Obaid Siddiqi lectures to commence in Bengaluru this July


Dr Samira Sheikh

Dr Samira Sheikh
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Obaid Siddiqi Lectures, a series of annual lectures delivered by the Obaid Siddiqi Chair in the History and Culture of Science at the Archives at NCBS, will be held in the city this week.

The lectures will be delivered by Dr. Samira Sheikh, a historian of South Asia and Associate Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, currently the fifth Obaid Siddiqi Chair at the Archives at NCBS.

According to the Archives at NCBS website, Dr. Sheikh’s research focuses on early modern and modern western India, with particular attention to Gujarat, riverine and coastal histories, mapping, and the social worlds of trade, labour, and governance.

“She is the author of Forging a Region: Sultans, Traders, and Pilgrims in Gujarat, 1200–1500 and is currently working on two book projects on mapping and mapmaking in South Asia,” it further stated, adding that her work combines archival research with spatial and digital methods to rethink how Indian spaces were historically known and made.

Details of the three talks are below:

Lecture 1: The Mughal Map Mystery

July 10 (Friday), 5.30 p.m. at Dasheri Auditorium, NCBS

Lecture 2: Walking the Dotted Line: Mapping Borders Before the Nation

July 16 (Thursday), 5.30 p.m. at Conference Hall (Ground Floor), Training Centre, National Law School of India University

Lecture 3: Secrets and Lines: A Short History of Boundaries in India

July 19 (Sunday), 5.30 p.m. at Bangalore International Centre

Lectures are free and open to all. To know more, log into www.ncbs.res.in/events/osl-ss

  • Related Posts

    Taxing ‘frivolous’ industries will not fund India’s science

    Whenever concerns are raised about the lack of funding for Indian science, a solution often put forward is to tax “unintellectual” industries such as cinema, tourism, apparel, and perfumes. For…

    Continue reading
    ‘People could get hurt’: Conservationists decry AI wildlife visuals

    This undated photograph taken by the Orangutan Information Centre and released on June 10, 2026 shows a Tapanuli orangutan over a tree in the Batang Toru forest in Indonesia’s North…

    Continue reading

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *