The Yale Center for International and Area Studies (YCIAS) has awarded its inaugural YCIAS International Book Prizes to faculty members Robert Harms and Mridu Rai, professor and assistant professor respectively in the Department of History.
Established in 2004, the $5,000 prizes are awarded annually for books on international topics written by members of the Yale faculty. Harms received his prize in the best book category for "The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of the Slave Trade"; Rai received her prize in the best first book category for "Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir."
The centerpiece of Harms' book is the journal of a young officer on the French slaving ship "The Diligent," which in 1731-1732 made the circuit from France to West Africa and Martinique, transporting human cargo. The book reconstructs the story of the ship's activities, illuminating the diverse moral, cultural and economic environments that sustained the slave trade.
Rai's book examines how the British and Dogra rulers' attempt to establish legitimate authority in Kashmir on the basis of Hindu rituals and traditions led to political articulation of a religious identity among the region's subject Muslim populations.
"We are very pleased to honor both scholars with an International Book Prize," says Ian Shapiro, YCIAS director. "YCIAS established the book prizes to stimulate scholarship in the international field by honoring outstanding accomplishments. Professor Harms' book is a model of inventive and thorough-going research, as well as narrative skill. Professor Rai's work is a testament to the value that rigorous archival work, undertaken with a careful eye to historical and local particularity, can contribute both to our understanding of contemporary international affairs and to questions of broader interest."
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