DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Interests

Geographic Field(s):  Asian History

Thematic Field(s):  History of Science, Technology, and Medicine; Environmental History

Principal Research Interest(s):  History of science in modern South Asia, weather and environment

Biography

Sarah Carson (Ph.D. September 2019, Princeton University) is a historian of modern South Asia studying the intersections between weather reasonings, forecasting technologies, and state-society relations. Her research charts the particular history of the India Meteorological Department alongside economic, social, and atmospheric developments in the region to argue for the centrality of “nature” to the politics of imperialism and nationalism. Sarah’s related interests include astrological knowledges, global environmental science, histories of bureaucracy, and narratives of environmental change. During her time with SHC, Sarah will be expanding her dissertation “Ungovernable Winds” into a book examining the connections between weather knowledges and state power in India, and engaging questions surrounding the scientific invention of “the tropics” and the role played by weather in everyday public life. She will also begin work on her next book project, which will explore the cultures of the postcolonial earth and environmental sciences in India and Pakistan, using oral history to complement the fragmentary textual archives currently available.