HIST 251: South Asian in the Indian Ocean World: Trade, Labor and Capital from
1800 to the Present
Short title and description for Wiser:
The Indian Ocean World
The Indian Ocean region includes Southern and Eastern Africa, the Persian Gulf, South
Asia, and parts of South East Asia. This course will study the influence of South Asia in
the creation of systems of state, and the circulation of goods, labor and capital through
this region over two hundred years.
Full Name of Course: South Asian in the Indian Ocean World: Trade, Labor and Capital
from 1800 to the Present
Department: History
Number: 251
How this course serves students and fits in to general curricular objectives of the
History department.
As a 200-level survey course in the History department, this course offers students a
broad look at this important maritime region, complementing course offerings which
support the study of South Asia, Africa and East Asia.
Attachments in support of (5.) World Cultures Distribution status
I. Rationale behind the proposal
The Indian Ocean maritime region was united in history by the strategies of the British
Empire which encouraged the migration of labor, the movement of capital, migration of
independent traders, and the creation of an imperial bureaucracy which was deeply
influenced by the techniques of colonial governance in British India. Study of this region
allows for critical reflection on the shaping of South Asian culture in other geographic
and political contexts.
II. This course meets the International Diversity requirement of including explicit
consideration of culture in the following way:
1.
It maintains an explicit focus on South Asian culture in a bifurcated
manner: 1. Leading students to focus on the imperatives which lead to
large-scale migration of South Asians to East Africa, the Persian Gulf,
and South East Asia; and 2. Reflecting on the ways in which South
Asian migrants shaped cultures of trade, architecture, religion and
language in other places.
.
In treating these subjects, the course makes students aware of the problems of
ethnocentricism by considering the ways in which culture is ‘produced’ under the
influence of economics, environment, and state policy.
This course includes explicit focus on comparison between cultures in the following way:
We will compare the neighborhoods and schools established by South Asian migrants in
Burma, the Persian Gulf, and South and East Africa, considering the ways in which these
can be differentiated in a local context from local neighborhoods, and from each other;
and we will compare trading and banking cultures of under state, to the practices of South
Asians which were not governed or regulated by state.
The assignment in support of this objective are the response papers and the final paper.
See below for more assignment details.
III. WPE Students will have the opportunity to write a paper in support of the
Writing Proficiency requirement. This is explained on the syllabus.
IV Capabilities
In support of the General Education requirements, this course requires students to
build skills in Critical Reading and Analysis, and Effective Communication.
Critical Reading and Analysis
Students are assigned up to 100 pages of reading a week. Weekly class discussion is built
around exposition of these texts. Students are asked to share their understanding and
critical responses verbally in class.
I. Class assignment supporting effective reading techniques.
In the first week of class, we will discuss reading strategies. Students will be asked to
break into groups to do the following:
1. Write a sentence explaining the author’s intent
2. Write a sentence explaining the structure of the argument
3. Write a sentence discussing the author’s use of sources
4. Write a sentence explaining the author’s conclusion
5. Write a sentence explaining whether the author accomplishes his or her end
Prompts for Response Papers
Some questions students will be asked to reflect on, debate in class are as follows
1. In response to Marina Martin, “Hundi/Hawala: The Problem of Definition”,
Modern Asian Studies 43:4 (2009), 909-937
Question: How are business practices based on shared cultural and
linguistic practices?
2. In response to Robert Nichols, A History of Pashtun Migration, chapters
‘National integration, transnational circulation’ and chapter 6 ‘Pashtuns as global
workers’ pp. 140-227.
Question: How do Pashtun migrants ‘carry’ their culture as migrants?
Should their experiences make us think about culture as something static,
or something continually being reproduced?
IV. In-class exercises exploring sources of information
Students should build critical understanding by comparing different sources of
‘knowledge’.
Each week, a few of students who are not the presenters for the week will be asked to
explore a topic of their assigned reading only with reference to internet sources –
primarily online newspapers but also blogs, journals, facebook, twitter, Wikipedia –
anything. They will present their findings in class. They will be asked to reflect on the
following questions:
1. How does the representation of the issue in popular media differ from the sorts of
themes addressed in our readings?
2. Who is the target audience of the internet or newspaper sources?
3. What sort of sources do these use to examine the subject?
4. What are the problems and pitfalls in online research vs. textual study?
Effective Communication
Midterm and Final Exams
Students will be given questions to prepare at home with reference to lecture notes and
reading assignments. Sample questions:
1. How did the Indian Political Service, a bureaucratic institution of the British Indian
government, influence the development of state in the Persian Gulf region?
2. Compare the indenturted labor system of the early nineteenth century to the migration
of Indian laborers to the Persian Gulf in the late 20th and 21st centuries.
Presentation – builds oral communication skills
Readings are grouped as required readings and additional (non-mandatory) readings.
Each week one or two students will present a summary and key issues raised in the
week’s readings. Presenters will be encouraged to explain the intent of the author, and to
field questions from students about the ‘meaning’ of the reading.
Additional Bibliography
Some additional resources
Ahmed, Akbar S. ‘Dubai Chalo: Problems in the Ethnic Encounter between Middle
Eastern and South Asian Muslim Societies’
Al-Qasimi, Sultan Muhammad. The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf (New York,
2006).
Allen, Calvin H. ‘The Indian Merchant Community of Masqat’, Bulletin of the School
of Oriental and African Studies 44, 1 (39-53).
Allen, Calvin H. ‘The State of Masqat in the Gulf and East Africa’ International Journal
of Middle Eastern Studies, 14, 2 (1982), pp. 117-127.
Bent, J. Theodore. ‘The Bahrein Islands in the Persian Gulf’, Proceedings of the Royal
Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, 12, 1 (Jan 1890), pp. 119.
Campbell, Gwyn. The Structure of Slavery in the Indian Ocean, Africa and Asia
(London, 2004).
Dale, Stephen Frederic. Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade
Floor, Willem. The Dutch East India Company [VOC] and Diewel [Sindh] in the
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Karachi: Institute of Central and West
Asian Studies, 1994).
Fraser, James. The history of Nadir Shah, formerly called Thamas Kuli Khan, the
present emperor of Persia (London, 1742). See Yale Online Catalogue for online
access to digital manuscript.
Ghosh, Amitav. In an Antique Land (New York, 1993).
Gupta, Ashin Das. The world of the Indian Ocean Merchant (New York, 2001).
Harris, Christina Phelps. ‘The Persian Gulf Submarine Telegraph of 1864’, The
Geographical Journal, 135, 2 (1969)
Holdich, T. H. ‘Notes on Ancient and Medieval Makran’ The Geographical Journal 7, 4
(1896), pp. 387-405.
Jerry H. Bentley, ‘Sea and Ocean Basins as Frameworks of Historical Analysis’,
Geographical Review, 89, 2 (1999), pp. 215-224.
Kaplan, Robert. Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the future of American Power (New
York, 2010)
Melamid, Alexander. ‘Dubai City’, Geographical Review, 79, 3 (1989), pp. 345-347.
Metcalf, Thomas. Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena 1860-1920
(California, 2007).
Nicolini, Beatrice. ‘The Makran-Baluch-African Metwork in Zanzibar and East Africa
during the XIXth Century, African and Asian Studies, 5, 3-4 (2006), pp. 347-70.
Owtram, Francis. A Modern History of Oman: Formation of the state since 1920
(London, 2004).
Panzac, Daniel. ‘International and Domestic Maritime Trade in the Ottoman Empire
during the 18th Century’ International Journal of Middle East Studies, 24, 2
(1992), pp. 189-206.
Pearson, M. N. Pious Passengers: The Hajj in Early Times (London, 1994).
Pouwels, Randall L. ‘Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean to 1800: Reviewing
Relations in Historical Perspective’, International Journal of African Historical
Studies 35, 2/3 (2002), pp. 385-425.
Rashid, Ahmed. ‘Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Gulf’, MERIP Middle East Report, 148
(Sept-October 1987), pp. 35-39.
Risso, Patricia. ‘Muslim Identity in Maritime Trade: General Observations and Some
Evidence from the 18th-century Persian Gulf Region’ in International Journal of
Middle East Studies 21, 3 (1989), pp. 381-392.
Russell, Sharon Stanton. ‘Politics and Ideology in Migration Policy Formation: The
Case of Kuwait, Internationl Migration Review, 23, 1 (1989), pp. 24-47
Secombe, J. ‘Labour Migration to the Arabian Gulf: Evolution and Characteristics
1920-1950, Bulletin British Society for Middle Eastern Studies 10,1 (1983) pp. 320.
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. ‘Of Imarat and Tijarat: Asian Merchants and State Power in
the Western Indian Ocean, 1400 to 1750’, Comparative Studies in Society and
History, 37, 4 (1995), pp. 750-780.
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. ‘Persians, Pilgrims and Portuguese: The Travails of
Masuliputnam Shipping in the Western Indian Ocean 1590-1665’, Modern Asian
Studies, 22, 3 (1988), pp. 503-530.
Sweet, L. E. ‘Pirates or Polities? Arab Societies of the Persian or Arabian Gulf, 18th
Century’, Ethnohistory 11, 3 (1964), pp. 262-280.
Torri, Michelguglielmo. ‘Mughal Nobles, Indian Merchants and the Beginning of
British Conquest in Western India: The case of Surat, 1756-1759’, Modern Asian
Studies, 32, 2 pp. 257-315.
Weiner, Myron. ‘International Migration and Development: Indians in the Persian
Gulf’, Population and Development Review, 8, 1 (1982), pp. 1-36.
Wills John E. ‘Review: Maritime Asia, 1500-1800: The Interactive Emergence of
European Domination’ The American Historical Review 98,1 (1993), pp. 83-105.