University Directory

Amber H. Abbas, PhD

Associate Professor

Director of Asian Studies Program

Amber Heather Abbas PhD

Department

Office

Barbelin 112O

Phone

610-660-1744
Contact

Dr. Abbas' research focuses on the period of transition associated with the 1947 Independence and Partition of India, and its particular impact on South Asian Muslims. This research considers questions of state, nation and identity building as well as methodological questions about the role of oral history as a source for understanding the past. Dr. Abbas' research confronts questions of meaning and its impact in people's lives. Lately, these interests have encouraged her to expand her work to explore the South Asian Diaspora in the United States. In this work, she works closely with The South Asian American Digital Archive. In addition to dozens of oral interviews with men and women in South Asia, Dr. Abbas has consulted archives in England, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

    • BA, Duke University
    • MA, PhD, University of Texas, Austin
    • 2019-2020 President, Board of Directors, The South Asian American Digital Archive
    • 2015-Present Member, Education Committee, The Oral History Association
    • 2014-2017 Co-Chair, Academic Council, The South Asian American Digital Archive
    • 2014-2015 Program Committee, Oral History Association 2015 Conference
    • “A Living Legacy: Sir Sayyid Today,” in The Cambridge Companion to Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, ed. Yasmin Saikia and M. Raisur Rahman (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 255-272.
    • “Belonging and the Beginning of the Past in Pakistan,” in Hidden Histories: Religion and Reform in South Asia, eds. Syed Akbar Hyder and Manu Bhagavan. (Delhi: Primus Books, 2018), 27-47.
    • “Disruption and Belonging: Aligarh University and the Changing Meaning of Place Since Partition,” The Oral History Review Vol. 44, No. 2 (Sept. 2017): 301-321.
    • “The Solidarity Agenda: Aligarh Students and the Demand for Pakistan,” South Asian History and Culture Special Issue: Defying the Perpetual Exception: Culture and Power in South Asian Islam, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2014): 147-162.
    • “The Pedagogy of the Archive: South Asian America in the University Classroom,” The Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 33, No. 4 (Summer 2014): 61-66.
    • “For the Sound of Her Voice,” The Appendix: Out Loud, Vol. 1 No. 3. July 2013.
    • Review of Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War by Sarmila Bose. H-Memory, H-Net Reviews. 2011.
    • “Thinking Through Partition.” SAGAR 17 (2007): 1-10.
    • 2018 Faculty Merit Award for Teaching, Saint Joseph’s University.
    • 2015 S.S. Pirzada Dissertation Prize in Pakistan Studies. Institute for South Asia Studies, The University of California, Berkeley.
    • 2014 International Seminar on Decolonization. National History Center funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Washington, DC.
    • 2009 American Institute of Bangladesh Studies Junior Research Fellowship
    • 2008 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
    • 2008 Critical Language Scholarship for Intensive Language Institutes (Urdu), National Security Language Initiative, United States Department of State.
    • 2007 Jan Carleton Perry Prize for Best Master’s Thesis “Thinking Through Partition: Finishing the Narrative,” Department of History, UT Austin.
    • 1999-2000 Fulbright Full Grant in Pakistan, Institute of International Education, United States Department of State.
    • Dr. Abbas’ research focuses on the period of transition associated with the 1947 Independence and Partition of India, and its particular impact on South Asian Muslims. In addition to dozens of oral interviews with men and women in South Asia, Dr. Abbas has consulted archives in England, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Dr. Abbas’ most recent publications are:
    • “Disruption and Belonging: Aligarh University and the Changing Meaning of Place Since Partition,” The Oral History Review (Forthcoming, Summer/Fall 2017).
    • “The Solidarity Agenda: Aligarh Students and the Demand for Pakistan,” South Asian History and Culture Special Issue: Defying the Perpetual Exception: Culture and Power in South Asian Islam, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2014): 147-162.
    • “For the Sound of Her Voice,” The Appendix: Out Loud, Vol. 1 No. 3. July 2013.
    • “Thinking Through Partition.” SAGAR 17 (2007): 1-10.
    • She is an active contributor to the South Asian American Digital Archive, and regularly participates in "Partition Stories" events with the 1947 Partition Archive.