81722 - Indian Ocean History (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course considers the Indian Ocean as an interregional arena created by the intersection between maritime trade and cultural connections. It focuses on the circulation of people, goods and ideas across the oceanic space as a way to understand the connections and disconnections that created a unified system of cultural and economic exchange. The course adopts a longue durée perspective, in order to unravel the rise and development of an Indian Ocean regional identity. It considers the Indian Ocean as the first global economy produced by the decoding of the monsoon wind system and then explores the rise of Islam and the consequent development of the Swahili civilization along the East African coast. It analyses the indigenous responses to the European commercial intrusions that started in the 16th century and explores the impact of the development of formal colonial rule in the 19th century. Elements like port cities, littoral societies, trade diasporas, religion networks, long-distance trade routes, and different forms of slavery will be used as analytical tools to unravel the elements of unity and disunity in the Indian Ocean space. Particular attention will be given to East African societies and their role in the Indian Ocean world. During the course, the students will analyze travel accounts, novels, historical sources, and scholarly works and critically engage with the historiographical debates that characterize the Indian Ocean Studies field. At the end of the course they will both reach an understanding of the Indian Ocean cultures, economies and societies that transcends national histories and be able to engage with a non-Eurocentric approach to processes of globalization.

Course contents

INTRODUCTION (2 hours)

PART ONE: THE SPATIAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES OF THE INDIAN OCEAN (4 hours)

The first part will focus on the methodology of Indian Ocean studies, exploring how the Indian Ocean has been and can be used by historians as a field of analysis. We will reconstruct the development of the field of Indian Ocean Studies and discuss the main contributors and their works. We will then consider the spatial and chronological boundaries of the Indian Ocean and how they have changed over time. We will discuss what constitutes the unity of the Indian Ocean from a historical point of view and see how ports, trade routes and cultural exchanges have promoted the development of littoral societies and trade diasporas.

PART TWO: EAST AFRICA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN (8 hours)

In the second part we will focus on East Africa's relationships with the Indian Ocean World. We will discuss the development of the Swahili civilization along the coast, the commercial and cultural links between the coast and inland societies, the development of the ivory and slave trade, colonialism and decolonization. This part of the course will help students to understand the main historical processes that have interested East African societies as a result of their multiple connections with the Indian Ocean World.

PART THREE: FREE AND UNFREE LABOUR IN INDIAN OCEAN HISTORY (8 hours)

In the third part of the course we will look at the Indian Ocean in its human dimension, as a space where people have moved and lived. We will pay particular attention to the movement of free and unfree labourers, and the impact of these migrations on the societies of East Africa, especially along the Swahili coast and in Mauritius. We will analyse what it means to be a slave in the Indian Ocean world and students will be invited to consider the difference between various forms of slavery. We will also look at how other types of labourers moved across the oceanic space, such as indentured labourers, convicts, etc. We will see what types of human activity created an interconnected oceanic space, reconstruct where people moved and why, and analyze the impact of these migrations on the economies, cultures and languages of the Indian Ocean World.

PART FOUR: COMMODITIES IN THE INDIAN OCEAN WORLD (6 hours)

The fourth part will focus on the circulation of commodities in the Indian Ocean World. We will focus on two specific examples, cloth and cowry shells, and analyse their production, consumption and circulation as examples of commodities that created links between Indian Ocean societies, with a special focus on East Africa.

CONCLUSION (2 hours)

Readings/Bibliography

Students attending the course will be given articles and book chapters to supplement the lectures. The readings and assignments will encourage students to think about the Indian Ocean as a space of connections and disconnections, and to apply a thematic approach to the study of the circulation of people, goods and ideas across the ocean. The material will be uploaded every week on virtuale.unibo.it.

 

Students not attending the course will read a total of three books:

1. Campbell, G., Africa and the Indian Ocean World from early times to 1900, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

2. And two among the following:

Aiyar, Sana, Indians in Kenya. The Politics of Diaspora, Harvard University Press, 2015

Alpers, Edward, The Indian Ocean in World History, Oxford University Press, 2013

Anderson, Clare, Subaltern Lives. Biographies of colonialism in the Indian Ocean World, 1790-1920, Cambridge University Press, 2012

Bose, Sugata, A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Global Empire, Harvard University Press, 2006

Brennan, James, Taifa: Making Nation and Race in Urban Tanzania, Ohio University Press, 2012

Carter, Marina, Voices of Indenture. Experiences of Indian Migrants in the British Empire, Leicester University Press, 1996

Gilbert, Eric, Dhows and the Colonial Economy of Zanzibar, 1860-1970, James Currey, 2004

Machado, Pedro, Ocean of trade: South Asian Merchants, Africa and the Indian Ocean, Cambridge University Press, 2014

Mugane, John M., The Story of the Swahili, Ohio University Press, 2015

Pearson, Michael, The Indian Ocean, Routledge, 2003

Ray, Daren E., Ethnicity, Identity, and Conceptualizing Community in Indian Ocean East Africa, Ohio University Press, 2023.

 

Teaching methods

Lectures and class discussions. Archival documents and photographs, travelogues, biographies and novels will be presented and analyzed in order to better situate the historical processes discussed in class.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the classes are considered to be attending.

STUDENTS WHO ATTEND THE COURSE:

Students who attend the course will be assessed on the basis of:

a. Participation in classes and discussions

During the course, you will required to keep up on the readings. In order to receive a positive evaluation for this part, you will need to engage with the readings and assignments, think actively about them and participate positively in class discussions. There will be two or three class discussions on historical sources, book chapters and/or articles. Participation in class discussions is mandatory. The material analysed in class will also be discussed in the oral exam.

b. oral exam

During the oral exam, you will have to discuss the material presented in class (PowerPoint slides, historical sources, etc.), the articles from the reading list provided at the beginning of the course and one of the books listed in point 2 under "Reading/Bibliography" above. During the oral exam, you will be asked to relate your readings to the topics discussed during the course. In order to receive a positive evaluation, you will need to demonstrate that you have reached an understanding of:

- How the Indian Ocean has been and can be used by historians as a unit of analysis;

- The chronological and spatial boundaries of the Indian Ocean;

- The main historical processes that have affected the Indian Ocean, with particular reference to Africa;

- How to locate the circulation of a particular group of people or commodity in the Indian Ocean World;

- what the Indian Ocean is today.

STUDENTS WHO DO NOT ATTEND THE COURSE:

Students who do not attend the course will be evaluated on the basis of an oral exam. During the oral exam you will be asked three questions, one on each book. During the exam you will have to show that you are familiar with the main processes that characterize the history of Africa and the Indian Ocean World; that you have understood the elements of unity and disunity of the Indian Ocean; that you are familiar with a non-Eurocentric approach to the history of the world; that you are able to discuss methodological problems and use an appropriate terminology. You must read all the assigned books. If the reading list is not clear enough or you have problems in finding the texts, please contact Prof. Pallaver by e-mail.

EVALUATION:

An in-depth knowledge of relevant issues and the ability to critically analyze them will lead to a good/excellent final mark (26-30L)

Lacunae in the knowledge of the relevant topics or a limited ability to critically discuss them will lead to a sufficient/fair mark (18-25)

Fragmentary knowledge of the relevant topics will result in a failing grade.

FOR BOTH ATTENDING AND NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:

If you are taking this course as part of the integrated course Oceanic Studies C.I. (LM) (12 CFU), you can first take either the Africa and the Indian Ocean exam or the Atlantic and Global History of Modern Political Concepts exam. You will receive a mark for each module (one for Africa and the Indian Ocean and one for Atlantic and Global History of Modern Political Concepts). The final mark for the integrated course will be the arithmetic average of the marks obtained in the two modules.

Teaching tools

We will use PowerPoint presentations with images and maps. These will be made available to the students and uploaded on virtuale.unibo.it

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students.Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students.

Office hours

See the website of Karin Pallaver