Sharmin Jahan Chowdhury

Thesis

Local Markets and Fairs : Public Health and Sanitation in Eastern Bengal (1885-1935)

Supervisor: Professor Sanjoy Bhattacharya

Research

My research interests centre around the public health and sanitary history; economic and commercial perspectives of health and medical history; and water, environment and climate as the elements of health and sanitary policy in Eastern Bengal during the Colonial Period. My PhD project is funded by Bangabandhu Overseas Scholarship, Bangladesh. My research examines the local markets and fairs to explore how economy, trade and culture shaped health and sanitary issues in Eastern Bengal during the colonial period and how economic imperatives and cultural constraints constituted and co-constituted public health and sanitary policies of colonial Bengal (Eastern part). My thesis delves into bazaar regulation, food safety and adulteration, livestock and slaughterhouse supervision, drinking water regulation, infectious disease control measures, vaccination and publicity programs in local markets and fairs.