Sarah Qidwai is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Regensburg. She is a historian of science and the Empire in the 19th century. Broadly speaking, her work focuses on transnational and local perspectives on various scientific disciplines during the long nineteenth century. Her research specialisms and teaching interests include, but are not limited to, British imperialism in the long nineteenth century, science and colonialism, South Asian studies, the relationship between science and Islam, and the history of evolutionary biology. Her doctoral thesis and initial book project focus on the Muslim polymath Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817–1898). Through an interdisciplinary approach, she investigates the development and implementation of Sayyid Ahmad’s efforts to popularise science, and how he addressed the role of science within its historical context.
Her current project is entitled “Scientism and Empire”. She will examine how disciplines such as astronomy, geology and evolutionary biology operated within the confines of the Empire during the long nineteenth century.
Website: sarahqidwai.com (external link, opens in a new window)
Curriculum Vitae
2021–2023
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Regensburg
EDUCATION
2021
PhD, History of Science, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto
2015
Master of Arts, History of Science, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto
2014
Bachelor of Arts, Specialist in History, with a minor in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto
AREAS OF SPECIALISATION
South Asian Studies; History of Evolutionary Biology; Islam and science; Science and Empire; Nineteenth-century British history; Global history of science and religion
LANGUAGES
English: fluent in writing, speaking and reading
Urdu: fluent in speaking and reading
French: reading and writing (with a dictionary)
Publications and Papers
Marcos, P., Naramore, S., Sheldon, M., Pickman, S., Qidwai, S., and Sheppard, K., “HSS Virtual Forum: Future Series.” *Isis* 2021 112:3, 573–581
Robinson, S., Baumhammer, M., […] Qidwai, S., “Innovation in a crisis: rethinking conferences and scholarship in a pandemic and climate emergency” The British Journal for the History of Science, 53(4), 575–590.
“Aligarh’s Scientific Society: All But Forgotten” in *Oxford of the East: Aligarh Muslim University (1920–2020)*. Edited by A.R. Kidwai (Delhi: Viva Books, 2020), 258–274
“Studying the Qur’an: Neither Here nor There,” *Method and Theory in the Study of Religion* 33, 2 (2020): 114–121
“Re-Examining Complexity: Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Interpretation of ‘Science in Islam’” in *Rethinking History, Science, and Religion: An Exploration of Conflict and the Complexity Principle*. Edited by Bernard Lightman (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019), 50–64. *
“Darwin or Design: Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Views on Human Evolution” in *The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan*. Edited by Yasmin Saikia and Raisur Rahim. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 214–232.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Lightman, B., Qidwai, S., eds., *Global History of Evolution and Religion* – to be submitted to the University of Pittsburgh Press, spring 2022
Fernando T., Qidwai, S., “South Asia’s Place in the History of Science, Religion, and Evolution in the Nineteenth Century”, in B. Lightman and S. Qidwai, eds., Global History of Evolution and Religion – to be submitted to the University of Pittsburgh Press, spring 2022
“Darwinism and the History of Evolutionary Biology: What is Excluded?” in *Beyond the Darwinian Revolution: Historicising Evolution from the Past to the Present*. Edited by Ian Hesketh (accepted for publication and to be published in spring 2022, University of Pittsburgh Press) *
Lectures and Presentations
INVITED LECTURES
2021
“Astronomy and Empires” Lecture in Astronomical Revolutions, University of Toronto Mississauga
“Partition and Confederation: Science, Education, and Empire,” lecture in HIST 3361 – British Politics, Society, and Culture Since 1688, Texas Tech University
2020
“Globalisation and Colonialism: Canada, Colonialism and the Legacy of Residential Schools” lecture in HPS200 Science and Values, IHPST
2019
“Taqi ad-Din ibn Ma’ruf (1521–1585) and Tycho Brahe (1546–1601): Rethinking the History of Astronomy and Religion”, lecture in HPS272: Science Against Religion? A Complex History, IHPST
2018
“Darwin in India: Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s perspective on human evolution”, lecture in HPS326: History of Science and Religion, IHPST
2016
“Introduction to Darwinism” Lecture in HPS326: History of Science and Religion
“Darwinism in Colonial India” IHPST Colloquium
RESEARCH AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2021
“Sir Syed (1817–1898) and Science: The Place of Polymaths and Popularisers in Nineteenth-Century History of Science” Translating 18th- and 19th-Century Science: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Online: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
2020
“The Munsif in Delhi: Intellectual Communities and Vernacular Translations in 19th-Century India,” Colonial Knowledges Conference. Manchester, UK
“Complexities Around Translating Scientific Knowledge in 19th-Century British India,” British Society for the History of Science Global Histories Twitter Conference – Twitter
“Decolonising the History of Evolutionary Biology: A Perspective from 19th-Century India,” Cabinet of Natural History, Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Cambridge, UK
2019
Session Organiser, “Science and its Local Readers in British India,” History of Science Society, Utrecht, Netherlands
“Moving from Complexity to Global Histories of Science and Religion”, International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society, Birmingham, UK
“Darwin or Design? Examining Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s view of human evolution,” Workshop: Imagining the Darwinian Revolution, The Place of History in Science. International Society for Intellectual History, Queensland, Australia
“Disseminating Scientific Knowledge in Colonial India: The Origins of the Scientific Society of Aligarh (est. 1864)” British Society for the History of Science Postgraduate Conference, Cambridge, UK
“A Case Study of Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Commentary on the Holy Bible”, McGill Institute for Islamic Studies Graduate Student Symposium, Montreal, Quebec
2018
“Science, Islam and India: Exploring the Complexity Thesis in the Field of Science and Religion,” History of Science Society, Seattle, Washington
“The Intersection of Christianity, Islam and Science in Colonial India,” Science and Religion – Religion and Science – Friend or Foe or Unrelated? Zurich, Switzerland
2017
“Islam’s Complexity – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) and the Relationship Between Science and Islam in Colonial India,” International Congress for the History of Science, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
“Sir Syed the nechari (naturalist),” Symposium on the History of Science in India, Christchurch, New Zealand
Further information
AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
2019–2021
Ontario Graduate Scholarship
2020
Visiting Student, Department of History, Philosophy and Science, University of Cambridge
2019
Doctoral Completion Award
2014–2018
University of Toronto Fellowship
2015
Woodsworth College Leadership Award
2014
J.R. MacGillivray Fellowship (University College)
2014
Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award
2014
Innis College Leadership Award
TEACHING EXPERIENCE (IHPST, University of Toronto)
2021
Course Instructor, HPS301: Science and Subjects of Empire in the Long Nineteenth Century
Teaching Assistant, HPS100: Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (Online)
2020
Teaching Assistant, HPS301H1: Topics in the History of Science: Medicine and Public Health in the Middle East
Teaching Assistant, HPS200: Science and Values
2019
Teaching Assistant, HPS120H: How to Think About Science
2016
Teaching Assistant, HPS326H: History of Science and Religion
2015
Teaching Assistant, JHE353H: History of Evolutionary Biology
CITIZENSHIP, RESEARCH AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
2021–
Ordinary Member of the Council of the British Society for the History of Science
2020–
Founder and Advisory Board Member, Virtual HistSTM
2020–2021
Research Assistant: Pedagogical Innovation and Experimentation (PIE), University of Toronto
2020
Content Director, BSHS Global Digital History of Science Festival (British Society for the History of Science)
2020
Member, Virtual Forum Committee (History of Science Society)
2019–2023
Diversity Officer for the Graduate and Early Career Caucus (History of Science Society)
2016–2017
Finance and University Governance Commissioner for the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU)
2015–2016
Course Organiser, ‘Indigenous Health Histories’
ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS
History of Science Society (HSS)
British Society for the History of Science (BSHS)