Yasmin Khan

For other uses, see Yasmin Khan (disambiguation).

Yasmin Cordery Khan is a British historian, novelist and broadcaster whose work focuses on the British Empire, Colonial India and the decolonisation of South Asia. She is a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford and Professor of Modern History based in the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education.^[1]

Professor Yasmin Khan
Khan in 2022
Born	1977 (age 47–48)
Nationality	British
Other names	Yasmin Cordery Khan
Occupation(s)	Historian, novelist and broadcaster
Awards	Gladstone Book Prize
Academic background
Alma mater	St Peter's College, Oxford (BA) St Antony's College, Oxford (DPhil)
Academic work
Discipline	History
Sub-discipline	Colonial history History of the British Empire Colonial India History of Pakistan
Institutions	University of Edinburgh Royal Holloway, University of London Kellogg College, Oxford
Notable works	The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan

Education and career

Khan is from London and of Pakistani and Irish descent.^[2] Khan completed her BA in History at St Peter's College, Oxford. Khan completed her DPhil at St Antony's College, Oxford in 2005 in Imperial and Commonwealth History.^[3]

Khan held positions at the University of Edinburgh and Royal Holloway, University of London before joining Kellogg College in 2012.^[3] Khan's work focuses on decolonisation, British migration histories, British Indian history, the Second World War and the End of Empire.^[1] In October 2024 she was awarded the Title of Distinction of Professor of Modern History by the University of Oxford.^[4]

Khan is a member of the editorial board of History Workshop Journal^[5] and a trustee of the Charles Wallace India Trust.^[6] She served as Kellogg College's senior tutor between 2019 and 2022.^[7][8] Khan was a judge of the 2022 Cundill History Prize administered by McGill University.^[9]

Khan's publications include The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan (2007),^[10] which won the Gladstone Book Prize from the Royal Historical Society^[11] and was long-listed for the Orwell Prize,^[12] and The Raj at War: A People's History of India's Second World War (2015).^[12][13] She has written for the Guardian newspaper,^[14] and appeared on Channel 4 News and BBC Radio.^[15]

Her first work of fiction, Edgware Road, was published in 2022.^[1] A second novel, Overland, was published in 2024.^[16]

Public appearances and media

In Our Time (BBC Radio 4 2012)

Khan appeared on a programme discussing the life and work of Annie Besant.^[17]

A Passage to Britain (BBC 2 2018)

Khan presented a three-part series for BBC 2 in 2018 based on ships' passenger lists between Britain and India to trace the stories of passengers during the three decades before Indian independence in 1947.^[18][19][20]

The first episode, based on the passenger list of the Viceroy of India, included the story of Mulk Raj Anand.^[21]

Britain’s Biggest Dig (BBC 2 2020)

In 2020, Khan presented a three-part series with Professor Alice Roberts for BBC 2 on two major archeological digs carried out in London and Birmingham in preparation for building terminals for the HS2 high-speed railway.^[22]

Selected publications

• The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. Yale University: Yale University Press. 2017 [2007]. ISBN 978-0300230321.
• The Raj at War: A People's History of India's Second World War. London: Vintage. 2015 [2016]. ISBN 978-0099542278.
• Khan, Yasmin Cordery (2022). Edgware Road. London: Head of Zeus Ltd., part of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. ISBN 9781801107341.