Shereen Ilahi

Shereen Ilahi earned her Ph.D. in Modern European History from The University of Texas at Austin, where she focused on British Imperialism in India and Ireland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under the supervision of Wm Roger Louis. Her 2016 monograph analyzes imperial violence and British strategies of rule in India and Ireland in the aftermath of World War One. Her research interests include gender and sexuality in South Asia and Ireland during British rule. In addition to her scholarship as a historian, she is interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning with special focus on general education and assessment. 

In Fall 2018, Dr. Ilahi became North Central’s inaugural Director of General Education until 2022, after which she became a Faculty Fellow in the Provost's Office (2023-25) serving as the Coordinator of Institutional Assessment. She served as the Coordinator of the Senior Seminar, CARD 400, "Liberal Arts and the Problems of Today" for four years. In 2026, she co-edited A New History of North Central with a team of faculty, staff, students, and alumni thanks to a grant from NetVUE (Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education) issued by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and Lilly Endowment, Inc. 

Dr. Ilahi teaches courses on modern European, Indian, Irish, and Middle Eastern history. She contributes regularly to the to the College Scholar's Honors Program, Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSST), Global Studies (GLST), and to our general education curriculum, Cardinal Directions.

Selected Scholarship

Ilahi, Shereen. Imperial Violence and the Path to Independence: India, Ireland and the Crisis of Empire. London: I.B.Tauris, 2016; Repr. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.

Ilahi, Shereen and Ann Durkin Keating, eds. A New History of North Central. Naperville: North Central College, 2026.

Ilahi, Shereen. "The Radcliffe Boundary Commission and the Fate of Kashmir." India Review. 2, 1 (January 2003): 77-102. Reprinted in Tai Yong Tan and Gyanesh Kudaisya, eds.  Partition and Post-Colonial South Asia: A Reader vol.1, part 3 (New York: Routledge, 2008)

Ilahi, Shereen. "Research Note:  Sectarian Violence and the British Raj: The Muharram Riots of Lucknow." India Review. 6, 3 (July-September 2007):184-208.

Ilahi, Shereen, Maria Bergstrom, Kristin Geraty, Niti Pandey, Mary Raber, Marika Seigel, Kelly Steelman, and Patricia Szczys. “A Consultative Framework for General Education Reform: Change Management and the Power of Storytelling.”Forthcoming in Journal of General Education: A Curricular Commons of the Humanities and Sciences 71, 1 (2026).

Ilahi, Shereen, Chastity Blankenship, Andy Morris, and Jeffrey Thomas. “First-Year Intersections: Liberal Learning, Professional Preparation, and Civic Engagement across Four New American Colleges and Universities (NACU) Campuses.”Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education 16, 2 (Fall 2024): 43-63.

Ilahi, Shereen. Review of British Settler Colonialism Since 1530: Indigenous Peoples in an Imperial World. By Susan Kingsley Kent. American Historical Review forthcoming (2026).

Ilahi, Shereen. Review of Policing ‘Bengali Terrorism’ in India and the World: Imperial Intelligence and Revolutionary Nationalism, 1905- 1939. By Michael Silvestri. Journal of Asian Studies 80, 1  (February 2021):223-225.

Ilahi, Shereen. Review of Mountstuart Elphinstone in South Asia: Pioneer of British Colonial Rule. Edited by Shah Mahmoud Hanifi. History: Reviews of New Books 48, 6 (November 2020):166-167.

Ilahi, Shereen. Review of Bhutto and the Breakup of Pakistan by Mohammed Yunus, History: Reviews of New Books 41, 3 (2013): 105.

Courses Taught

HST 385: World Wars of the Twentieth Century

HIST 281: 20th C Europe: Hitler vs Stalin

HIST 280: 19th C Europe: Sex & Mass Hysteria

HIST 228: History of Public Health Crises

HIST 268: India, Empire, & Violence

HIST 208: History & Hollywood Films

HIST 200: Historical Methods

HST 180: Global Power & the Middle East

HIST 140: Ireland - Famine to Freedom

GSST 100: Sex, Gender and Sexuality

GLST 366: Global Power and the British Empire

CARD 400: Liberal Arts & Public Health Crises

CARD 260: May Term Study Abroad in Ireland

HONR 300: Honors Thesis Practicum