Dr. Devika Shankar is a historian of modern South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. Her research interests primarily lie in the fields of environmental history, economic history and science and technology studies. She received her PhD in History from Princeton University in 2019. She also holds degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi (M.A.; M.Phil.) and the University of Delhi (B.A.).​ Dr. Shankar’s current research project focuses on the port of Cochin (now known as Kochi) on the south-west coast of India and examines how growing environmental concerns generated by the port’s shifting coastline intersected with visions for its development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In showing how rising environmental instability became a catalyst for an ambitious port development project under colonial rule, this project points to longer and more complex histories of austerity and the impulse to turn disasters into opportunities for development.

Project Lead: Routs and Rootes: Walking Tours of South Asian Hong Kong