Book Review: Performing Memories and Weaving Archives: Creolized Cultures Across the Indian Ocean (original) (raw)
Related papers
Introduction: A Collaboratory of Indian Ocean Ethnographies | Society for Cultural Anthropology
Member Voices, Fieldsights. September 23., 2021
In the thick of pandemic immobility, a few scholars working on environmental justice with coastal communities in the northern Indian Ocean and locked down in different continents came together to overcome the impact of motionlessness in their research lives. Their field sites covered the littoral and marine expanses of the northern “Indian Ocean community” (Kirk 1951), a space not only deeply integrated into global social, economic, and geopolitical concerns, but also profoundly unequal within and between its nations (Grare 2012). The pandemic had not just caused immobility, but also brought down an unsettling fog of silence in news media and within research communities. There was no (and in many cases still is no) way for researchers to know what was/is really happening in the various coastal communities connected by the Indian Ocean: a region known for its long and vibrant history of movement, migration, and cultural exchange. The immobility therefore felt particularly intense, and we wondered how, in these circumstances, does one conduct “immobile” research?
Transforming Cultures eJournal, 2009
This paper discusses the interpretation of sources for Indian Ocean history, from the point of view of translocal interpretations beyond the locality of the source. The article presents three cases, all deriving from the Muslim South-Western Indian Ocean. The argument is made that the ambiguity of the sources, and the interrelationship between the various locations related to the source, affect not only the historians interpretation but also the sense of the past held by people in these locations.
Ethnomusicology and the Indian Ocean: On the Politics of Area Studies. (Co-Written with Julia Byl)
Ethnomusicology, 2020
Abstract. This article draws on the recent boom in Indian Ocean studies to build a framework for registering the Indian Ocean in ethnomusicology. We show how the human experiences of movement across the Indian Ocean expanse have conditioned the musical traditions of ports and islands, and we put ethnomusicological writings on places like Zanzibar and Oman into dialogue with those from Mauritius and Singapore. We address how ethnomusicology’s area studies paradigm has inhibited musical studies of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR); the specter of comparative musicology; and the perils of modern Indian Ocean populations in light of postcolonial ethnonationalisms.
What Makes a Carpet Fly? Cultural Studies in the Indian Ocean
Transforming Cultures eJournal
This paper aims to open up a cultural studies conversation on the Indian Ocean. Knowledge of the Indian Ocean should be born of the problems encountered in situ, rather than viewed and assessed from afar in erstwhile colonial centres. Networks and institutional links have to be created to sustain an interdisciplinary conversation leading to this decolonisation of knowledge. In investigating the interplay of commerce and culture, this paper abandons the critical separation of the two in favour of a critical engagement with forces of globalisation. As a precolonial global economy, the Indian Ocean offers considerable historical depth to the current ranking of economic powers. But within a general problematic of the theory of value, there is no doubt that cultural forms (narratives, myths religious beliefs, artefacts) are fundamental to the organising forces of trade, and not just ‘adding value’ in market transactions.
South Asia & the Indian Ocean World: Cultural Confluences
International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 2024
South Asia and the Indian Ocean World have been dynamic crossroads where a kaleidoscope of cultures, religions, and traditions have intertwined throughout history. The objective of this session lies in forging connections among diverse research domains, all converging on the rich tapestry of medieval South Asia and the expansive Indian Ocean World. At its core, this session accentuates the significance of interactions and transcultural influences that have shaped these regions over time. While the IMC defines the "medieval" period as 300–1500 CE, this session recognises that this periodisation does not align seamlessly with South Asian history (Varma 2023; Ali 2014; Torri 2014; Chattopadhyaya 2012; Singh 2011). Therefore, we leave the temporal boundaries of this session somewhat flexible, ensuring that we capture the nuances of South Asia's historical trajectory. The session comprises four distinct papers, spanning different periods and geographical regions. They offer novel insights into the multifaceted nature of cultural confluences, dialogues, continuity and transformations of traditions, as well as the challenges thereof. The approaches undertaken in the papers are inclusive, encompassing a broad spectrum of research foci, such as material and visual culture, trade and maritime connections, religious dynamics, performative arts, as well as linguistic and literary traditions.
Ethnomusicology and the Indian Ocean: On the Politics of Area Studies
Ethnomusicology, 2020
This article draws on the recent boom in Indian Ocean studies to build a framework for registering the Indian Ocean in ethnomusicology. We show how the human experiences of movement across the Indian Ocean expanse have conditioned the musical traditions of ports and islands, and we put ethnomusicological writings on places like Zanzibar and Oman into dialogue with those from Mauritius and Singapore. We address how ethnomusicology’s area studies paradigm has inhibited musical studies of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR); the specter of comparative musicology; and the perils of modern Indian Ocean populations in light of postcolonial ethnonationalisms.Untuk membangun pengertian Lingkup Samudra India (Indian Ocean Studies) dalam bidang ethnomusikologi, artikel ini bersumber dari kumpulan studi sarjana-sarjana ilmu sosial yang merintis penelitian ini. Pengalaman migrasi manusia, dari pulau ke pulau dan pelabuhan ke pelabuhan, telah membentuk kebudayaan bermusik yang sudah lama dalam lingkup...
Narrating the indian ocean: challenging the circuits of migrating notions
2013
This paper presents an outline of the parallels between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean seen from a cultural studies’ perspective. The discussion will highlight some concepts, such as Créolie, Coolitude and Créolité which were created to grasp the specificity of the cultural consequences of forced migration and the imposed contact among a multitude of cultures in the two regions. Secondly, insularity will be presented as an in-between space of contact between cultures where knowledge is generated, negotiated and transmitted via its narration. This process will be analysed as an example of Créolité in the context of the Indian Ocean, taking as case study the three volumes of Enlacement(s) (2013) by the Malagasy writer Jean-Luc Raharimanana.
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE TRADITIONS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN WORLD
The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World, 2021
This book examines knowledge traditions that held together the fluid and overlapping maritime worlds of the Indian Ocean in the pre-modern period, as evident in the material and archaeological record. It breaks new ground by shifting the focus from studying cross-pollination of ideas from textual sources to identifying this exchange of ideas in the archaeological and historical record. The themes covered in the book include conceptualization of the seas and maritime landscapes in Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese narratives; materiality of knowledge production as indicated in the archaeological record of communities where writing on stone first appears; and anchoring the coasts, not only through an understanding of littoral shrines and ritual landscapes, but also by an analysis of religious imagery on coins, more so at the time of the introduction of new religions such as Islam in the Indian Ocean around the eighth century. This volume will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, Indian Ocean studies, maritime studies, South and Southeast Asian studies, religious studies, and cultural studies.