Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

AWS 3020 Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean World


Since the publication of Fernand Braudel’s The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Time of Phillip II (1949) historians have come to accept the notion of oceanic “worlds”. In this course, we explore the integration of Eastern Africa in the Indian Ocean World. We shall trace the emergence of an Indian Ocean World (IOW) through the development of oceanic trade relations as far back as the ancient civilizations of the Ancient Middle East and Indus Valley. We shall then consider the connection of Eastern Africa to this world based on the “discovery” of the regime of monsoon winds that governed sailing in the Indian Ocean; the rise and expansion of Islam throughout the IOW; the various migrations, diasporas, and networks that connect different peoples and places; and the different responses of the peoples of the IOW to European imperialism, from the Portuguese to the British. By looking at the history of Eastern Africa as part of the IOW, we will also be questioning the notion of globalization as a modern phenomenon.
Credits: 3.0