Matthew H. Baxter

Matthew H. Baxter received a PhD (2013) in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley with a dissertation titled, "For SubContinental Political Theory: On the Non-Brahmin Self-Respect Critique of Gandhian Self-Rule." This work focuses on the Non-Brahmin Cuya-Mariyātai Iyakkam (Self-Respect Movement) during the 1920s and 1930s, draws on colonial, missionary, and Tamil archives across the 18th through 20th centuries, and situates articulations of political theory joining South India and Western Europe. Part of this focus involves the limits and possibilities of Gandhian non-violence when addressing structural hierarchies during the interwar period globally — both everyday and extraordinary. His interest in Tamil-speaking South India began as a Shansi Fellow in Madurai, Tamil Nadu from 2000-2002; his subsequent research has been made possible through generous support, including multiple Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships, an American Institute for Indian Studies fellowship, and a Fulbright-Hays DDRA fellowship. From 2012-2014 he served as the Associate Editor for South Asia at the bimonthly journal Asian Survey and from 2014-2015 as a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers University’s Center for Cultural Analysis.