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{{short description|Indian historian, author, and educator}}

{{Use Indian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Aparna Vaidik
| image = Aparna Vaidik 02.jpg
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| pseudonym =
| birth_date = 22 October
| birth_place = [[Indore]], Madhya Pradesh, India
| death_date =
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| occupation = Historian, Professor, Author, Journalist
| nationality = Indian
| period = 2000 – present
| subject = Indian history, Indian politics, World history and politics
| movement =
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| website = {{URL|https://www.ashoka.edu.in/welcome/faculty#!/aparna-vaidik-17}}
| footnotes =
}}
'''Aparna Vaidik''' (born 22 October) is an Indian historian, author, and educator. Vaidik is a scholar with significant public presence known for her extensive writings on history of the [[Andaman Islands|Andaman islands]], the Indian revolutionaries, histories of social and mythic violence, and histories of seditious conspiracies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vaidik |first=Aparna |date=January 9, 2019 |title=Renaming islands in Andamans obscures complex loyalties, horrific memories |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/naming-erasing-andaman-islands-netaji-subhas-chandra-bose-ina-5529269/ |work=Indian Express}}</ref>

==Early life==
She was born in [[Indore]], Madhya Pradesh.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zehmisch |first1=Philipp |title=Mini-India: The Politics of Migration and Subalternity in the Andaman Islands |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New Delhi, India |isbn=9780199091294}}</ref> She is the daughter of an academic, professor Vedwati Vaidik, and a prominent journalist/political commentator, [[Ved Pratap Vaidik]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vaidik |first1=Aparna |title=Imperial Andamans: Colonial Encounter and Island History |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan UK, Cambridge University Press |location=London |isbn=9780230274884 |page=XVII |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJnWCwAAQBAJ&dq=aparna+vaidik+ved+pratap+vaidik&pg=PR17}}</ref>

Aparna Vaidik's debut book, ''Imperial Andamans: Colonial Encounter and Island History'', was published as part of the [[Cambridge University Press|Cambridge]] Imperial and Postcolonial Studies Series of [[Palgrave Macmillan]] when she was a historian at [[Georgetown University]] in [[Washington, DC]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Anne |last2=Mahn |first2=Churnjeet |title=Partition and the Practice of Memory |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |location=New York |page=67 |isbn=9783319645162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdFBDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22aparna+vaidik%22+born&pg=PA67}}</ref> It examines the penal history of the Andaman Islands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Clare |last2=Mazumdar |first2=Madhumita |last3=Pandya |first3=Vishvajit |title=New Histories of the Andaman Islands: Landscape, Place and Identity in the Bay of Bengal, 1790–2012 |date=11 February 2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=9780429774690 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSB0CwAAQBAJ&dq=%22imperial+andamans%22&pg=PT68}}</ref> Her second book, ''My Son’s Inheritance: A Secret History of Blood Justice and Lynchings in India'', has drawn international attention.<ref name=scroll>{{cite web | url=https://scroll.in/article/951925/lynching-reveals-indias-long-history-of-violence-belying-the-idea-of-a-non-violent-country | title=Lynching reveals India's long history of violence, belying the idea of a non-violent country | publisher=The Scroll (India) | work=Digital article | date=3 February 2020 | access-date=June 22, 2020}}</ref><ref name=scroll2>{{cite web | url=https://scroll.in/article/956689/lynching-in-indias-past-this-book-shows-public-violence-is-ingrained-in-the-history-of-the-land | title=Lynching in India's past: This book shows public violence is ingrained in the history of the land | publisher=The Scroll (India) | work=Digital article | date=28 March 2020 | access-date=June 22, 2020}}</ref><ref name=firstpost>{{cite web | url=https://www.firstpost.com/living/books-of-the-week-from-the-deoliwallahs-to-aparna-vaidiks-history-of-lynching-in-india-our-picks-8041071.html | title=Books of the week: From The Deoliwallahs to Aparna Vaidik's history of lynching in India, our picks | publisher=Firstpost (India) | work=Digital article | date=16 February 2020 | access-date=June 22, 2020}}</ref><ref name=ThePrint>{{cite web | url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/thank-the-printing-press-for-making-the-cow-into-a-hindu-gaumata/365931/ | title=Thank the printing press for making the cow into a Hindu gaumata | publisher=ThePrint (India) | work=Digital article | date=15 February 2020 | access-date=June 22, 2020}}</ref> Her third book, ''Waiting for Swaraj: Inner Lives of Indian Revolutionaries'' was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Vaidik |first=Aparna |title=Waiting for Swaraj: The Inner Lives of Indian Revolutionaries |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-83808-5 |location=New York, Cambridge UK}}</ref> A fifth book on a famous trial of the Indian revolutionaries in during British India, ''Revolutionaries on Trial: Sedition, Betrayal and Martyrdom,'' was published by Aleph in 2024.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Vaidik |first=Aparna |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1450713755 |title=Revolutionaries on Trial: Sedition, Betrayal, and Martyrdom |date=2024 |publisher=Aleph Book Company |isbn=978-93-90652-30-3 |location=New Delhi |oclc=}}</ref>

==Academic career as a historian==
Vaidik earned a bachelor's degree in history from [[St. Stephen’s College]], [[University of Delhi]], ''summa cum laude''. She won the Westcott Memorial Prize, E. R. Kapadia Memorial Prize, Shankar Prasad Memorial Gold Medal, and the Dip Chand Memorial Prize for distinguished work in history.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vaidik |first=Aparna |date=11 November 2020 |title=The Book is an Outcome of My Disquiet… My Book of Mourning |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/aparna-vaidik-interview-7047876/ |access-date= |website=The Indian Express |language=}}</ref> At the [[University of Cambridge]] she also studied history for a master's degree, with a thesis on Lord Curzon’s cultural policy that won the Dorothy Foster Sturman Prize. Her PhD in History is from [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]]'s Centre for Historical Studies. She taught for several years in the [[University of Delhi]] and at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, before returning to India to accept a position as the founding faculty member of the history department and programme at [[Ashoka University]]. The Indian Council for Historical Research has supported her research with grants, as have Georgetown University, the Charles Wallace Trust, and the [[Andrew Mellon Foundation]].

==Philanthropy and public service==
Literacy, libraries, and a free, world-class education for all make up an important part of Vadik's public life. Vaidik is the Trustee President of the Rameshwardass [[Dharmarth Trust]] that was set up by her maternal grandfather in 1967. The Trust is known widely for its cultural and educational activities and its building, Dharam Bhavan, is a local landmark. The Trust has set up a community library for children with The Community Library Project.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Koshy |first1=Mridula |title=Open Books: Why India Needs a Library Movement |journal=The Caravan (India) |date=June 2017 |volume=9 |issue=6 |page=76 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5YnDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22the+community+library+project%22&pg=PA81}}</ref>

==Selected works==
===Books===
* ''Revolutionaries on Trial: Sedition, Betrayal and Martyrdom,'' Aleph, 2024''.<ref name=":1" />''

*''Waiting for Swaraj: Inner Lives of Indian Revolutionaries,'' Cambridge University Press, 2021''.<ref name=":0" />''
* ''My Son’s Inheritance: A Secret History of Blood Justice and Lynchings in India,'' Aleph, 2020''.<ref>{{cite news |date=November 5, 2019 |title=Dr. Aparna Vaidik |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/times-litfest-2019/speakers/dr-aparna-vaidik/articleshow/71865988.cms |work=The Times of India}}</ref>''
* ''Imperial Andamans: Colonial Encounter and Island History'', Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series of Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vaidik |first1=Aparna |title=Imperial Andamans: Colonial Encounter and Island History |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series, Palgrave MacMillan |location=London, UK |url=https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230576056}}</ref>

===Journal articles===
* "Recognizing Invisible Oppression with the Drama Pyramid: Adding the Bystander Role and the Cultural Parent to the Drama Triangle". ''Transactional Analysis Journal'' (co-authored with Aruna Gopakumar), 2024.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gopakumar |first=Aruna |last2=Vaidik |first2=Aparna |date=2024-04-02 |title=Recognizing Invisible Oppression With the Drama Pyramid: Adding the Bystander Role and the Cultural Parent to the Drama Triangle |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03621537.2024.2323868 |journal=Transactional Analysis Journal |language=en |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=150–163 |doi=10.1080/03621537.2024.2323868 |issn=0362-1537|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* "History: A Handmaid's Tale". ''History and Theory,'' 2023.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vaidik |first=Aparna |date=1 December 2023 |title=History: A Handmaid's Tale |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hith.12318 |journal=History and Theory |language= |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=132–141 |doi=10.1111/hith.12318 |issn=0018-2656}}</ref>
* "Rewriting World History in the Classroom: Pedagogical Dispatches from India", ''Journal of Asian World History'' (co-authored with Gwen Kelly). 2019.
* "History of a Renegade Revolutionary: Revolutionism and Betrayal in British India", ''Postcolonial Studies,'' 2013.
* "Settling the Convict: Matrimony and Family in the Andamans", ''Studies in History,'' JNU, 2006.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[https://www.ashoka.edu.in/welcome/faculty#!/aparna-vaidik-17 University Website]
*[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/times-litfest-2019/speakers/dr-aparna-vaidik/articleshow/71865988.cms ''Times of India'']
*[http://www.alephbookcompany.com/authors/aparna-vaidik Biography at Aleph Book Company]
*[https://theprint.in/india/governance/ashoka-university-slammed-for-teaching-anti-hindu-anti-brahmin-book/164268/ Controversy over teachings]
*[https://scroll.in/author/3082 Author page at ''The Scroll'']
*[https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/ht-picks-the-most-interesting-books-of-the-week/story-G32O5t4vnsmUF3COoYIaWO.html Most Interesting Books of the Week]
*[https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/APARNAVAIDIK Academia page with book reviews]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaidik, Aparna}}
[[Category:Indian women historians]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Delhi University alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Aparna Vaidik - Revision history

Republic Bangla at 16:11, 25 April 2026