Alan Strathern is Associate Professor of History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow and Tutor of History at Brasenose College. Much of his work has concerned Sri Lankan history, especially the relationship between imperialism, ethnicity, religion and kingship. This includes a monograph on sixteenth century Sri Lanka and a co-edited collection, Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History (UCL Press). For the past ten years or so, his work has pursued a global comparative method that engages anthropology and historical sociology. His most recent book, Unearthly Powers: Religious and Political Change in World History (Cambridge, 2019, World History Association Bentley Book Prize 2020), had a broad theoretical remit. A forthcoming companion volume, Converting Kings: Kongo, Japan, Thailand and Hawaii Compared, 1450-1850, uses focussed case studies to explain why ruling elites turned to monotheism in some parts of the world and rejected it in others. Meanwhile Sacred Kingship in World History: Between Immanence and Transcendence, co-edited with Azfar Moin, will be published by Columbia next year.
