Megan Eaton Robb is an Associate Professor in Religious Studies. She teaches courses on South Asian Religions and Gender/Embodiment in Religion, including "Islam, Gender, and Colonialism," “Media and Religion in South Asia,” “Gender, Sexuality, and Religion,” “Religion and Sports,” “History of Print in South Asia,” and “History of Islam in South Asia.”
She is a historian of Islam and gender in South Asia. She presses on issues that illuminate the religious identity of Muslims in the 20th century and adds attention to material texts to studies of Urdu journalism. Her first book Print and the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers, and Urban Life was published with Oxford University Press in October 2020. The book focuses on how the changing cultural and political climate of colonial India urged Muslims to expand the influence of existing print networks and make them distinctly Muslim. She analyzes this connection from a microstudy of both the discourse and materiality of Madinah newspaper, a paper printed from Bijnor qasbahthat presented itself as a voice for Muslims. A version of a chapter of this book appeared in Contemporary Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East in September 2020. Her current book project is entitled Becoming Elizabeth: Gender, Religion, and Empire in the 18th Century. An article developing this book project appeared this year in the American Historical Review, entitled "Becoming Elizabeth: The Transformation of a Bihari Mughal into an English Lady, 1758-1822."
She has also co-edited the book Muslims Against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan (CUP, 2017) with Dr. Ali Usman Qasmi (LUMS). Dr. Robb has a substantial secondary research interest in comparative approaches to the connection between religion and sport in South Asia and North America. She has published articles related to her interest in gender in Modern Asian Studies, the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the American Historical Review. She recently co-authored chapter on the relationship between religion and sport in the Islamic Society of Chester County for an edited volume with Duke University Press. She is currently a Senior Fellow in the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography, where she is also a member of the Council and the Programming Committee Chair.
D.Phil, Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
M.Phil, Modern South Asian Studies, University of Oxford
B.A., With Highest Honors, India Studies and English Literature, Indiana University Bloomington
History of Islam in South Asia; Hindi and Urdu Public Spheres; Modernities and Print; Politics and Publics; Gender, Sexuality, and Religion in South Asia and the Diaspora; 19th and 20th Century Reformist Movements in Islam; Religion and Sport
Gender, Sexuality, and Religion
Religion and Sports
History of Print in South Asia
History of Islam in South Asia
History of Religion - Methodologies
“Becoming Elizabeth: The Transformation of a Bihari Mughal into an English Lady, 1758-1822,” Forthcoming in American Historical Review March 2023.
"Structuring Sports, Structuring Community: The Islamic Society of Chester County Debates a Basketball Court,” Book Chapter co-authored with Max Dugan for Religion and Sports in North America, edited by Randall Balmer and Jeff Scholes and contracted with Taylor & Francis.
Printing the Urdu Public: Muslims, Newspapers and Urban Life 1900-1947, University of Oxford Press, October 2020
“Back to the Future Qasbah: Print and the Timescape of an Islamic Town in British India,” Contemporary Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. September 2020.
“Urban Emotions Behind the Veil: An Early Twentieth Century Muslim Wedding in Shahjahanabad,” in Special Journal Issue, “Urban Emotions in South Asia,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 27:4, pp. 649-665.
Elizabeth Chatterjee, Sneha Krishnan, Megan Robb, “Feeling Modern: The History of Emotions in Urban South Asia,” Introduction to special journal issue “Urban Emotions in South Asia,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 27:4, pp. 1-19.
“Advising the Army of Allah: Ashraf Ali Thanawi's Critique of the Muslim League,” Muslims Against the Muslim League: Critiques of Pakistan. Delhi: Cambridge UP, pp. 142-168.
“Introduction,” Dr. ‘Ali Usman Qasmi and Megan Robb, Muslims Against the Muslim League: Critiques of Pakistan, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 1-34.
“Women’s Voices, Men’s Lives: Masculinity in a North Indian Urdu Newspaper,” Modern Asian Studies 50:5, 1441-1473.
Becoming Elizabeth: Gender, Religion, and Empire in the 18th Century
Fulbright Canada
Society of Fellows of Critical Bibliography
American Academy of Religion
American Historical Association
Association of Asian Studies
Association of India Studies
American Institute of Indian Studies
American Institute of Pakistan Studies
