Making History: Mallampalli Installed in Endowed Chair

Chandra Mallampalli, Westmont professor of history, will be formally installed as the new Fletcher Jones Foundation professor in the social sciences on Monday, February 5, during a full-regalia ceremony at 10:30 am in Murchison Gym. “Chandra has become a significant scholar in the study of religion in India, and we are delighted to honor him at this ceremony,” says provost Mark Sargent. 

Mallampalli, who has taught at Westmont since 2001, will lecture about “Dangerous Knowledge? Reflections on the Protestant Legacy in India” from 3:30 to 5 pm at the Global Leadership Center. A panel discussion will follow the talk with responses by Prasannan Parthasarathi of Boston College, Richard Fox Young of Princeton Seminary, and Marianne Robins of Westmont. The installation and lecture are free and open to the public.

The Fletcher Jones Foundation created the chair to rotate among deserving faculty within the social science division. Mallampalli succeeds Rick Pointer, professor of history, who has held the chair since its inception in 2010 through fall 2017.

Mallampalli, who earned a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focuses his research at the intersection of religion, law, and society in colonial India. He conducted research in India and the U.K. with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his book Race, Religion and Law in Colonial India. His most recent book, A Muslim Conspiracy in British India? examines tensions between colonial rulers and India’s Muslims during the years of the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42). He is under contract by Oxford University Press to write a general history of Christianity in South Asia.

At Westmont, Mallampalli teaches courses in world history, modern South Asia, the British Empire, and comparative Asian history. He is a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University and is married to Beverly Chen, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist.