Education:

Ph.D., University of Cambridge

Expertise:

South Asian history, Afghanistan, Central Asia, modern imperialism, British imperialism, world history

Background:

Before joining GWU, Ben Hopkins was a research fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, for two years. He had also been a visiting professor in the department of International History at the London School of Economics. He received his BSc. in International Relations and History from the LSE and his PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Professor Hopkins works on the modern history of the South Asian subcontinent, with a focus on Afghanistan and British imperialism in the region. He is particularly interested in the political and cultural constellations which emerged during the period of European colonialism. His first book, The Making of Modern Afghanistan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), examines the failed efforts of the British East India Company to construct a modern Afghan state in the early nineteenth century and the consequences of that failure for the region. He is currently working on a co-authored volume entitled Fragments of the Frontier (Hurst & Co., forthcoming), which analyzes the formation and governance of the Frontier, as well as the everyday lived experiences of its inhabitants. Professor Hopkins has additionally published articles on the slave trade in Central Asia in the nineteenth century, Perso-Afghan boundary disputes and the history of jihad on the North-West Frontier.

Professor Hopkins' research has been supported by the Nuffield Foundation (UK), the British Academy, and the American Institute of Iranian Studies. In 2005, his dissertation won the Senior Rouse Ball prize from Trinity College, Cambridge for scholarly excellence.

Courses Taught: