
  • Dasgupta, Rajeshwari (2007), “Negotiating the Revolution,” CMU Graduate Forum.
  • Dasgupta, Rajeshwari (2003), “Marxism and the World Stage,” UMass Amherst.

Honors and Awards

  • Women’s Day Award, IIT Mandi, 2025
  • Fellow, Linda Hall Library, 2022
  • Award for Significant Contribution as Chairperson, SHSS, IIT Mandi, 2020
  • Transatlantic Studies Association Palgrave Macmillan Research Award, 2019
  • Award for Excellence in Teaching, IIT Mandi (2018, 2013)
  • Goldman Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, CMU, 2012
  • Junior Fellow, AAPSS, 2005
  • Undergraduate Research Award, AAPSS, 2005
  • The Frederick C. Schaeffer Prize in History, 2004
  • The Paul A. Mueller Summer Travel Award, 2002
  • The William Toth Memorial History Prize, 2002
  • Phi Beta Kappa, 2004
  • Phi Alpha Theta, 2002
  • Pi Gamma Mu, 2003

Academic Service

  • Associate Editor, Itinerario (Cambridge University Press)
  • Area Editor, The Americas (Cambridge University Press)
  • Editor, H-LatAm network
  • Editorial Board Member, Global Historical Fictions (Brill)
  • Ad hoc book reviewer: Cambridge, Oklahoma, Colorado UP
  • Reviewer for journals: Ethnohistory, Law and History Review, Social History, The Latin Americanist