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The Africa Institute successfully opens the Indian Ocean region to be the third edition of its ‘country-focused season’ with a three day program, December 15-17, 2022. A flagship initiative that takes place annually to explore one African country or African diaspora community through a range of scholarly and public programs such as panel discussions, film screenings, music performances, theatre, and more.
The four-part conference season themed “Thinking the Archipelago: Africa’s Indian Ocean Islands” is organized by The Africa Institute in collaboration with leading scholars Jeremy Prestholdt, Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego; Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, Professor of Anthropology, Georgetown University, Qatar; and Uday Chandra, Assistant Professor of Government, Georgetown University, Qatar.
Hoor Al Qasimi, President of The Africa Institute officially opened the event by welcoming the leading scholars specializing in Africa’s Indian Ocean region. “The Institute’s country-focused seasons are an integral part of the year-round work to develop and support original scholarship and programming that expands understanding of African and African diaspora studies among the academic community and the broader public. Indian Ocean Rim as a third season further adds to the understanding of the complex history of the African world while also providing a forum for creatively engaging its present and imagining new futures,” said Al Qasimi.
Dr. Salah M. Hassan, Director, The Africa Institute Sharjah followed by further contextualizing the history of founding the Africa Institute with its current programs, fellowships, and future campus. He also welcomed the convenors and leading scholars, opening the first conference of the season titled, ‘Reimagining Mobilities/Immobilities in the Indian Ocean’.
“Following two successful seasons focused on Ethiopia and Ghana in 2019 and 2021, respectively, The Africa Institute chose the Indian Ocean region due to its significance in the contemporary multipolar world. This season sees scholars, activists, and others from various disciplines and geographical locations highlight the complex history and rich cultural heritage of the Indian Ocean rim enabling us to center Africa within studies of global relations to an international audience,” said Professor Hassan.
Professor Prestholdt in his opening remarks shared, “Africa has occupied a central place in the Indian Ocean’s matrix of connectivity. The historical, cultural, economic, and geopolitical significance can hardly be overstated. This season represents a multi-disciplinary approach with the aim to raise the profile of Indian Ocean islands by examining and reimagining circulation, mobility, race and slavery, ecological change, and cultural production through the lens of Africa’s islands.”
The first-two days of the symposia (December 15-16, 2022) was a public program that witnessed four panels, 16 presentations, and discussions, a performance from scholars specializing in Indian Ocean studies from Mauritius, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Italy, Norway, Germany, India, Pakistan, Qatar, Canada, and United Arab Emirates. The performance titled, Hamachi Gaani (The Songs have Spoken) by the Afro-Indian tribe, Siddi showcased ancestral stories as part of their cultural heritage through Dhamami songs and dance. The final day (December 17, 2022) was a guided archeological excursion visiting key sites in Khorfakkan, a town on the Gulf of Oman, in the United Arab Emirates. It centers on Khor Fakkan Bay, home to the curved Khor Fakkan Beach and a deep-sea port.
Furthermore, to culminate the season and proceedings of the four conferences, a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, biannual journal titled, ‘Monsoon’ will be published by Duke University Press and the Africa Institute in 2023. With a distinct emphasis on Africa and the Western Indian Ocean, the journal will provide a platform for research on new ways of understanding Indian Ocean perspectives, networks, and the region’s global interfaces.
To resonate and represent the country-focused season, The Africa Institute collaborates with Pakistani artist Naiza Khan to use her images to visually depict the monsoonal circularities of the Indian Ocean and what it represents as a heterogeneous assemblage of power, colonial history, and collective memory.
The second rendition of the season titled, “Legacies of Race and Slavery in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans” is tentatively scheduled to take place in Zanzibar, in early June 2023.
The Africa Institute successfully opens the Indian Ocean region to be the third edition of its ‘country-focused season’ with a three day program, December 15-17, 2022. A flagship initiative that takes place annually to explore one African country or African diaspora community through a range of scholarly and public programs such as panel discussions, film screenings, music performances, theatre, and more.
The Africa Institute successfully opens the Indian Ocean region to be the third edition of its ‘country-focused season’ with a three day program, December 15-17, 2022. A flagship initiative that takes place annually to explore one African country or African diaspora community through a range of scholarly and public programs such as panel discussions, film screenings, music performances, theatre, and more.
The four-part conference season themed “Thinking the Archipelago: Africa’s Indian Ocean Islands” is organized by The Africa Institute in collaboration with leading scholars Jeremy Prestholdt, Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego; Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, Professor of Anthropology, Georgetown University, Qatar; and Uday Chandra, Assistant Professor of Government, Georgetown University, Qatar.
Hoor Al Qasimi, President of The Africa Institute officially opened the event by welcoming the leading scholars specializing in Africa’s Indian Ocean region. “The Institute’s country-focused seasons are an integral part of the year-round work to develop and support original scholarship and programming that expands understanding of African and African diaspora studies among the academic community and the broader public. Indian Ocean Rim as a third season further adds to the understanding of the complex history of the African world while also providing a forum for creatively engaging its present and imagining new futures,” said Al Qasimi.
Dr. Salah M. Hassan, Director, The Africa Institute Sharjah followed by further contextualizing the history of founding the Africa Institute with its current programs, fellowships, and future campus. He also welcomed the convenors and leading scholars, opening the first conference of the season titled, ‘Reimagining Mobilities/Immobilities in the Indian Ocean’.
“Following two successful seasons focused on Ethiopia and Ghana in 2019 and 2021, respectively, The Africa Institute chose the Indian Ocean region due to its significance in the contemporary multipolar world. This season sees scholars, activists, and others from various disciplines and geographical locations highlight the complex history and rich cultural heritage of the Indian Ocean rim enabling us to center Africa within studies of global relations to an international audience,” said Professor Hassan.
Professor Prestholdt in his opening remarks shared, “Africa has occupied a central place in the Indian Ocean’s matrix of connectivity. The historical, cultural, economic, and geopolitical significance can hardly be overstated. This season represents a multi-disciplinary approach with the aim to raise the profile of Indian Ocean islands by examining and reimagining circulation, mobility, race and slavery, ecological change, and cultural production through the lens of Africa’s islands.”
The first-two days of the symposia (December 15-16, 2022) was a public program that witnessed four panels, 16 presentations, and discussions, a performance from scholars specializing in Indian Ocean studies from Mauritius, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Italy, Norway, Germany, India, Pakistan, Qatar, Canada, and United Arab Emirates. The performance titled, Hamachi Gaani (The Songs have Spoken) by the Afro-Indian tribe, Siddi showcased ancestral stories as part of their cultural heritage through Dhamami songs and dance. The final day (December 17, 2022) was a guided archeological excursion visiting key sites in Khorfakkan, a town on the Gulf of Oman, in the United Arab Emirates. It centers on Khor Fakkan Bay, home to the curved Khor Fakkan Beach and a deep-sea port.
Furthermore, to culminate the season and proceedings of the four conferences, a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, biannual journal titled, ‘Monsoon’ will be published by Duke University Press and the Africa Institute in 2023. With a distinct emphasis on Africa and the Western Indian Ocean, the journal will provide a platform for research on new ways of understanding Indian Ocean perspectives, networks, and the region’s global interfaces.
To resonate and represent the country-focused season, The Africa Institute collaborates with Pakistani artist Naiza Khan to use her images to visually depict the monsoonal circularities of the Indian Ocean and what it represents as a heterogeneous assemblage of power, colonial history, and collective memory.
The second rendition of the season titled, “Legacies of Race and Slavery in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans” is tentatively scheduled to take place in Zanzibar, in early June 2023.
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