Instructor: Professor Chinnaiah Jangam
Course Description :
The Indian Ocean, as one of oldest maritime highways in the history of humanity, connected diverse cultures, regions, religions, languages and facilitated the exchange of goods and commodities. As an epicentre of global economy in pre-modern world it gave rise to trading networks and political empires. While questioning the conventional Eurocentric notions of the non-Western world, this course retraces the pre-modern history of the Indian Ocean as an unparalleled vibrant cultural and economic zone in which Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) lived and thrived together. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the non-Western antecedents of modern global history and critically evaluate the current phase of globalization. The course relies on a variety of sources and texts to add depth and explore the nuances of lives in pre-modern Indian Ocean world. Jewish and Arab merchants, Muslim travellers and emperors and African soldiers and slaves come alive in the accounts we shall read and engage with in the classroom and outside.
Required Texts:
M.N. Pearson, The Indian Ocean (Seas in History), Routledge, 2003. ISBN-13: 978-0415445382.
- Omar Ali, Malik Amber: Power and Slavery Across Indian Ocean, Oxford University Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0-19-026978-4.
- Stewart Gordon, When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors and Monks Who created the “Riches of the East”, Da Capo Press, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0306817397
Course Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
- Historical Knowledge: It provides an in depth understanding of historical and geographical significance of the Indian Ocean world as a gateway for trade, religious and cultural exchanges.
- Presentation Skills: Communicate complex historical ideas and developments in clear written and oral format using academic sources and arguments.
- Research Skills: Exploring complex historical issues, identifying theories and historical evidence to distinguish between opinion and evidence based argument and interpret to formulate an argument and conclusion. Thus, identifying the sources, locating them and citing appropriately to support research ideas and arguments.
- Critical Thinking: By challenging student’s Eurocentric understanding of the making of modern world it provides a cultural competence to understand and critically engage with non-Western world and its cultures.
Assessment:
- Attendance and Participation (10%): (10+10) = 20% of Overall Grade
- Weekly Response Papers: 30%
- Research Paper: 20% of Overall Grade
- In Class Presentation: 10% of Overall Grade
- In Class Test: 10% of Overall Grade
- Map Quiz: 10% of Overall Grade