Moksh Kalra
Research
I am a first-year PhD student at the Department of History, University of Warwick, where I work under the supervision of Dr. Tom SimpsonLink opens in a new window and Dr. Elise SmithLink opens in a new window. My PhD project is provisionally titled: “Ruptured Ecologies, Pathogenic Landscapes: Assam as a commodity frontier in the 19th century.”
Through this project, I examine the commodification of Assam’s geographic landscape via a study of plantation agriculture and associated extractive infrastructures. I further examine the commodification of “Assam tea” through the prism of the history of science. A key focus of my thesis is bringing histories of disease and environment together by studying the role of the capitalist transformation of Assam in creating pathogenic landscapes.
My research is generously funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership.
moksh.kalra@warwick.ac.uk
Research Interests
- Environmental History
- Histories of Disease and Medicine
- Histories of Capitalism and Colonialism
- Historical Geography
- Histories of Science
- Commodity Histories
Conferences and Presentations
- Producing Assam Tea through science in the mid-19th century (Midland4Cities Research Festival, 11 February 2026)
- Unpacking the “making” of Assam Tea, 1830s-1850s (Warwick History Postgraduate Work in Progress, March 2026)
- Member of the Organising Committee, Annual Conference of the Oral History Association of India, (North-Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya, March 2024)
Education and other experience
PhD in History, Department of History, University of Warwick (2025-2029)
MA in History, Department of History, University of Delhi (2020-2022), first-class
BA in History, Ramjas College, University of Delhi (2017-2020), first-class
Instructional Assistant, US History since 1877, Department of History, University of Houston (Fall 2024, Spring 2025)
Awards
Midlands4Cities AHRC Doctoral Studentship Award (2025 - 2029)
"Health is Politics" fellowship, University of Houston (2024-2025)