Robert (Bob) Eric Frykenberg, Professor Emeritus of History and South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, passed away on April 15th, 2025, at the age of 94. Bob was a noted scholar of the British colonial era in India and a noted expert on the history of Christianity in India.
Bob was born and grew up in south India. He earned a B.A. from Bethel College (Minnesota) in 1951, an M.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1953, a B.D. from Bethel Seminary in 1954, and a Ph.D. from the University of London (SOAS) in 1961. After teaching at the University of Chicago (1961-62) he joined the University of Wisconsin, Madison faculty and until his retirement in 1998.
Bob’s notable accomplishments while on the faculty of the University of the Wisconsin and during his retirement included the following. In 1963 he founded the South Asia Microfilm Project. He served as Chair of the Department of South Asian Studies and the Director of the South Asia Studies Center from 1970-1973. During this timeerm he founded the annual Wisconsin Conference on South Asian Studies (in 1972), an international conference which now attracts over 500 participants. He directed the Pew Research Advancement Project and he served on the Pew Research Enablement Project from 1993-1999. As a visiting fellow of All Soul’s College, he delivered the Radhakrishnan Memorial Lectures at Oxford University in 1998 on “India’s Raj: Indigenous Ingredients in the construction of the Imperial System.” In 2009 he was the Murdoch University (Australia) International Scholar, giving lectures there in October and November.
Bob wrote the following books:
India’s History, India’s Raj: Essays iIn Historical Understanding (2023)
Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present (2008)
History and Belief: The Foundations of Historical Understanding (1996)
Guntur District, 1788-1848: A History of Local Influence and Central Authority (1965)
He also edited the following books:
Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-Cultural Communication since 1500 (2003), Tirunelveli’s Evangelical Christians: Two Centuries of Family Vamsâvali Traditions (co-edited with Christian Barrigar (2003)
Pandita Ramabai’s America: Conditions of Life in the United States (2003)
Christians, Cultural Interactions and India’s Religious Traditions (co-edited with Judith M Brown, 2002)
Delhi Through the Ages: Essays in Urban History, Culture, and Society (1986)
Land Tenure and Peasant in South Asia (1977); and Land Control and Social Structure in Indian History (1969)
In addition, he published over 60 articles, chapters, and essays pertaining to the history of British colonialism and Christianity in India and Hinduism.