Ravi Veriah Jacques (Class of 2020) - Recipient of the 2020 Schwarzman Scholarship and J. E. Wallace Sterling Award for Scholastic Achievement

June 2, 2020

Q&A Ravi Veriah Jacques (Class of 2020) Separate Interview through the Department of History

Recipient of the 2020 Schwarzman Scholarship

Recipient of Stanford Deans’ Award for Academic Achievement

Recipient of J. E. Wallace Sterling Award for Scholastic Achievement

Stanford History: Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m from London, with English and Malaysian-Indian heritage. Beyond the academic world, I’m a keen violinist; back in London, I study under the Royal College of Music professor Maciej Rakowski and am a member of Chineke!, the first European orchestra comprising black and minority ethnic musicians. The violin has even taken me to China. I took lessons with the inspiring Professor Lin Chaoyang of Beijing’s Central Conservatory in the summers of 2011-2014. And China is a source of continual fascination and excitement to me; I am off to Beijing next year to study at Tshinghua as a Schwarzman Scholar.

Stanford History: How did you decide to major in History?

I’ve always loved history – as far back as I can remember. My upbringing was probably to blame for this: I grew up in a left-wing British intellectual milieu, my adopted grandfather the eminent Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm.

It was not until Stanford, however, that my passion for history really flourished. I arrived on the Farm in 2016 unsure as to whether I’d be an international relations, political science, or even English major. That first quarter, I took two history classes – with Professors Joel Beinin and Clayborne Carson – and have never looked back. Indeed, I owe a debt of gratitude to the Stanford History Department, which has perhaps been the highlight of my undergrad experience. I’ve subsequently taken some wonderful classes, the two that have left the greatest impact on me perhaps being Professor Priya Satia’s “History of the Global Left” and Professor Kathryn Olivarius’ “Age of Revolutions,” although so many other professors – from Jonathan Gienapp to Steven Press, Jun Uchida to Matthew Sommer – have left an indelible mark on the way I understand the world.

If I pursue a path in history in the future, I would wish to follow in the steps of the giants I grew up around – not only Eric, but also Catherine Hall, Stuart Hall and, not least, my brilliant father, Martin Jacques.

Stanford History: What are your research interests?

My historical interests have been shaped foremost by the incredible intellectual ambition and vision of Eric Hobsbawm. Indeed, my period of history has so far been Hobsbawm’s own long 19th century from the French Revolution to the First World War, an era of extraordinary change that saw the advent of industrialization, the expansion of empire with its corresponding racism, and the flourishing of nationalism. My thesis —on an 1857 revolt in India against imperialism at the very height of British hegemony—draws on many of these themes.

I’m a strong believer that history (and academia more generally) is at its most compelling and pertinent when it engages vigorously with the public sphere—a belief that informed The Stanford Sphere, a publication I created in 2017. The Sphere seeks to enrich and broaden campus discourse primarily from a progressive standpoint, and now has roughly a dozen writers.

Stanford History: Tell us about your senior thesis.

The Indian “Mutiny” of 1857-8 gripped British political and social life, and forced a fundamental shift in the Empire, marking the demise of the early 19th century belief in the capacity of Indians to be crafted and civilized into modern English subjects. Following 1857, however, the British came to view their Indian dependents as inherently, racially inferior. Under the supervision of Professor Priya Satia, my thesis seeks to understand the emergence of these notions of Indian difference through examining the racialized outcry aroused by the onset of the revolt. My research aims to grasp the complex anxieties and forces that served to harden British racism at a key juncture in the history of the Empire.

Stanford History: What advice do you have for undeclared students at Stanford?

Major in history! Perhaps I’m biased, but I really do believe it to be the most exciting and intellectually stimulating department on campus.

I do, however, have two more specific pieces of advice. First, take lots of graduate-level seminars. Over the course of my four years, I’ve taken almost ten of these and they’ve proved hugely important for me; these classes foster great intellectual rigor and ambition. You’re expected not only to read a lengthy book every week but also, crucially, to discuss and debate these works with students who are far older and more experienced. Those grad students aren’t nearly intimidating as they look, and you’ll learn so much from them – as I have.

Second, read as widely as possible. I believe firmly in the need to roam far and wide beyond history in order to understand the world and, indeed, history itself. As much as I’ve enjoyed the history department, I’ve learned so much from other disciplines. Particularly stimulating have been Professor Francis Fukuyama’s course “Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law” alongside Professor Ban Wang’s classes on Chinese literature, film, and culture.