The Sigur Center for Asian Studies will proudly host Jagjeet Lally, lecturer in the History of India at University College London, in the upcoming edition of the 2021 New Books in Asian Studies series to discuss his recently published India and the Silk Roads: The History of a Trading World. After being introduced by Director Benjamin D. Hopkins, he will engage in a conversation about the book with Hasan Karrar, Associate Professor in the humanities and social sciences program at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, who will act as discussant and moderator. The webinar will take place from 10 AM EDT to 11:15 AM EDT on WebEx.

India’s caravan trade with central Asia was at the heart of the complex web of routes making up the Silk Roads. But what was the fate of these overland connections in the ages of sail and steam? Jagjeet Lally sets out to answer this question by bringing the world of caravan trade to life—a world of merchants, mercenaries, pastoralists and pilgrims, but also of kings, bureaucrats and their subjects in the countryside and towns.

India and the Silk Roads is a global history of a continental interior, the first to comprehensively examine the textual and material traces of caravan trade in the ‘age of empires’. By showing how no single ruler could control the nebulous yet durable networks of this trading world, which had its own internal dynamics even as it evolved in step with global transformations, Lally forces us to rethink the history of globalisation and re-evaluate our fixation with empires and states as the building blocks of historical analysis. It is a narrative resonating with our own times, as China’s Belt and Road Initiative brings terrestrial forms of connectivity back to the fore—transforming life across Eurasia once again.

The Sigur Center continues to offer a book giveaway to support research and local business. To be eligible to win, please register and attend with the same name, and be sure to follow us on Twitter. The winner will be randomly selected during the event and contacted for a U.S. address. The Sigur Center will purchase a book from a local DC bookstore and pay for shipping.

India and the Silk Roads: The History of a Trading World is available from Hurst Publishers. Use promo code SILKROADS25 for a discount!