Dr Vernon Hewitt

Personal profile

Lecturer at Bristol from 1987, Senior Lecturer from 2002. University of Bristol Research Fellowship 1998-99.

Research

My interests remain largely situated in the developing, less-industrialised world.

I am interested in the nature of the post-colonial state, in the types of nationalism that such societies have attempted to construct and sustain, and how such nationalisms have interacted with specific economic and political strategies (industrialisation, democratisation, secularism, etc). My interests remain dominated by (or grounded in) a detailed understanding of the politics of South Asia, India and Pakistan in particular. Yet I have become increasingly interested in the wider political theory issues of representation and governmental accountability, both in terms of development strategies, but also in terms of attempts to deal with ethnic issues and ethnic formations contesting state power. My interests in the global aspects of state formation (international order and regulation) remain.

I am currently working on comparative history of India and Pakistan, and the rise of Hindu chauvinism.

Teaching

I am particularly interested in using primary sources in analysing current issues in South Asian politics, notably ethnicity and nationalism, and in the politics of development.

I am currently teaching:

• 31337: The Founding of Modern South Asia
• M3010: Capitalism and Good Government

Full publications list in the University of Bristol publications system