David Martin
I am a second year Ph.D researcher focusing on missionary interventions in nineteenth century South India. I hold an M.Phil in Modern South Asian studies from University of Cambridge, and previously earned an M.A in English Studies from Manipal University and a B.A (hons.) from Christ University, India. Before beginning my doctoral research, I lectured on literary cultures, historical urban studies, and material cultures around India and have presented and published work on the colonial histories of Bangalore and South India.
I am currently working on a social history of mission activity in the Madras Presidency, focusing on religious identities, the evolution of caste, and ideologies around education. I have also worked on mapping ideologies across the physical landscapes of colonial cities, and tracing the palimpsestic histories of family and communal objects.
‘From Pastiche to Palimpest: Reading Bangalore’s Layered History through the Microcosm of Koshy’s Coffee House’, co-presented with Prof. Shobana Mathews, The Place of Memory and the Memory of Place, London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (2022).
‘Displacement as Triumph - A Study of How ‘Scientific’ Fabulation of the Lemuria Conjecture Created Tamil Identity’, Melange: International Conference on Memory and Narrative, Christ University (2022).
Session Moderator, “Pivotal Measures: The Trauma of Recollection” at “The Place of Memory the Memory of Place”, The Place of Memory and the Memory of Place, London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (2022).
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Key publications
‘From Pastiche to Palimpest: Reading Bangalore’s Layered History through the Microcosm of Koshy’s Coffee House’, ISBN: 978-1-7395597-0-0, Book chapter co-authored with Prof. Shobana Mathews, p. 42-51 (2024).
‘The Politics of Theo-Colonial Encounter: Observations from South India’, featured article https://www.jhiblog.org/2021/09/15/the-politics-of-theo-colonial-encounter-observations-from-south-india/ (2021).