The Obaid Siddiqi Lectures, an annual series hosted by the Obaid Siddiqi Chair in the History and Culture of Science at the Archives at NCBS, will take place in Bengaluru this month. Dr. Samira Sheikh, a South Asian historian and Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University, will deliver the talks as the current chair holder. Her studies center on early modern and modern western India, especially Gujarat, along with river and coastal histories, cartography, and the social aspects of trade, labor, and administration. She wrote Forging a Region: Sultans, Traders, and Pilgrims in Gujarat, 1200–1500 and is preparing two books on mapping in South Asia. Her approach blends archival study with spatial and digital tools to reconsider how Indian places were understood and shaped over time. The three lectures are scheduled as follows: The Mughal Map Mystery on July 10 at 5:30 p.m. in Dasheri Auditorium, NCBS; Walking the Dotted Line: Mapping Borders Before the Nation on July 16 at 5:30 p.m. at National Law School of India University; and Secrets and Lines: A Short History of Boundaries in India on July 19 at 5:30 p.m. at Bangalore International Centre. Admission is free. Further details are available at www.ncbs.res.in/events/osl-ss.
