Darinee Alagirisamy - Sober State: Origins of Alcohol Prohibition in India

This talk explores how prohibition became one of the most unexpected - and revealing - lenses through which to understand the making of democracy in modern India. Drawing on my book Sober State, it argues that prohibition was far more than a policy regulating alcohol: it became a central democratic ideal linking self-government, national regeneration, and state-building. Based on extensive archival research in India and the United Kingdom - including government records, court cases, legislative debates, petitions, newspapers, and vernacular sources - the book reconstructs how prohibition was conceptualised, contested, negotiated, and reshaped by ordinary people and political elites. The talk traces how prohibition emerged as a nationalist project, before showing how it subsequently became embedded in the constitutional framework of independent India. The talk argues that while prohibition illuminated a broader vision of democracy, implementing this vision required an unprecedented expansion of state power through policing, surveillance, and regulation, exposing enduring tensions between democratic aspirations and individual liberty. By examining these developments, the talk offers new insights into the relationship between democracy, nationalism, and the modern Indian state, reflecting on why these questions remain politically urgent today.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Darinee Alagirisamy is a historian of modern India and the Indian diaspora. Her research sits at the intersection of decolonisation, nationalism, social reform, and democratic state-building. Her book, Sober State, explores the history of alcohol prohibition and democratic state formation in modern India. Dr. Darinee Alagirisamy is Deputy Head and Senior Lecturer in the South Asian Studies Programme at the National University of Singapore.