About Shatrunjay Mall

I am a transnational historian of Asia with interests in both modern Japan and modern South Asia. My dissertation is an exploration of political, intellectual and cultural connections between Indian anti-colonial nationalism and the Japanese Empire in the first half of the twentieth century. I am interested in individuals, ideas and movements that spanned the world, and my research attempts to demonstrate connections between places and regions usually considered disconnected.

Shatrunjay Mall is a PhD candidate at the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He works on transnational Asian history, and his dissertation explores intellectual, political, and cultural intersections and affinities that emerged between Indian anti-colonialism and imperial Japan in the twentieth century.

NBN Episodes hosted by Shatrunjay:

Nile Green, "How Asia Found Herself: A Story of Intercultural Understanding" (Yale UP, 2023)

July 8, 2023

How Asia Found Herself

Nile Green
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall
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The nineteenth century saw European empires build vast transport networks to maximize their profits from trade, and it saw Christian missionaries spre…

Cao Yin, "Chinese Sojourners in Wartime Raj, 1942-45" (Oxford UP, 2022)

April 19, 2023

Chinese Sojourners in Wartime Raj, 1942-45

Cao Yin
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Since the outbreak of the Pacific War, British India had been taken as the main logistic base for China's war against the Japanese. Chinese soldiers, …

Isabel Huacuja Alonso, "Radio for the Millions: Hindi-Urdu Broadcasting Across Borders" (Columbia UP, 2022)

March 2, 2023

Radio for the Millions

Isabel Huacuja Alonso
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

From news about World War II to the broadcasting of music from popular movies, radio played a crucial role in an increasingly divided South Asia for m…

Helena Hof, "The EU Migrant Generation in Asia: Middle-Class Aspirations in Asian Global Cities" (Policy Press, 2022)

February 22, 2023

The EU Migrant Generation in Asia

Helena Hof
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Drawing on an extensive study with young individuals who migrated to Singapore and Tokyo in the 2010s, The EU Migrant Generation in Asia: Middle-Class…

Viren Murthy, "The Politics of Time in China and Japan: Back to the Future" (Routledge, 2022)

November 29, 2022

The Politics of Time in China and Japan

Viren Murthy
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Drawing on a wide range of texts and using an interdisciplinary approach, The Politics of Time in China and Japan: Back to the Future (Routledge, 2022…

Paul D. Barclay, "Outcasts of Empire: Japan's Rule on Taiwan's 'Savage Border,' 1874-1945" (U California Press, 2018)

November 24, 2022

Outcasts of Empire

Paul D. Barclay
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Outcasts of Empire: Japan’s Rule on Taiwan’s “Savage Border,” 1874-1945 (University of California Press, 2018) by Paul D. Barclay unveils the causes a…

David Max Moerman, "The Japanese Buddhist World Map: Religious Vision and the Cartographic Imagination" (U Hawaii Press, 2021)

September 23, 2022

The Japanese Buddhist World Map

David Max Moerman
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

From the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries Japanese monks created hundreds of maps to construct and locate their place in a Buddhist world. …

Ethan Mark, "Japan’s Occupation of Java in the Second World War: A Transnational History" (Bloomsbury, 2018)

July 21, 2022

Japan’s Occupation of Java in the Second World War

Ethan Mark
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Japan's Occupation of Java in the Second World War: A Transnational History (Bloomsbury, 2018) by Ethan Mark draws upon written and oral Japanese, Ind…

Jayita Sarkar, "Ploughshares and Swords: India's Nuclear Program in the Global Cold War" (Cornell UP, 2022)

July 11, 2022

Ploughshares and Swords

Jayita Sarkar
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Ploughshares and Swords: India’s Nuclear Program in the Global Cold War (Cornell University Press, 2022) by Jayita Sarkar challenges this received wis…

Yin Cao, "From Policemen to Revolutionaries: A Sikh Diaspora in Global Shanghai, 1885-1945" (Brill, 2017)

June 28, 2022

From Policemen to Revolutionaries: A Sikh Diaspora in Global Shanghai, 1885-1945

Yin Cao
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Shanghai became a cosmopolitan hub with communities of Japanese, British, Russians, Jews, and ot…

Tehmton S. Mistry, "The 24th Mile: An Indian Doctor's Heroism in War-torn Burma" (HarperCollins, 2021)

June 21, 2022

The 24th Mile

Tehmton S. Mistry
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

The story of India and Indians in World War II has been overshadowed by other historical events of the 1940s, a busy decade that included such histori…

Laura Hein, "Post-Fascist Japan: Political Culture in Kamakura after the Second World War" (Bloomsbury, 2018)

April 26, 2022

Post-Fascist Japan

Laura Hein
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

After Japan’s devastating defeat in World War II, by late 1945, local Japanese turned their energies towards creating new behaviors and institutions t…

Ramachandra Guha, "Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India's Freedom" (Knopf, 2022)

April 12, 2022

Rebels Against the Raj

Ramachandra Guha
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom (Knopf, 2022) by Ramachandra Guha tells the extraordinary but little-known story of seven…

Michael Silvestri, "Policing ‘Bengali Terrorism’ in India and the World: Imperial Intelligence and Revolutionary Nationalism, 1905-1939" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)

March 8, 2022

Policing ‘Bengali Terrorism’ in India and the World

Michael Silvestri
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Policing ‘Bengali Terrorism’ in India and the World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) by Michael Silvestri examines the development of imperial intelligence …

Hiroko Matsuda, "Liminality of the Japanese Empire: Border Crossings from Okinawa to Colonial Taiwan" (U Hawaii Press, 2019)

February 25, 2022

Liminality of the Japanese Empire

Hiroko Matsuda
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Okinawa, one of the smallest prefectures of Japan, has drawn much international attention because of the long-standing presence of US bases and the pe…

Mohamed Zeeshan, "Flying Blind: India's Quest for Global Leadership" (Vintage Books, 2021)

February 2, 2022

Flying Blind

Mohamed Zeeshan
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

In recent years, India has repeatedly expressed its ambitions of becoming a global power – or ‘jagat guru.’ Yet, many believe that India’s economic tr…

Mircea Raianu, "Tata: The Global Corporation That Built Indian Capitalism" (Harvard UP, 2021)

January 27, 2022

Tata

Mircea Raianu
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Nearly a century old, the grand façade of Bombay House is hard to miss in the historic business district of Mumbai. This is the iconic global headquar…

Durba Ghosh, "Gentlemanly Terrorists: Political Violence and the Colonial State in India, 1919-1947" (Cambridge UP, 2017)

January 20, 2022

Gentlemanly Terrorists

Durba Ghosh
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Gentlemanly Terrorists: Political Violence and the Colonial State in India, 1919-1947 (Cambridge University Press, 2017) by Durba Ghosh uncovers the c…

Yuka Hiruma Kishida et al., "Kenkoku University and the Experience of Pan-Asianism: Education in the Japanese Empire" (Bloomsbury, 2019)

January 3, 2022

Kenkoku University and the Experience of Pan-Asianism

Yuka Hiruma Kishida
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Kenkoku University and the Experience of Pan-Asianism: Education in the Japanese Empire (Bloomsbury, 2019) by Yuka Hiruma Kishida makes a fresh contri…

Shelly Chan, "Diaspora’s Homeland: Modern China in the Age of Global Migration" (Duke UP, 2018)

December 24, 2021

Diaspora’s Homeland

Shelly Chan
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Diaspora’s Homeland: Modern China in the Age of Global Migration (Duke University Press, 2018) by Shelly Chan provides a broad historical study of how…

Megha Wadhwa, "Indian Migrants in Tokyo: A Study of Socio-Cultural, Religious, and Working Worlds" (Routledge, 2020)

December 14, 2021

Indian Migrants in Tokyo

Megha Wadhwa
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Japan is often imagined as a homogeneous society with few immigrant communities, but it is increasingly home to migrants from across the world. How do…

Hiromu Nagahara, "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie: Japan's Pop Era and Its Discontents" (Harvard UP, 2017)

November 11, 2021

Tokyo Boogie-Woogie

Hiromu Nagahara
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Tokyo Boogie-Woogie: Japan's Pop Era and its Discontents (Harvard University Press, 2017) by Hiromu Nagahara is the first English-language history of …

Antony Best, "British Engagement with Japan, 1854-1922: The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance" (Routledge, 2020)

October 27, 2021

British Engagement with Japan, 1854-1922

Antony Best
Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Antony Best's British Engagement with Japan, 1854-1922: The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance (Routledge, 2020) reconsiders the circumstances…