Dr. Nisha Mathew

Education

• MA in English Literature, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad
• MPhil in English Literature, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad
• PhD in History, Wits University, Johannesburg

Profile

Nisha Mathew is a historian of the Indian Ocean, specialising in trading diasporas, illegal economies and the politics of sovereignty defining Arabia-Asia ties in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is Associate Professor of History and Social Theory at Mahindra University, Hyderabad. Before joining Mahindra, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Asia Research Institute and Research Fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, where her work focused on the UAE’s foreign policy, trade and defense strategies and its emergence as a middle power in global politics. Dr. Mathew was also awarded the ICSSR major research award for her work on the contributions of the Telugu diaspora and their devotional capital to Hyderabad’s urban development project and global ambitions. Besides academic publications in Modern Asian Studies, History and Anthropology and Territory, Politics, Governance, she has also contributed to The Straits Times, South China Morning Post, The Wire and The News Minute. She is also involved with 9/11 Legacies.com, a project on legacies of 9/11 and the Global War on Terror (GWOT).

Research interests

• Indian Ocean history
• Persian Gulf history
• Illegal economies
• Sovereignty
• Financial capitalism
• Indian diaspora
• Strongmen and authoritarianism

Publications

Edited Volumes:

• Lutfi, Ameem, Nisha Mathew and Serkan Yolocan edited. Strongman’s Brokers: Old Diasporas and New Networks in the Age of Populism (Routledge, 2024) Strongman’s Brokers: Old Diasporas and New Networks in the Age of Po (routledge.com)
• Krishna, Yamini, Amy Phu and Nisha Mathew edited. Claims on the City: Situated Narratives of the Urban (Rowman and Littlefield, 2024) Claims on the City: Situated Narratives of the Urban – 9781666941609 (rowman.com)

Journal Articles:

• “At the Crossroads of Empire and Nation-state: Partition, Gold Smuggling and Port Cities in the Western Indian Ocean,” Modern Asian Studies Volume 54, Issue 3 (2020).
• “Bhakt Nation: The Return of the Hindu Diaspora in Modi’s India,” in Strongmen and Informal Diplomats: Toward an Anthropology of International Relations, a special issue with the Journal of History and Anthropology, Volume 33, Issue 3 (2022)
• “Introduction to Strongmen and Informal Diplomats: Toward an Anthropology of International Relations,” for the special issue with the Journal of History and Anthropology co-authored with Serkan Yolacan and Ameem Lutfi, Volume 33, Issue 3 (2022)
• “Between Kerala and the Gulf: History, Culture and Identity in the Making of the Transnational Malayali.” Tapasam (published by Association for Comparative Studies) Vol XVIII, Issue 4:78-112 (2022).
• “Sovereignty on the Move: Gold, Financial Capital and a Neoliberal State in India.” Accepted for publication as part of the special issue “Hybrid Sovereignty Assemblages: From Liberal to Illiberal and Beyond,” in Territory, Politics, Governance (forthcoming, 2025).

Book Chapters:

• “21st Century Dubai: Suspicious Modernity or Alternate Urban History?” Multiple Modernities William S.W. Lim and Jeremy Y.T. Chia (Singapore: Asian Urban Lab, 2018).
• “Sthalam, Kaalam, Aagola Charithram: Nagarapadangalile Puthuvazhikal” (trans. Space, Time and Circular History: New approaches to Urban Studies, article in Malayalam) in Samskara Padanathinte Puthuvazhikal (trans. New Directions in Cultural Studies) Edited by Sheeba M Kurian, Department of Publications, University of Kerala, 2018 (134-151).
• “Dubai: A State, Merchant Networks and their Encounters with Gold,” in Cities and Networks Middle East Insights, published by the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, July 2018, https://mei.nus.edu.sg/publication/insight-187-dubai-a-state-merchant-networks-and-their-encounters- with-gold/
• “The Role of Oman’s diasporic business networks in Circumventing the Qatar Blockade,” in Cities and Networks Middle East Insights, published by the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, December 2018.
• “Old Problems, New Solutions: An Emirati Perspective on the Southern Tier in the Middle East,” in The Idea of the Northern Tier, Middle East Insights, July 2019, pages 62- 68, https://mei.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/MEI_NorthInsights_17Jul19.pdf
• “Layered Cities, Shared histories: Gold, Mobility and Urbanity between Dubai and Malabar,” in Routledge Handbook of Indian transnationalism, ed. Ajay Sahoo and Bandana Puryakastha, 2019.

Working Papers:

• “Saudi Arabia and the UAE: One Bed, Different Dreams.” Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, Working Paper No:14, March 2019 (Published for the exclusive use of the Government of Singapore and MEI stakeholders)