Biography
Professor David Taylor is a student of the politics and history of South Asia. His first degree in History was from the University of Cambridge in 1966. He then moved to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he took his MA in Area Studies in 1967 and his PhD in Political Science in 1972. From 1971 to 2002, he was a member of academic staff at SOAS, where he was a Senior Lecturer in Politics as well as Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Pro-Director for Teaching and Learning in the 1990s. In 2002, he joined the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi as Vice-Provost for Academic Development and served as Interim Provost from 2003 to 2008. He continued to be associated with AKU and from 2013 to 2017 was Director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations. His academic interests and publications have focused on language and religion as elements of political identity in South Asia and on the role of political parties.
