Shereen Ilahi

Shereen Ilahi earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Modern European History from The University of Texas at Austin, where she focused on British Imperialism in India and Ireland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her 2016 monograph analyzes imperial violence and British strategies of rule in India and Ireland in the immediate aftermath of World War One. Her research interests include gender and sexuality in South Asia and Ireland during British rule. In addition to her scholarship as a historian, she researches and publishes on the scholarship of teaching and learning with special focus on general education and assessment.

In Fall 2018, Dr. Ilahi became North Central’s inaugural Director of General Education for four years. She had the honor of becoming a Faculty Fellow in the Provost's Office (2023-24) and currently serves as the Coordinator of Institutional Assessment and Coordinator of the Senior Seminar, CARD 400, "Liberal Arts and the Problems of Today."

Dr. Ilahi teaches courses on European, Indian, Irish, and Middle Eastern history. She also contributes regularly to the Gender and Sexuality Studies program, to the Global Studies program, to the College Scholar's Honors Program, and to Cardinal Directions (our general education curriculum). 

Selected Scholarship

Imperial Violence and the Path to Independence: India, Ireland and the Crisis of Empire (London: I.B.Tauris, 2016)

"Research Note:  Sectarian Violence and the British Raj: The Muharram Riots of Lucknow," India Review Vol.6, No. 3 (July-September 2007), pp. 184-208.

"The Radcliffe Boundary Commission and the Fate of Kashmir," India Review Vol.2, No.1 (January 2003), pp. 77-102.  Reprinted in Tai Yong Tan and Gyanesh Kudaisya, eds.  Partition and Post-Colonial South Asia: A Reader vol.1, part 3 (New York: Routledge, 2008)

Courses Taught

HST 385: World Wars of the Twentieth Century

HIST 281: 20th C Europe: Hitler vs Stalin

HIST 280: 19th C Europe: Sex & Mass Hysteria

HIST 275: Sexuality

HIST 268: India, Empire, & Violence

HIST 208: History & Hollywood Films

HIST 200: Historical Methods

HST 180: Global Power & the Middle East

HIST 140: Ireland - Famine to Freedom

GSST 100: Sex, Gender and Sexuality

GLST 366: Global Power and the British Empire

CARD 400: Liberal Arts & Public Health Crises

CARD 260: May Term Study Abroad in Ireland

HONR 300: Honor's Thesis Practicum