Arundhati Virmani, a historian, teaches at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Marseille. Her research on Indian political culture in colonial and post colonial India, focuses on the processes of self-definition and cultural negotiation on a national level. She is the author of India, 1900-1947. Un Britannique au cœur du Raj, (Paris, Autrement, 2002) A National Flag for India. Rituals, Nationalism and the Politics of Sentiment (New Delhi, Permanent Black, 2008), Atlas Historique de l’Inde, (Paris, Autrement, 2012). Her forthcoming book is « Emotional Pasts. Questions for Indian Political Culture » (Delhi, Three Essays)