Faculty

Edwin Hirschman

Professor Emeritus
PhD University of Wisconsin, 1972

Edwin Hirschmann earned his PhD in History at the University of Wisconsin in 1972. His dissertation, “The Ilbert Bill as a Crisis in Imperial Relations,” served as the basis for his first book, "White Mutiny": The Ilbert Bill Crisis in India and the Genesis of the Indian National Congress (New Delhi: Heritage, 1980). Dr. Hirschmann is most recently the author of Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India (Oxford U. Press, 2008), and is currently working on a project focusing on racism and other human weaknesses that corroded the high-and-mighty British Raj.

At Towson, Dr. Hirschmann was the founding co-chair of the Asian Studies Committee. He has served as the President of the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies, a member and later president of the Statewide Faculty Senate, and President of the Towson AAUP/Faculty Association.

Looking back at his career at Towson, Dr. Hirschmann writes:

“When I joined the faculty of Towson in 1969, I was an Indologist who was teaching history for a living. In addition to my India sequence, I taught courses in Islamic history, Southeast Asia, imperialism, and both halves of Western Civ. Over the years, I gradually became a historian whose research area was India. Now that I only teach India, I'd like to think I've achieved a mature blend of the two.

When I arrived at Towson in 1969, it was a state college, just emerging from the teacher's college embryo. It has grown tremendously in size, scope, and outlook. I'd like to think I've contributed my share.”

Selected Publications:

• Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Recent Lectures and Presentations

• Within the last few years Dr. Hirschmann has given papers at the World History Association, National Association of British Studies, South Asian Studies Association, and Mid-Atlantic Region of Association of Asian Studies.

Awards and Honors

• Over the course of his career, Dr. Hirschmann has been awarded three different Fulbright grants for research and study in India, most recently a Senior Grant in 2005-6.