Postgraduate Course: The Medieval Indian Ocean: Climates, Communities and Commodities (PGHC11603)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | How have oceans shaped human lives? How can we explore the past from an oceanic perspective? This course addresses such questions, focusing on a millennium between the eighth and eighteenth centuries and drawing from an exciting array of primary and secondary sources. It delves into major debates and issues in the emerging field of oceanic histories, with an emphasis on the Indian Ocean, the oldest in terms of human usage and voyage and the largest in terms of its coastal population. |
| Course description |
Oceans play a central role in world history, shaping human life across time. Many seas and oceans profoundly influence life on earth; civilizations rise and fall and countless individuals thrive or perish along their waters and shores. Long before the Age of Discoveries and Explorations, the Indian Ocean served as a vital maritime zone, facilitating the exchange of commodities, communities and ideas across the globe. For over 5000 years, its rhythmic patterns of the monsoon winds have influenced interactions among diverse continents, countries and contexts. Traders, sailors, slaves, scholars, adventurers pirates and others who traversed this ocean, whether by choice or coercion, left enduring impacts on the majority who remained ashore. The monsoons have shaped shared systems on its islands, coasts, and hinterlands in Asia, Africa, and Australia, fostering intertwined lives, livelihoods, cultures, and economies that have been influenced by broader changes in climate and environment.
Through a close examination of many exciting primary sources, this course highlights the richness of global interactions across the Indian Ocean world in premodern centuries. The framework of oceanic histories provides insights into the long trajectories of human and geographical past, transcending national and continental boundaries. By exploring interactions among Asian, African, Australian, and European communities in the medieval era, it facilitates a nuanced understanding of the Global South on its own terms. The course also offers a longue-durée perspective on ongoing global climate changes and the strategies developed by people in the oceanic region to prevent, overcome or adapt to catastrophes.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
80 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
1000-word plan (20%)
4000-word essay (60%)
Non-Written Skills:
Seminar participation (20%) |
| Feedback |
Students are expected to discuss their coursework with the Course Organiser at least once prior to submission, and are encouraged to do so more often. Meetings can take place with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. Students will also receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser.
I will offer formative feedback for this course in two stages: beginning from the third week, students are expected to lead discussions based on their research interests, which will inform their final essay. I will provide feedback on their leadership during group discussions and on their essay plans, which are due mid-semester. Students will receive their feedback during individual meetings scheduled both before and after the Reading Week. During the meetings, they will discuss their chosen topic, geographical and chronological scopes, and potential sources. Based on their essay plans, I will offer suggestions regarding the argument, structure, and additional sources, considering the student's language skills and research methods. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- acquire a methodological ability to reappraise the importance of oceans in human history
- have an in-depth knowledge of some of the most important scholarship, debates and sources on the Indian Ocean world before 1750
- explore potential primary sources from the Indian Ocean region and to analyse them critically and creatively
- gain skills to conceive and develop a research paper on the basis of historical sources.
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Reading List
David Armitage, Alison Bashford and Sujit Sivasundaram, eds. Oceanic Histories (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Edward Alpers, The Indian Ocean in World History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
K.N. Choudhuri, Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
Engseng Ho, Graves of Tarim: Genealogy and Mobility across the Indian Ocean (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006).
Elizabeth Lambourn, Abraham's Luggage: A Social Life of Things in the Medieval Indian Ocean World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Abdul Sheriff, Dhow Cultures of the Indian Ocean: Cosmopolitanism, Commerce, and Islam (London: Hurst, 2010).
Ines Zupanov, Disputed Mission: Jesuit Experiments and Brahmanical Knowledge in Seventeenth-century India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
Lotika Varadarajan, ed. The Rahmani of M.P. Kunhikunhi Malmi of Kavaratti: A Sailing Manual of Lakshadweep (Delhi: Manohar, 2004). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Upon completion of this course, graduates will demonstrate the following competencies:
1. Understand the methodological significance of oceans in both everyday thinking and historical frameworks.
2. Transcend land-based histories of nation-states and continents to perceive human history from an oceanic perspective, rather than solely from a terrestrial viewpoint.
3. Acquire a thorough understanding of the most significant scholarship in Indian Ocean history.
4. Identify and evaluate the various genres, nuances, and languages of primary sources pertinent to the premodern Indian Ocean world.
5. Analyse primary and secondary sources related to specific Indian Ocean phenomena within a global historical context, demonstrating critical and creative analytical skills. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mahmood Kooria
Tel:
Email: mahmood.kooria@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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