Christina Welsch’s The Company’s Sword co-winner of John Ben Snow Prize

Christina Welsch’s book The Company’s Sword: The East India Company and the Politics of Militarism, 1644-1858, earned the 2023 John Ben Snow Prize for the best book in pre-1800 British Studies. Welsch’s first book, which flips India’s traditional historical narrative about colonial India, won the prize, along with Concordia University Professor Ted McCormick for his book Human Empire.

Welsch, associate professor of history and South Asian studies at The College of Wooster, received the award Nov. 11 at the national conference of the North American Conference on British Studies in Baltimore, Maryland.

“It’s a huge honor to win the award because I know how strong the other books in the contest were,” Welsch said. Considering the increased number of new, innovative, and groundbreaking work in the field of medieval and pre-1800 British history that is changing historical perspectives, “getting recognized through the John Ben Snow prize means that my book succeeded in adding to that conversation and in explaining why the history that I study has a broader importance.”

During the conference, Welsch had conversations with two scholars about a potential collaboration based on shared research ideas. “The award helps to increase the visibility of my work so that other scholars who might be interested in some of the same themes and questions as I am—the East India Company, the movement of soldiers, South India, etcetera—know me as a potential point of contact and collaboration,” she said. The award also demonstrates to publishers and grant organizations that her research resonates with other scholars.

Posted in Faculty, News on November 21, 2023.