Sudeshna Guha | Department of History

Profile

Sudeshna
Guha
Professor
Department of History and Archaeology
School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS)
216B
Block-D, Shiv Nadar University
NH 91 Tehsil Dadri, Gautam Buddha Nagar Uttar Pradesh
India
91-0120-3819100
Extn: 
726
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Profile Summary 

Sudeshna Guha researches on histories of visualisation and social histories of archaeology, cultural heritage, museums and collecting practices. She has a long professional background in museums, especially in the curation of historical photographs and archaeology collections, and explores methodologies of material culture studies for also sourcing transformations, through time, of notions of evidence. She is author of A History of India Through 75 Objects (Hachette India, 2022) and Artefacts of History (SAGE, 2015), and editor and contributor of The Marshall Albums: Photography and Archaeology (Mapin/Alkazi Collection of Photography, 2010).

Dr. Guha is interested in supervising Ph.D. students who wish to research on histories of archaeologies, museums, heritagization and Bronze-Age civilizations, Nationalism and Archaeologies, and the Arts and Architectural histories of Early India.

Educational Qualifications 
1990
Ph.D. Archaeology
Deccan College, University of Poona
1985
M.A. Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology
Deccan College, University of Poona
1983
B.A. History (Hons.)
Lady Sri Ram College, University of Delhi
Work Experience 
08/21Present
Professor,
Department of History, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR
I currently work here
01/16
07/21
Associate Professor,
Department of History, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR
20152017
Tagore Scholar,
National Museum,
New Delhi
02/11
04/13
Research Associate, Digital Archives (ECLAP) and Redevelopment project,
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
University of Cambridge
08/10
11/10
Visiting Faculty, Dept. of History,
School of Oriental and African Studies,
London
08/05
07/09
University Lecturer (Unestablished post), South Asian History,
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies,
Cambridge
08/97
07/05
Research Curator, Photographic Collections,
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
Cambridge
03/95
03/96
Curatorial and Exhibition Assistant,
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
Cambridge
03/94
03/95
Curatorial Assistant,
Victoria and Albert Museum,
London
12/92
03/94
Assistant Staff,
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,
Cambridge
01/92
05/92
Guest Lecturer,
Lady Sri Ram College,
University of Delhi
01/90
06/90
Assistant Arts Officer,
British Council Division,
New Delhi
19901991
Post Doctoral Research,
Dept of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
Teaching & Research Interests: 

Histories of Archaeology, The archaeology of South Asia and Early India, Art and Architecture of Pre-Colonial India, Visual Histories, Museum Studies, Cultural Heritage and Ethics, Archaeology and Nationalism

Conferences (Select): 
  • 'Interrogating Heritage: History, Archaeology, Collection'. KARWAAN, (8 August, 2021).
  • 'Heritage Histories and Recollections of Bombay' KHAKI Foundation, Mumbai (KHAKI: Keeping Heritage Alive and Kicking, 3 July 2021).
  • 'Heritage Histories and Museum Archaeology: Exploring Practice and Disciplinary Domain'. Centre for Public History, Srishti Manipal, Institute of Art, Design, Technology, Bengaluru (14 May 2021).
  • 'Archaeological Collections and 19th century Bombay'. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai (30 November 2019).
  • ‘Antiquities and Design Towards a Nation: Object Lessons for Archaeology’. Conference: Design, Culture and History: The Idea of Objects in Modern and Contemporary India’, The K.R. Cama Research Institute, Mumbai (5-6 January 2019)
  • ‘Curating Cultures: Collections, Practices and their Histories’. Conference: The Idea of Culture: An International Conference on Teaching History, Seagull Peaceworks, Kolkata (3-5 August 2018)
  • ‘Decolonising South Asia through Heritage- and Nation-Building’. Closing Keynote, Conference: Heritage, Decolonisation and the Field: A Conference, German Historical Research Institute, and UCL Institute of Archaeology, London (26 and 27 January 2018).
  • ‘Archaeological and Architectural Surveys and Map-making in India’. Conference: Survey, Mapping and Cartography, Kalakriti Archives in partnership with Bonjour India, Hyderabad (6 January 2018).
  • ‘Nineveh in Bombay and Histories of Indian Archaeology’. Lecture at Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka (28 March 2017) and Ancient India Iran Trust, Cambridge (21 October 2016).
  • ‘Photographs as Histories: Looking Through Collections’. Ambedkar University, Delhi (21 September 2016)
  • ‘Drawing in the World? Museums as Public Spaces'. Conference: Capacity Building For Museums in India, School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU (New Delhi) in collaboration with Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the V&A and Goethe Institute, Max Müller Bhavan, New Delhi (12–14 September 2016).
Awards(Selected): 
20152017

Tagore Scholar, National Museum

2004

British Academy, Small Research Grant

1998

Evans Fellowship Committe Grant, Cambridge

19941995

The Nehru Trust for the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

19901991

Commonwealth Visiting Scholar, Dept of Archaeology, Cambridge

19851989

Junior Research Fellow, University Grants Commission, India

Scholarly Activity

Book

2022

Guha, S. 2022. A History of India Through 75 Objects. Hachette India.

2015

Guha, S., 2015, Artefacts of History: Archaeology, History and Indian Pasts (SAGE, New Delhi)

2010

Guha, S., (Ed.), 2010, The Marshall Albums: Photography and Archaeology (Mapin/Alkazi Collection of Photography, Ahmedabad/New Delhi)

Journal Articles

2019

Guha, S. 2019 ‘Decolonizing South Asia through Heritage and Nation Building’, FutureAnterior, Vol. 16 (2), 31-46.

2017

Guha, S., 2017, '"Nineveh" in Bombay and Histories of Indian Archaeology', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (Humanities), Vol. 62 (1), pp. 65–85.

2013

Guha, S., 2013, Beyond Representation: Photographs in Archaeological Knowledge', in O.M. Abadia and C. Huth (eds.) 'Speaking Material: Sources for the History of Archaeology, Complutum, Vol. 24 (2), pp. 173-88.

2012

Guha, S., 2012, 'Visual Histories, Archaeology and Photographic Knowledge', in R. Allana (ed.) 'Depth of Field', Lalit Kala Contemporary 52, pp. 29-40.

2005

Guha, S., 2005 'Negotiating Evidence: History, Archaeology and the Indus Civilisation', Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 39 (2), pp. 399-426.

2004

Guha, S., 2004, 'Sights of Reference: Photography in the Construction of an "ethnographic" Record', in F. Kerlogue (ed.) Performing Objects: Museums, Material Culture and performance in Southeast Asia, in Series Contribution in Critical Museology and Material Culture (Horniman Museum Publication, London), pp. 87-102.

2003

Guha, S., 2003, ‘Mortimer Wheeler’s Archaeology in South Asia and its Photographic Presentation’, South Asian Studies, Vol. 19, 43–55.

2003

Guha, S., 2003, ‘Imposing the Habit of Science: Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Indian Archaeology’, Bulletin of the History of Archaeology, Vol.13 (1), 4–10. Reprinted in Man and Environment 28 (2), 2003, 111–5.

2002

Guha, S., 2002, ‘The Visual in Archaeology: Photographic Representations of Archaeological Practice in the Indian Subcontinent’, Antiquity 76, 93–100.

2000

Guha, S., 2000, ‘South Asian Photographs in the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’, Man and Environment, Vol. 25 (1), 89–96.

1994

Guha, S., 1994, ‘Recognizing “Harappan”: A Critical Review of the Position of Hunter-Gatherers within Harappan Society’, South Asian Studies, Vol. 10, 91–7.

1993

Guha, S., 1993, ‘Indian Archaeology: Exploring the Present’, Antiquity, Vol. 67, (No. 257), 918–21.

Books & Book Chapters

Guha, S. 2022. A Status Report of the Tribal Arts within the Central Tribal Belt. In Shah. M. and Vijay Shankar, P.S. (eds.) Tribal Development Report, Vol. II. Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003172864-10

Guha, S., 2014, 'Civilizational Heritage and Archaeological Practices within South Asia' in C. Sandis (ed.) Cultural Heritage Ethics: Between Theory and Practice (Opne Book Publishers, Cambridge), pp. 103-16.

Guha, S., 2014 'Heritage, Archaeology and the Indus Civilization' in D.N. Jha (ed.) The Complex Heritage of Early India: Essays in Memory of Ram Sharan Sharma (Manohar, Delhi), pp. 37-70.

Guha, S., 2012, 'Material Truths and Religious Identities', in M. Dodson (ed.) Banaras: Urban History, Architecture, Identity (Routledge, London)

Guha, S., 2005, 'Archaeology and Photography', in R. Lenman (ed.) The Oxford Companion to the Photograph (Oxford, Oxford University Press), pp. 42-4.

Conference Publications

Guha, S., 2012, 'Curating Data, Disseminating Knowledge: Museums in Digital Age', in P. Nesi and R. Santucci (eds.) ECLAP: 1st Internatioanl Conference on Information Technologies for Performing Arts, Media Access and Entertainment (Firenze University Press), pp. 41-6.

Guha, S., 2004 'The Making of Institutional Archives: Photography of Ethnology and Archaeology' South Asia Archive and Library Group Newsletter, No. 2, November, 16-20.

Guha, S., 2004, 'The Camera and the Spade: Photography in the Making of Archaeological Knowledge', Visual Knowledges (electronic format: ISBN 0953271331)

Guha, S. 2019. Curating ‘Cultures’: Collections, Practices and their Histories. The Idea of Culture, Conference Proceedings, The Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata

Other

Guha, S. 2017. The Necklace that Divided Two Nations. In BBC Documentary, The Museum of Lost Objects, July 15.

Articles & Essays in Magazine and Newspaper

Guha, S. 2015. Light of the Solar Race: Rajendra Chola. The Week, December 27

Guha, S. 2006. Archaeological Photography and the Creation of Histories in Colonial India. www.harappa.com/photo-archaeology/index.html.

Guha, S. 2002. Bollywood in London. Frontline, Vol. 19. Review of exhibition Cinema India: The Art of Bollywood, V&A, London