Indian Ocean Syllabus

Not sure what's going on with some of the formatting on this, but here's my syllabus for the debut of my Indian Ocean course this semester.

HIS 493: The Indian Ocean

202 Dauphin Humanities Center, 6:30-9:15 p.m. Tuesdays

Dr. Brian J. Ulrich

Office: 201 Dauphin Humanities Center, ex. 1736

Office Hours: MF 12:00-1:00; W 12:00-3:00, also by appointment

E-Mail: bjulrich@ship.edu

Course Description

This course will focus on Indian Ocean history from ancient times to the present.  A key question will be whether or not the Indian Ocean can be conceived as a unified historical space, and if so, what its crucial elements are.  Important themes include the influence of geography in history, the spread of religious and other cultural ideas and practices, the role of trade in premodern political economy, and port cities, littoral societies and diasporas.  At the end of the course, students should have an idea of how bodies of water can be frameworks for historical analysis, as well as the role of the Indian Ocean in world history.

Students must participate regularly in our weekly class session, as well as write a quintet of 2-3 page short papers as noted on the “Schedule of Readings and Major Assignments.”  In addition, they will write a research paper of at least 16 pages on an Indian Ocean port city or island.  This paper will involve separate requirements for graduate students and undergraduates, and is detailed on a separate assignment guide.  Students will also present the results of their research project in class in December.

Required Texts

The Indian Ocean, Michael Pearson (also available on EBL)

Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean, K.N. Chaudhuri

A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire, Sugata Bose

A Voyage to Abyssinia, Jeronimo Lobo (pagination in Hard Press edition)

Electronic reserves found in D2L

Books on Three Day Reserve

The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Vol. I, Fernand Braudel

The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History, Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell

Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, Janet Abu-Lughod

Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times, George Hourani

The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveller of the Fourteenth Century, Ross Dunn

The Indian Ocean in World History, Milo Kearney

Grading

Participation – 25%

Short papers – 30%

Research Paper – 35%

Reasearch Presentation – 10%

Participation

For each of the 10 weeks beginning September 4, students will have a participation score recorded as 0-4, for a total of 40 points in the category.  A “4” indicates regular participation throughout the class that displays command of the readings, “3” is less participation, “2” is little participation or participation on when prompted, “1” is presence in class without participation, and “0” is for absences.  Students will also have deducted from their total participation score the average earned on those ten weeks for each of the classes missed apart from those ten weeks.

The participation grading scale for graduate students is 32-40 A, 22-31 B, 12-21 C, 8-11 D, and 1-7 F.  The grading scale for undergraduate students is 26-40 A, 17-25 B, 10-16 C, 8-9 B, 1-7 F.

Attendance in the course is mandatory, and any student who misses more than three classes must either produce a valid written excuse or they will fail the course.  Written excuses can also impact the grade received for absences in a fashion to be determined.

Academic Honesty

All work submitted, of course, must be your own, and all information must be cited in research papers.  Academic dishonesty will be dealt with according to university policy.

Disability Accommodation

If you feel you may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, you should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs at least 72 hours prior to the activity which requires the accommodation.  If you have not already done so, you must contact the Office of Disability Services.  This office is responsible for determining reasonable and appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities on a case-by-case basis, and more generally, for ensuring that members of the community with disabilities have access to Shippensburg’s programs and services.  They also assist students in identifying and managing the factors that may interfere with learning and in developing strategies to enhance learning.  I cannot approve an accommodation without you registering.

Schedule of Readings and Major Assignments

August 28 – Course Introduction

Pearson, pp. 1-26

Sebastian R. Prange, “Scholars and the Sea: A Historiography of the Indian Ocean,” History Compass 6 (2005): 1382-1393

September 4 – Topic conception and longue duree

Pearson, pp. 27-45

Chaudhuri, pp. 9-33, 121-37

Abner Cohen, “Cultural Strategies in the Organization of Trading Diasporas,” The Development   of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa, ed. Claude Meillassoux, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 266-78

Andre Wink, “From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean: Medieval History in Geographic Perspective,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 44 (2002): 416-445

Andre Wink, “Medieval Cities,” Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Vol. III: Indo-    Islamic Societies, 14^th-15^th Centuries, (Leiden: Brill, 2004), pp. 64-78

Jean-Claude Penrad, “Societies of the Ressac: The Mainland Meets the Ocean,” Continuity and    Autonomy in Swahili Communities: Inland Influences and Strategies of Self- Determination, ed. David Parkin, (London: SOAS, 1994), pp. 41-48.

Rhoads Murphey, “On the Evolution of the Port City,” Brides of the Sea: Port Cities of Asia from the 16^th-20^th Centuries, ed. Frank Broeze, (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989), pp. 223-245

September 11 – Ancient Times

Pearson, pp. 46-61

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Robert E. Dewar, “The Archaeology of the Early Settlement of Madagascar,” The Indian Ocean in Antiquity, ed. Julian Reade, (London: Kegan Paul International, 1996), pp. 471-86

Matthew Fitzpatrick, “Provincializing Rome: The Indian Ocean Trade Network and Roman Imperialism, Journal of World History 22 (2011): 27-54

Kenneth Hall, “The ‘Indianization’ of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia’s First State,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 13 (1982), pp. 81-106

Wilhelm G. Solheim II, “Remarks on ‘The ‘Indianization’ of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia’s First State,’” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 14 (1983), pp. 169-170

Himanshu Prabha Ray, “Early Maritime Contacts Between South and Southeast Asia,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 20 (1989), pp. 42-54

D.T. Potts, “The Archaeology and Early History of the Persian Gulf,” The Persian Gulf in History, ed. Lawrence G. Potter, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009), pp. 27-43

Short paper due: Consider the following concepts: unity or lack thereof in the Indian Ocean, diasporas and network theory, ports/hinterland/foreland/umland, geographic and environmental factors in history, ressac society, littoral society, and labile rurbanism.  Choose three and use them to discuss the material in the readings for today.  Cite at least four of today’s readings, as well as anything from earlier in the course you need in the course of your paper.

September 18 – Medieval I

Pearson, pp. 62-112

Chaudhuri, pp. 34-62, 98-118

Roxani Eleni Margariti, “Mercantile Network, Port Cities, and ‘Pirate’ States: Conflict and           Competition in the Indian Ocean World of Trade before the Sixteenth Century,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 51 (2008): 543-577

September 25 – Medieval II

Chaudhuri, pp. 160-228

S.D. Goitein and Mordechai Akiva Friedman, India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza, (Leiden: Brill, 2008), pp. 311-336

Geoff Wade, “An Early Age of Commerce in Southeast Asia, 900-1300 CE,” Journal of   Southeast Asian Studies 40 (2009): 221-265

Short paper due: Craft a topic involving the Indian Ocean in the medieval period that engages with a significant portion of the readings for this week and last.

October 2 – Early Modern I

Pearson, pp. 113-158

Chaudhuri, pp. 63-97

Om Prakash, “The Dutch East India Company in the Trade of the Indian Ocean,” India and the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800, ed. Ashin Das Gupta and M.N. Pearson, (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 185-200

Niels Steensgaard, “The Indian Ocean Network and the Emerging World-Economy, circa 1500-1750,” The Indian Ocean: Explorations in History, Commerce and Politics, ed. Satish Chandra, (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1987), pp. 125-150

Ashin Das Gupta, “Pieter Phoonsen of Surat,” Modern Asian Studies 22 (1988), pp. 551-560

October 9 – Early Modern II (note short paper due - next page)

Pearson, pp. 159-189

Lobo, pp. 3-19, 72-78

Ashin Das Gupta, “Indian Merchants and Trade in the Indian Ocean, c. 1500-1750,” The Cambridge Economic History of India, eds. T. Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), pp. 407-33

Anthony Reid, “Economic and Social Change, c. 1400-1800,” Cambridge History of Southeast     Asia, Vol. I, Part 2, ed. Nicholas Tarling, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,       2000), pp. 116-160

Giancarlo Casale, “Global Politics in the 1580s: One Canal, Twenty Thousand Cannibals, and an Ottoman Plot to Rule the World,” Journal of World History 18 (2007): 267-296

Short paper due: Craft a topic involving the Indian Ocean in the early modern period that engages with a significant portion of the readings for this week and last.

October 16 – FALL BREAK

October 23 – Comparative Issues

Haripriya Rangan and Christian Kull, “The Indian Ocean and the Making of Outback Australia:   An Ecocultural Odyssey,” Indian Ocean Studies: Cultural, Social and Political Perspectives, ed. Shanti Moorthy and Ashraf Jamal, (New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 45-72

Gwyn Campbell, “Slave Trade and the Indian Ocean World,” India in Africa, Africa in India: Indian Ocean Cosmopolitanisms, ed. John C. Hawley, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008), pp. 17-51

Philippe Beaujard, “The Indian Ocean in Eurasian and African World-Systems before the             Sixteenth Century,” Journal of World History 16 (2005): 411-465

Patricia Risso, “Maritime Violence in the Western Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf Region during a Long Eighteenth Century,” Journal of World History 12 (2001): 293-319

October 30 – The 18^th Century and the Coming of the British

Pearson, pp. 190-248

Bose, pp. 1-71

Gerrit Knaap, “All About Money: Maritime Trade in Makassar and West Java around 1775,” Journal of The Economic and Social History of the Orient 49 (2006), pp. 482-508.

Short paper due: What are some themes from earlier in the course that are evident in the readings for today?  You must cite all three of this week’s readings, and at least one of last week’s.

November 6 – 20^th Century Politics

Bose, pp. 72-192

Heather Goodall, “Shared Hopes, New Worlds: Indians, Australians, and Indonesians in the Boycott of Dutch Shipping, 1945-1949,” Indian Ocean Studies: Cultural, Social and   Political Perspectives, ed. Shanti Moorthy and Ashraf Jamal, (New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 158-196

November 13 – Culture and Modern Issues

Bose, pp. 193-282

Pearson, pp. 249-288

Ahmed Kanna, “Indian Ocean Dubai: The Identity Politics of South Asian Immigrants,” Dubai: The City as Corporation, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011), pp. 171-204

Short paper due: Craft a topic on the Indian Ocean in the 20^th and 21^st centuries that engages with a significant portion of the readings for this week and last.

November 20 – Paper Conferences (mandatory for undergraduates, optional for graduate students)

November 27 – WORK DAY – Dr. Ulrich in Egypt

December 4 – Presentations

December 11 - Presentations