COURSE DETAIL
This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program and is intended for advanced levels students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. 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 is given to East African societies and their role in the Indian Ocean world. During the course, the students 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, students 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.