2018 - Dr. Carey Watt

Department of History
BA and MA (Concordia), PhD (Cambridge)

Dr. Carey Watt is a scholar of South Asia whose broad interests range from modern Indian to world history, including thematic studies of youth, sports, philanthropy, and citizenship. His recent research and writing has even extended to French colonialism and postcolonial literature in North Africa, as well as the global history of the circus. He joined the Department of History in 2002, and holds a BA and MA from Concordia, as well as a PhD from Cambridge. He is the author of Serving the Nation: Cultures of Service, Association and Citizenship in Colonial India and editor of Civilizing Missions in Colonial and Postcolonial South Asia: From Improvement to Development. He has also published numerous journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Watt was recently awarded a Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute grant that allowed him to carry out extensive research in India, followed by more inquiries in Singapore and Hong Kong. His current study of Eugen Sandow, the famous strongman, bodybuilder and “physical culturist,” reveals the complexities of cross-cultural exchange and understanding in an age of global acceleration at the turn of the twentieth century.