Phd Student Jacob Thomas

Jacob Thomas has been pursuing his Doctorate at the Department of History under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Kama Maclean since April 2024 as a part of the DFG Project, “A Sonic Approach to Anti-Colonialism in Interwar India.”

Prior to joining the SAI, Thomas completed a B.A. (Hons.) degree in History from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. This was followed by a M.A. degree (2018) in Modern South Asian history from the History Department, University of Delhi. From October 2021 to April 2024, Thomas was at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Goettingen, pursuing an M.A. degree in Modern Indian Studies with a disciplinary focus on Anthropology and History. 

For his PhD, Thomas is studying the early days of the (Congress) Socialist Movement in Malabar district of present-day Kerala through a sonic lens. The PhD project will study the use of songs and slogans by the Kerala Congress Socialist Party leadership to widen the social base of the anti-colonial movement in Malabar. Thomas' broader research interests include histories of leftist movements in the global south, histories of nationalism, religion, political thought, and the use of anthropological approaches to write social histories.