Daud Ali

Daud Ali is an American historian of Indian descent, born in Calcutta, India. He is currently Associate Professor of South Asian history at the University of Pennsylvania and the editor of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Ali obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and Religious studies at the College of William & Mary and then a Master of Arts degree in the history of religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. At Chicago he was a student of Ronald Inden. After his receiving his Ph.D. from the Department of History at the University of Chicago, he taught history for fourteen years at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Since 2009, he has been at the University of Pennsylvania. Ali's interests range widely over the history South Asia as a whole, covering themes such as courtly protocol, gardens, gastronomy, war and violence. His analysis of feudalism and the historiography of the medieval, in particular his critique of B. D. Chattopadhyaya, have been particularly influential.