Dr Diki Sherpa is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Knowledge Alternatives (CKA), FLAME University. She holds a doctorate in History from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, an MPhil in History from the University of Delhi, and an MA and BA in History from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
At CKA, she is studying the genesis and expansion of the British Gazetteers in the mid-19th century. Gazetteer writing was an extensive encyclopedic British project that systematically expanded information on India, reflecting a shift in colonial knowledge production during the period. Diki’s research examines this shift and the resulting surge in knowledge production of colonial India. It questions the assumptions that Gazetteers were created solely out of British intellectual curiosity, and attempts to locate the anxieties of the colonial authorities that may have led to this ambitious project. This work has potential to significantly contribute to the literature on colonial knowledge production and their motivations.
Diki’s research interests broadly encompass Global History, South Asian and East Asian History. Her doctoral research focused on studying the trans-colonial (Colonial India and Hong Kong in this case) experiences of British administrators and how these experiences shaped British Imperial governing practices. During her PhD programme, she was associated with the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna as a visiting research scholar in 2022, supported by Ernst Mach Grant.
Publications:
- In progress “In Quest of Documenting Rural India: Sir WW Hunter and District Gazetteer compilation in the mid-19th century ”.
- "Intrigue in the Hills: Espionage, Geopolitics and Social Tensions in Kalimpong’s Past", Occasional Paper, 1, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar University, August 2023. [Online].
- "Village Policing in Early Colonial Hong Kong", Conference Proceedings, The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12), Amsterdam University Press, Volume 1, p.650–655, 2022.
- Book Review: Cao Yin,‘Chinese Sojourners in Wartime Raj, 1942–1945’ , (Oxford University Press, 2022), pp. 178, 6 July 2023, Online First, China Report, Sage Publications.
- "The Transformation of the Indo–Tibetan Trade in Wool 1904–1962" , China Report, Vol.55, No.4, 2019, pp.1-17, Sage Publications, New Delhi.
- Book Review: Ben Hillman and Gray Tuttle ed., ‘The Ethnic Conflict and Protest in Tibet and Xinjiang–Unrest in China s West’, China Report, 8 May 2017, Vol. 53, No.2, pp. 282-285, Sage Publications, New Delhi.
Presentations:
- ‘Sir Henry Pottinger from British India to Hong Kong , Workshop, Queen Mary College, University of London, 11-12 May 2023. [Online]
- ‘Baojia system in translation, presented at Hong Kong Studies Research School’, organized by the Academy of Hong Kong Studies and Education University, 14-15 December 2021.
- Making native officials more Useful: Extending judicial administration in early colonial Hong Kong , Final year RPG Workshop, Division of History, CUHK, 6 December 2021.
- Adopting and Adapting ‘Native Chinese Peace Officers’ (1842-1844)’, 14th All India Conference on China Studies, jointly organized by Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi and Konrad- Adenauer-Stiftung, 11-13 November 2021.
- ‘Police administration in early colonial Hong Kong’, 12th International Convention of Asia Scholars, organized by International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, in cooperation with Kyoto University, 24- 28 August 2021.
- ‘The Other Silk Route, Great Game, Spookery and Trade , Panel discussion, organized by the National Foundation for India, 3 February 2018.
- ‘Anglo-Tibetan Trade Relations: Transaction of Wool from 1904 to 1947’, Wednesday Seminar, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi, 26 April 2017.
- ‘Socio-Economic Transformation of the Eastern Himalayan Town of Kalimpong’, Research Scholars, Workshop, University of Delhi, 3-4 March 2015. Fieldwork for this research was supported by the Indian Council of Historical Research.