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Knowledge and the Indian Ocean

Intangible Networks of Western India and Beyond

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  • © 2019

Overview

Editors:
  1. Sara Keller

    1. Orient et Méditerranée, Paris, France

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  • Examines Western India and particularly Gujarat as a center of knowledge production and dissemination in the Indian Ocean world
  • Foregrounds the intangible exchanges that accompanied the vibrant commercial trade of Western India, focusing on the spread of culture and knowledge
  • Draws upon the disciplines of anthropology, agriculture, arts and crafts, botany, biology, palynology, demographics, medicine, philosophy and sociology

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies (IOWS)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xli
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  2. Introduction

    • Sara Keller
    Pages 1-15

  3. Knowledge, Science and Techniques

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17
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    2. Places We Can Go: Some Notes on Sea/Knowledge

      • Sarah Bancroft
      Pages 19-28

    3. Knowing the Sea: Thalassographies to Thalassology of the Indian Ocean (up to c. 1500 CE)

      • Ranabir Chakravarti
      Pages 29-46

    4. A Chinese Muse in the Caliph’s Court: The Influence of Chinese Ceramic Technology Across the Indian Ocean (Eighth to Fourteenth Century CE)

      • Rukshana Nanji
      Pages 47-64

    5. Ava: A Living Tradition of Reverence for Water Among the Zoroastrians

      • Shernaz Cama
      Pages 65-85

    6. Scholars in Gujarat’s Bazaars: Revisiting L’académie ambulante (“The Roving Academy”)

      • Sara Keller, Fernando Rosa
      Pages 87-112

    7. Gujarat Ornamental Furniture: Artisans, Techniques, Skills and Global Markets During the Nineteenth Century

      • Louiza Rodrigues
      Pages 113-136

    8. “Without a Counterpart on the Globe”: Geographical Knowledge and the Mapping of “Kutch” in the Nineteenth Century

      • Mariam Dossal
      Pages 137-160

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 259-266
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Keywords

About this book

This volume examines Western India’s contributions to the spread of ideas, beliefs and other intangible ties across the Indian Ocean world. The region, particularly Gujarat and Bombay, is well-established in the Indian imaginary and in scholarship as a mercantile hub. These essays move beyond this identity to examine the region as a dynamic place of learning and a host of knowledge, tracing the flow of knowledge, aesthetic sensibilities, values, memories and genetic programs. Contributors traverse the fields of history, anthropology, agriculture, botany, medicine, sociology and more to offer path-breaking perspectives on Western India’s deep socio-cultural impact across the centuries. Western India emerges as a pivotal region in the maritime world as a transmitter of knowledge.

Reviews

“This is a path-breaking collection of essays that brings alive the rich cultural, economic and political life of Western India over the centuries. More importantly, it informs us of the critical relevance this history has to our understanding of the world of the Western Indian Ocean that is predominantly framed within the story of Western capitalism and imperialism. A fascinating array of histories that will delight the historian as well as the casual reader.” (Seema Alavi, Professor of South Asian History, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India)“This volume is not just an addition to the existing and expanding scholarship on Gujarat and the Indian Ocean, but an innovative intervention that charts bold new conceptual trails. These bring out the vitality of Gujarat as a major actor in the configuration of the Indian Ocean World. The volume in more ways than one establishes beyond doubt the richness of emerging scholarship by academics and public historians.” (Lakshmi Subramanian, Professor of History, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, India)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Orient et Méditerranée, Paris, France

    Sara Keller

About the editor

Sara Keller is a building archaeologist at the research center Orient et Méditerranée, France. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Knowledge and the Indian Ocean

  • Book Subtitle: Intangible Networks of Western India and Beyond

  • Editors: Sara Keller

  • Series Title: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96839-1

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-96838-4Published: 27 September 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-07260-5Published: 13 December 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-96839-1Published: 11 September 2018

  • Series ISSN: 2730-9703

  • Series E-ISSN: 2730-9711

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XLI, 266

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 23 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: World History, Global and Transnational History, Asian History, African History, Social History, Cultural History

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