“Radical Biography,” a panel for the American Historical Association, presented virtually and co-sponsored by the Leon Levy Center for Biography, featuring Kai Bird as host and David Nasaw as discussant, Spring 2022.
Chair and discussant, in conversation with Vineet Thakur, about his book India’s First Diplomat: V.S. Srinivasa Shastri and the Making of Liberal Internationalism, Biographies of Interwar -Isms, GloBio Working Group, spring 2022.
In conversation with Kapil Komireddi, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, May 2021. Watch here.
Inaugural speaker, by invitation, “The Most Remarkable Woman: The International Life and Diplomacy of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit,” and in conversation with Taylor Sherman, GloBio (The Global Biography Working Group), The London School of Economics, with support from the Universities of Copenhagen and Sheffield, April 2021.
Interviewed by Deyasini Roy and Samina Hadi Tabassum, “Stories of the Indian Diaspora, #TellMeYourStory Digital Magazine, April 2021.
Invited speaker, “India’s Struggle with CoVid and Beyond,” International Horizons Podcast, Hosted by John Torpey, The Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, April 2021. Listen here.
Invited speaker, “Election Crises in Polarized Democracies,” panel discussion, Sponsored by Open Gov Hub, Fall 2020.
Invited speaker, panel discussion of democracy and nationality, “How Democracy Survives: The Crises of the Nation State,” Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future, Boston University, Fall 2020. Watch here.
Invited speaker, National Human Rights Commission of India, New Delhi, student internship program, Fall 2020.
Invited speaker, “The U.S. elections,” Centre for Canadian, US, and Latin American Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Fall 2020
Invited speaker, “The UN at 75 and a Century of Indian Multilateralism (panel discussion),” The Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, Summer 2020.
Invited speaker, “India on the Edge: Authoritarianism and Violence in the World’s Largest Democracy,” World Affairs Council of New Hampshire (in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Connecticut), May 2020.
Invited speaker, “Universities Under Attack: Perspectives from India, Turkey, and Chile,” panel discussion, The India China Institute, The New School, February 2020.
Invited speaker, “Life and Thought of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit,” Global Thinkers of the International Project, Somerville and St. Cross Colleges, University of Oxford, February 2020. 
Invited speaker, The International Human Rights Committee, New York City Bar Association, October 2019.
In conversation with WNYC’s Arun Venugopal for the book launch of India and the Cold War, Roosevelt House, Hunter College, Fall 2019.
Co-organizer, with John Torpey, “Human Rights in an Age of Inequality,” the Ralph Bunche Institute, CUNY Graduate Center, Fall 2019. Featuring: Samuel Moyn, Eriz Weitz, Carol Gould, Frederick Cooper, Marc Edelman, Domna Stanton, Jessie Daniels, Janet Haven, Cathy O’Neil, Mutale Nkonde, Anil Kalhan, Jessica Neuwirth, Ken Roth, Teng Biao, Abhijit Banerjee, Yasheng Huang, Paul Krugman, and Kathryn Sikkink.
Invited speaker, Human Rights Day 2018, Hunter College High School, Fall 2018.
In conversation with David Engerman, NYU Cold War History Seminar Book Series, Fall 2018.
Invited speaker. “Beyond the Nation: Ambedkar and the Anti-Isolation of Fellowship,” paper co-authored with Anjani Kapoor, Draper Workshop on the History of Human Rights, Panel organized by Manisha Sinha, with Sam Moyn, Glenn Mitoma, and Amy Dru Stanley, Fall 2018.
Orientation panelist, Luce Scholars National Incoming Cohort 2018, Summer 2018.
Discussant, Alanna O’Malley, “Liberal World Order: The Global South and the United Nations, 1955-1981,” at the Cold War History Seminar at NYU, Spring 2018.
Keynote speaker (by invitation). “The Nehruvian Legacy.” Event to launch the Indo-US Democracy Foundation, a new think tank, Fall 2017. Media coverage: The Indian Panorama, India Abroad, India West.
Invited speaker. “Beyond the Nation: Ambedkar and the Anti-Isolation of Fellowship,” paper co-authored with Anjani Kapoor, at the Quest for Equity: Revisiting Ambedkar, Reclaiming Social Justice International Conference, Bengaluru (Bangalore), India, Summer 2017.
Speaker, book launch of Basharat Peer’s A Question of Order, co-sponsored by the New America Foundation NYC and The India Center. Other panelists included Sheri Berman and Elmira Bayrasli. March 2017.
Invited speaker, Conference on “The Rise of International Authoritarianism in the Western Balkans.” Spoke about the rise of authoritarianism globally. Harriman Institute, Columbia University, October 2016.
Moderator (by invitation), “Kashmir: Past, Present, Future.” Panel at the third annual Indo-American Arts Council Literary Festival, NYU, with Rakesh Kaul and John Isaac, October 2016.
Invited speaker. “India, Internationalism, and World Affairs.” The Takshashila Institute, Bengaluru (Bangalore), India, Summer 2016. Read the press release here. Listen to my follow-up podcast, speaking on the rise of global authoritarianism, here.
Invited speaker. “Thoughts on the U.S. Elections.” The Center for Canadian, US, and Latin American Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, Summer 2016.
Invited speaker. “Gandhi and Interwar Internationalism.” CIPOD, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, Summer 2016.
Invited speaker. “India, Internationalism, and the Modern World.” KNH India, New Delhi, Summer 2016.
Invited speaker. Delivered “Indian Foreign Policy and Global Change: Multilateralism from Nehru to Modi,” UConn, co-sponsored by the United Nations Association of Connecticut; Citizens for Global Solutions, Mansfield; and the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute; Storrs, CT, March 2016. Details here.
Invited speaker. Book presentation/brown bag lunch on The Peacemakers / India and the Quest for One World, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy Annual Council Meeting, United Nations Church Center, New York City, November 2015. Details here.
Invited speaker. Delivered “India Awake? The Promise and the Peril of Recent Elections in the World’s Largest Democracy,” The World Affairs Forum, Great Decisions series, co-sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association, hosted by the Greenwich Library, Greenwich, CT, February 2015. Details here.
Co-organizer (with Syed Akbar Hyder) and speaker, Jashn-e Gail Minault Conference, South Asia Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, February 2015. Details here.
Invited speaker. Delivered “Towards Universal Relief and Rehabilitation: India, UNRRA, and the New Internationalism,” Department of History and the Institute for Humanities Research, University of California at Santa Cruz, February 2015. Details here.
Invited speaker, International Honors Program (IHP) Human Rights/SIT Study Abroad, delivered seminar on the history of human rights, New York, January 2015.
Moderator (by invitation), “Women Who Lead,” Conversation with Ambassador Nirupama Rao, 10th Media India Lecture, Consulate General of India, New York, December 2014. Details here. Sample media coverage here. Watch a condensed video version of the event here.
Discussant, “Indian Secularism on a Global Stage: Reconsidering Muslim Belonging in Nehru’s India,” presentation by Taylor Sherman (LSE), Center for International History, Columbia University, November 2014. Poster here.
Discussant, “Shadows of Universalism, other Cosmopolitanisms,” with Samuel Moyn (Harvard) and Lydia Liu (Columbia), moderated by Gary Wilder (GC), Humanity Seminar, The Committee on Globalization and Social Change, CUNY Graduate Center, October 2014. Download poster here.
Discussant, Book release of The Past Before Us, with Romila Thapar (author), David Ludden (NYU), and Barbara Kowalzig (NYU), April 2014.
Invited speaker, delivered paper on “K.M. Munshi and the Origins of Fundamental Rights in India’s Constitution,” (via Skype due to weather) at the Conference on Human Rights Constitutionalism: Global Aspirations, Local Realties, Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, University of Texas School of Law, February 2014.
Invited speaker, IHP Human Rights/SIT Study Abroad, delivered seminar on the history of human rights, New York, January 2014.
Speaker/contributor, “India and the United Nations,” author’s conference, OUP Handbook on Indian Foreign Policy, New Delhi, Co-sponsored by the Centre for Policy Research and the Observer Research Foundation, January 2014.
Speaker, plenary panel on the future of liberal arts higher education in India, Raman Research Institute Conference (Bangalore) co-sponsored by Yale University and Pomona College, January 2014.
Book discussion of The Peacemakers, SOAS, University of London, October 2013.
Invited participant. Delivered paper on India and UNRRA at the “Wartime History and the Future United Nations” author workshop, SOAS, University of London, October 2013.
Invited speaker. Delivered a paper entitled “K.M. Munshi and the Origins of Fundamental Rights in India’s Constitution” at the “Fortunately There were Rebels,” Workshop on the Constituent Assembly of India, Princeton University, October 2013.
Invited speaker. Book discussion of The Peacemakers. South Asia Seminar, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, November 2012.
Invited discussant, book launch of Ananya Vajpeyi’s Righteous Republic, at New York University. Other panelists included David Ludden (NYU), Gyan Prakash (Princeton), and Sanjay Reddy (New School). Fall 2012.
Multiple events in India related to The Peacemakers release, Summer 2012.
Invited speaker. “India, Human Rights, and the Search for Global Government.” King’s College, London, India Institute. Chaired by Sunil Khilnani. Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Ambassador Shyam Saran, discussants, June 2012.
“Emerging Economies in Global Governance: An Indian Perspective (A talk by Ambassador Shyam Saran). Discussant with Pratap Bhanu Mehta; panel chaired by Sunil Khilnani. King’s College, London, India Institute, June 2012.
Invited speaker, Discussion of The Peacemakers: India and the Quest for One World, NYU Global South Asia Conference, February 2012.
Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, Conversation with Madhusree Mukerjee, author of Churchill’s Secret War, October 2011.
Committee on Religion, delivered a presentation entitled “K.M. Munshi and the Problem of Gandhism,” Spring 2011, CUNY Graduate Center.
Roosevelt House Seminar on Human Rights, delivered talk on India and human rights, Spring 2011, Hunter College.
Invited speaker, The Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, delivered a presentation entitled “Uniting Nations 2020: A Decade-long Vision for India’s Relations with the U.N.” Part of IDSA’s National Strategy Project, December 2010.
Invited Commentator, Global Intellectual History Conference, Co-sponsored by New York University and Columbia University, “Conceptualizing a Global History of Fascism,” Spring 2010.
Invited speaker, Society of Indian Academics in America. “Internationalizing India: Gandhi, Nehru and Universal Human Rights.” Spring 2010.
Invited speaker, The Gandhian Forum for Peace and Justice at William Paterson University of New Jersey, 1 October 2009. Spoke on “Gandhi and Human Rights” in a lecture commemorating Gandhi’s birth anniversary.
Co-organizer with John Wallach. Human Rights in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 10 December 2008, Hunter College.
Co-Moderator, with Anthony Browne, “Diversity in Undergraduate Curricula in Higher Education: A Conversation with Lani Guinier and Johnnetta Cole.” 25 September 2008, Hunter College.
Global Governance Seminar Series, Ralph Bunche Institute, Graduate Center-CUNY. Co-sponsored by the Academic Council on the United Nations System. 23 September 2008. Spoke on “A New Hope: India, the United Nations and the Making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
Eleanor Roosevelt Faculty Seminar on Public Policy, Roosevelt House, Hunter College, Spring 2008, presented “A New Hope: India, the United Nations, and the Making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
Beyond Independence Conference, Royal Holloway, University of London, Spring 2007, presented “A New Hope: India, the United Nations, and the Making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
19th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Leiden, The Netherlands, Summer 2006, presented “A New Hope: India, the United Nations, and the Making of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
The Asia Society, 4th Annual South Asian Human Rights Film Festival, invited co-discussant with Vasuki Nesiah, Spring 2006, commented on “Communities in Conflict” documentaries Lanka: The Other Side of War and Peace and Karnaphulir Kanna
University of Southampton (England), invited speaker, Summer 2005, presented “Princely States and the Hindu Imaginary: Exploring the Cartography of Hindu Nationalism in Colonial India”
Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, Spring 2005, presented “Princely Baroda and the Hindu Imaginary: Exploring the Cartography of Hindu Nationalism in Colonial India” as part of a panel entitled “Alternate Narratives of Religious Change in Western India: Understanding Gujarati Religiosity in South Asian Contexts.”
South Asia Symposium, College of DuPage (Chicago), invited speaker, May 2004, presented a lecture entitled “The Narmadam(n)ed: Development and Rising Tides in Contemporary India”
Annual Conference on South Asia, The University of California at Berkeley, invited panelist, February 2004, delivered paper entitled “Princely States and the Hindu Imaginary: Exploring the Cartography of Hindu Nationalism in Colonial India”
The Dynamics of Diversity: Narratives of Pluralism in South Asian History, Indiana University (Bloomington), February 2003, conference organizer, chaired panel on “Narratives of Pluralism.” Also organized as a panel at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. The panel was awarded “South Asia Council designated panel” status.
South Asia Beyond the Stereotypes Lecture Series, Bucknell University, October 2001, invited speaker, delivered paper entitled “(Mis)Representing Economy: Western Media Production and the Impoverishment of South Asia”
Nations and Relations: Nationalism, National Identities, and International Environments, International Security Studies, Yale University, April 2001, invited commentator, panel on “Constructing States and Nations”
Indirect Rule in Africa and South Asia: Colonial “Traditionalism” and its Legacy on the (post)Modern World, Yale University, March 2001, conference co-organizer (with Michael R. Mahoney), delivered paper entitled “Recovering the Sovereign: Princes, Education, and Empire in Colonial India”
South Asian Studies Faculty Research Workshop, Yale University, October 2000, delivered paper entitled “The Rebel Academy: The Movement for a University in Princely Baroda, 1908-1949”
Courts Without Kings?, North American Society for Court Studies, Boston, MA, September 2000, delivered paper entitled “Demystifying the ‘Ideal Progressive’: Resistance Through Mimicked Modernity in Princely Baroda, 1900-1913” focusing on 1911-1913
Cities and Social Change: Contemporary Societies in Area Studies, a teacher institute sponsored by the National Resource Centers of the University of Texas at Austin, June 1999, delivered a lecture on “Urban Areas and Social Change in India” and a lecture on “Youth Culture in South Asia: History and Practice”
Annual Conference on South Asia, The University of Wisconsin at Madison, October 1998, delivered paper entitled “Demystifying the ‘Ideal Progressive’: Resistance Through Mimicked Modernity in Princely Baroda, 1900-1913” focusing on 1900-1910
Open Borders, Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Disciplinary Dissertations in Progress, The University of Texas at Austin, April 1995, delivered paper entitled “Imagined Elitism”
Annual Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, Washington D.C., Spring 1995, delivered paper entitled “Creating New Identities?”
Annual Conference on South Asia, The University of Wisconsin at Madison, November 1994, organized panel on Nationalism and National Identity in Twentieth Century India and delivered revised paper entitled “The Foundation and Early Development of Benares Hindu University”
Ethnicity and Conflict Seminar, The University of Texas at Austin, November 1994, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, discussed the role of higher education in the emergence of ethnic identities in India
Southwest Regional Conference of the Association of Asian Studies, Texas A&M University, October 1994, delivered paper entitled “Creating a New Identity?”
Annual Conference for Advanced Research on Indian Studies, The University of Virginia, April 1994, delivered paper entitled “The Foundation and Early Development of Benares Hindu University”
Manu Bhagavan 