AFRC320 - TRANSOCEANIC ENCOUNTERS: EAST AFRICA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN

East Africa has been linked culturally, economically, and politically to the wider Indian Ocean world for centuries. In historical scholarship, the Indian Ocean is often portrayed in overly romanticized terms-as a hybrid, cosmopolitan space. This course, which brings together some of the best work on East Africa and the Indian Ocean, will provide a more nuanced view of the region. By critically examining a variety of primary and secondary sources (including novels, photography exhibits, music, and historical texts),students will learn about the legacies of slavery, conquest, and inequality as well as the ways in which the region became a space of multicultural exchange and intercontinental interaction. We will explore the idea of African diasporas in their plurality and examine whether the theoretical tools used to study the Atlantic World can be applied to the Indian Ocean.