Manikarnika DuttaProfile page
Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the History of Medicine
School of History
- Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the History of MedicineSchool of History
- University College Dublin, School of History, Newman Building Belfield Dublin 4
BIO
My core research and teaching focus on the histories of health, disease, environment and colonialism in South Asia, especially the region’s global and transnational encounters in the 19th- and 20th-century imperial context. I hold a DPhil and an MSc in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine from the University of Oxford, both funded by the Wellcome Trust, and an MA in Modern History from the University of Calcutta. Following my DPhil, I worked as a Research Associate on the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘Invisible Crises, Neglected Histories c.1900-present: Malaria in Asia’ in Oxford. Here, my work delved into malaria research and mortality in twentieth-century India, with emphasis on the Rockefeller Foundation’s activities. My next appointment was as a Research Associate at the University of Bristol, working on the AHRC funded project ‘Mariners: Religion, Race and Empire in British Ports, 1801-1914’. In this role, I examined the significance of Christian missions for the health and welfare of the British maritime workforce.
My doctoral and postdoctoral research integrated methodologies from imperial and colonial history, the history of public health and medicine, as well as social history. The culmination of my doctoral research will be my forthcoming monograph titled Health and Welfare of European Seamen in Indian Port Cities, c. 1780-1890. By examining the concurrent developments of tropical and maritime hygiene in the Indian Ocean, it investigates the role of disease research and sanitary reform in shaping the British Empire in the 19th century. Integrating perspectives from imperial history and human geography, it analyses the medical narratives surrounding illness and mortality among European seafarers during their journeys to India and in Indian port cities. This approach charts the medical topography of both the voyage and the destination, addressing a longstanding gap in understanding the interconnected medical history of the European empire and its South Asian colony. Therefore, it facilitates critical reflections on the significance of transregional connections and the intricate interplay of race, geography, and mobility in shaping imperial medical cultures in non-Western settings.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN APPOINTMENTS
- Assistant Professor in History of MedicineUniversity College Dublin, History, Dublin, Ireland6 Jan 2025
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
- Research AssociateUniversity of Bristol, History, Bristol, United Kingdom1 Mar 2023 - 5 Jan 2025
- Research AssociateUniversity of Oxford, History, Oxford, United Kingdom1 Sep 2021 - 28 Feb 2023
DEGREES
- BA (Hons)University of Calcutta
- DPhilUniversity of Oxford
- MAUniversity of Calcutta
- Master of Science (M.Sc.)University of Oxford
LANGUAGES
- EnglishCan read, write, speak, understand and peer review
- BengaliCan read, write, speak and understand
- HindiCan speak and understand