Lukas Rosenberg

Lukas Rosenberg (M.A., M.Ed.) is a historian, specialising in the social and labour history of India and Indonesia. He studied history and German philology at the University of Göttingen and the University of Groningen (Netherlands). In 2021 he obtained his Master of Arts (history) and Master of Education (history/German). In his master’s thesis he examined the impact of the plague epidemic on the labour relations on the plantations of Malang (Indonesia) in the early 20th century.

Since 2021 he has been conducting research for his PhD project under the working title „The Railway Workshops in Parel (Mumbai). Formalisation and Segmentation within Workforces between 1879 and 1939.“ In the project he examines the shift of the factory regime in the Parel railway workshops from the late 19th to the early 20th century.
The project is part of the Modern Indian History Research Group and was supported by the Hans Böckler foundation (Düsseldorf), the German Historical Institute London (Max Weber foundation) and the Bildung und Wissenschaft foundation (Essen).

Lukas Rosenberg is editorial team member for Arbeit – Bewegung – Geschichte. Zeitschrift für Historische Studien (ABG) and reviewer for the International Review of Social History (IRSH).

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“Scientific management and the control of labour-time. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Workshops at Parel in the 1920s”, South Asian History and Culture, 17/1, pp. 43–66.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2025.2589673.

Reviews

“Alexandra Lindgren-Gibson: Working-Class Raj. Colonialism and the Making of Class in British India (Modern British Histories), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2024, 188 pp.”, Arbeit–Bewegung–Geschichte. Zeitschrift für Historische Studien, 24/2, pp. 122–125.

Julia Holzmann: Geschichte der Sklaverei in der Niederländischen Republik. Recht, Rassismus und Handlungsmacht Schwarzer Menschen und People of Color, 1680–1863 (Global- und Kolonialgeschichte, Band 6), transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2022, 322 pp.”, Arbeit–Bewegung–Geschichte. Zeitschrift für Historische Studien, 23/3, pp. 168–170.

Conference Reports

„Wage Politics – Material and Political Transformations, Göttingen 15./16. September 2023.“, Arbeit–Bewegung–Geschichte. Zeitschrift für Historische Studien, 23/1, pp. 113–117.

Teaching

Seminar (winter semester 2024/25): „Eisenbahnen und Kolonialimperien. Forschungsdebatten und Quellen zur Sozialgeschichte des Kolonialismus im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert“ (with Ravi Ahuja, University of Göttingen, in German)

Presentations (Selection)

30.09.2025: „The Changing Face of Factory Regimes in South Asia. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Workshops at Parel (Bombay) between 1879 and 1939“, in the colloquium of the German Historical Institute London, United Kingdom (English)
14.03.2025: „‘[…] for a Railway may be as a little kingdom.’ Colonial Labor Hierarchies and Governing the Great Indian Peninsula Railway in the 19th Century“, at the Business History Conference Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, USA (English)

12.06.2024: „‘Negotiation of Issues between Masters and Men’: Workers’ Representation on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway in the 1920s“, at the 5. European Labour History Network Conference at Uppsala University, Sweden (English)

05.04.2024: „The 1913 Strike and the Long History of Labour Struggles on South Asian Railways“, at the conference Across the Lines: Railways and Resistance in Modern India in New-Delhi, India (English)