Nicholas Roberts is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Notre Dame. Roberts’s dissertation is a global history of the Omani Empire in the nineteenth century, focusing on its role in fomenting the emergence of modern capitalism in the Indian Ocean, and thus the world.

Roberts’s research has taken him to fourteen archives in eight countries. As an NDIAS fellow, he is interested in refining his research on how the domains of the Omani Empire were a crucial space where entrepreneurs from throughout the world came to trust in capital as an actor unto itself in shaping their lives and their futures. Given his research, he is always interested in chipping away at our collective “trust” in Eurocentric narratives of world history.

Before Notre Dame, Roberts earned a Master’s in Global, International, and Comparative History from Georgetown University. His broader research, training, and interests lie in Islamic Studies and world history.