Ashoka University is proud to share that Professor Projit Bihari Mukharji, a distinguished historian at the University and Head of the History Department has been honored with the 2024 Pfizer Award for his acclaimed book, “Brown Skins, White Coats: Race Science in India, 1920–66”. The award, presented by the History of Science Society, recognizes Mukharji’s pioneering research that uncovers the complex intersections of race, science, colonialism and nationalism in India. Through meticulous scholarship, Mukharji’s work provides critical insights into how scientific practices were entangled with racial ideologies, reshaping our understanding of race science within a colonial context.
The Pfizer award is an annual award given by the History of Science Society (HSS) to an outstanding book on the history of science and which has made a significant contribution to the understanding of the history of science. Professor Mukharji’s book, which explores the intersection of colonialism, scientific practices, and the development of healthcare systems in South Asia, has received widespread critical acclaim for its depth, originality, and exploration of historical narratives in genetic studies.
Professor Mukharji’s award-winning book provides a path-breaking contribution to the discussion of race in postcolonial societies. It offers a richly detailed and largely overlooked history of the mobilization of racial thinking and of race science in anticolonial movements and postcolonial nationalism.
In this stirring book, Projit Bihari Mukharji illustrates how India appropriated and repurposed race science to its own ends and argues that these appropriations need to be understood within the national and regional contexts of postcolonial nation-making—not merely as footnotes to a Western history of “normal science.”
On receiving the Pfizer award, Professor Projit Bihari Mukharji said, “I am delighted beyond words to receive the Pfizer Award, as it marks the first time in 66 years that the prize has gone to a book on India. This recognition not only honors my work but also acknowledges the importance of examining such overlooked histories of medical knowledge and practice. I am thrilled that my work has significantly contributed to a broader understanding of global medical history.”
“We are thrilled to congratulate Professor Mukharji on receiving this prestigious recognition,” said Prof. Somak Raychaudhuri, Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University. “His work not only advances the field of history but also sheds light on the deeply interwoven legacies of colonialism and medicine, providing essential perspectives on the subject. This award is a testament to his dedication to scholarship and his ability to engage with complex historical questions in a truly impactful way.”
Projit Bihari’s research largely focuses on the histories of science and medicine in modern South Asia. He is also the author of Nationalizing the Body: The Medical Market, Print and Daktari Medicine (London, 2009), Doctoring Traditions: Ayurveda, Small Technologies and Braided Sciences (Chicago, 2016) and, most recently, Brown Skins, White Coats: Race Science in India, 1920-66 (Chicago, 2022). His articles have appeared in journals such as IESHR, JAS, CSSH, History of Science, Osiris, Technology & Culture, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, etc.
Published by the University of Chicago Press, Professor Mukharji’s Brown Skins, White Coats has been reviewed by leading experts, authors and academic platforms such as Oxford University’s Social History of Medicine; Journal of the History of Biology; Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University; Keith Wailoo, Princeton University, Elise K. Burton, University of Toronto, amongst others.
