Rate My Professor Vahid Fozdar

Vahid Fozdar is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and Global Cultures at California State University, East Bay, where he joined the faculty in 2005. He earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, receiving his doctorate in 2001. His dissertation, "Constructing the 'Brother': Freemasonry, Empire, and Nationalism in India, 1840-1925," explored the dynamics of Freemasonry within the British colonial context in India.

Professor Fozdar is a historian of modern South Asia and colonialism, with research centered on the role of Freemasons in the British Empire in India and the Indian nationalist movement. His scholarly interests extend to the history of the Islamic world, world history, and comparative religions. Key publications include the chapter "Imperial Brothers, Imperial Partners: Indian Freemasons, Race, Kinship, and Networking in the British Empire and Beyond" in the anthology Decentering Empire: Britain, India, and the Transcolonial World (Orient Longman Press, 2006) and the article "'That Grand Primeval and Fundamental Religion': The Transformation of Freemasonry into an Imperial Cult" in the Journal of World History (2011). He is currently completing a book manuscript titled The Lodge in the Raj: Freemasonry, Empire, and Nationalism in India, 1840-1925. Fozdar teaches courses such as HIST 364: The Modern Middle East, serves as a faculty advisor for the BA in History program, and oversees the Friends of History group. His expertise in modern South Asia is noted in university faculty directories.