Worldly Afterlives: Tracing Family Trails Between India and Empire
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Worldly Afterlives: Tracing Family Trails Between India and Empire

by Julia Stephens

Colonialism Non-Fiction History Essays 2025

Summary

What remains of an empire long after its subjects have scattered across the world? In this illuminating work of historical research, Julia Stephens traces the lives of Indian migrants who travelled across the British Empire, uncovering the intimate stories hidden in colonial records, family photographs, heirlooms, and forgotten archives. From the Indian Ocean to Malaya, Zanzibar, South Africa, and beyond, she follows generations of families whose experiences challenge conventional narratives of migration and belonging. Combining archival discoveries with interviews and contemporary family histories, Stephens reveals how colonialism continues to shape identity, memory, and the ways descendants understand their past. A compelling exploration of the human stories behind empire, Worldly Afterlives reimagines history through the lives of those too often left out of its official records.

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About the author
Julia Stephens
Julia Stephens

Julia Stephens is an associate professor of history at Rutgers University in the United States, where she researches the relationship between law, religion, migration, and colonial power in South Asia. Her scholarship examines how imperial institutions shaped the lives of ordinary people and how historical narratives are constructed through official records and personal memories. She is also the author of Governing Islam: Law, Empire, and Secularism in South Asia (2018), which explores the relationship between colonial governance and religious authority in British India. In Worldly Afterlives, Stephens combines rigorous historical research with family histories and contemporary interviews to recover the experiences of Indian migrants across the British Empire. Her work brings together imperial history, diaspora studies, and the study of memory to illuminate the enduring consequences of colonialism.

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Details
Published
2025
Author
Julia Stephens