Kirtan Patel

Biography

Dr. Kirtan Patel is Assistant Professor of South Asian History at Utah State University. He is a historian of religion and society in colonial and postcolonial India, with a particular focus on the formation of religious identity and debates over religious authority. His research examines how contestations over caste, belief, virtue, and devotion played out in vernacular print, letters, and colonial law, in the process shaping new forms of transnational religious life.

At USU, Dr. Patel teaches world history and South Asian history. In the classroom, he invites students to explore historical questions through close engagement with primary sources and discussion-based learning.