Dr Gavin Rand
Lecturer in HistoryOffice Hours
Monday 12 - 1pm
Wednesday 10 - 11am
Friday 1 - 2pm
I joined the School of Humanities & Social Sciences in 2005, having made my way gradually south from Glasgow, where I was born and brought up. I studied Politics and Modern History as an undergraduate at the University of Manchester and remained in Manchester for my postgraduate work, completing first an MA in Cultural History and then a Doctorate, awarded in 2004.
After completing my thesis, I taught for a year in the Department of History at Lancaster University and, in 2005, I arrived at Greenwich, where I am now History Programme Leader.
My work explores the transmissions between Britain and empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a particular focus on British engagements in South Asia. A cultural historian by training, most of my research examines the role of culture in framing the administration, coordination and governance of empire, though I am also interested in the impacts of empire on British society and culture, an interest reflected in much of my teaching.
Research Interests
My research interests cohere around empire, India and the imperial military, and I am currently working on several, interrelated themes.
- Extending the Foucauldian governmentality analytic by focussing on the history of the Indian Army in the late nineteenth century, my current research charts the role of particular forms of knowledge and expertise in mobilising but also delimiting colonial power.
- The interrelationship of technology, culture and military power is the subject to which the bulk of my recent research has been addressed. I am especially interested in the cultural meanings invested in technological solutions to strategic and tactical problems during the colonial period.
I would welcome contact from prospective students interested in working on these, or related, fields as well as from those interested in other avenues for postgraduate research in History at Greenwich.
Select Publications
“Learning the Lessons of ‘57: reconstructing the imperial military after the rebellion” in C. Bates and G. Rand, eds., 1857: Military Perspectives, (forthcoming Sage, 2008)
‘“Martial Races” and “Imperial Subjects”: Violence and Governance in Colonial India, 1857-1914’”, European Review of History – Revue europeene d’Histoire 13, 1, 2006