Intercolonial Networks of the Indian Ocean
Intercolonial Networks of the Indian Ocean
ARC Discovery Grant [2008-2010]
Researchers: Devleena Ghosh, Heather Goodall, Stephen Muecke and Michael Pearson.
In brief:
This project reassesses Australia's place in a network of colonies in the Indian Ocean area. It shows that intercolonial relationships were far more important than previous imperial (and anti-imperial) studies have suggested. In examining Indian Ocean societies colonised by Portuguese, English, French and Dutch empires and the circulation of people, commodities, technologies and ideas among them, it demonstrates their relative autonomy from imperial centres. This perspective is contributing to a significant new field of research, Intercolonial Studies, based not just on a comparison of settler-colonial experience, but also on the sharing of cultural inventions among colonised peoples.
This project builds on previous work conducted under an ARC Discovery grant [2003 - 2007]
Cultures and Commerce in the Indian Ocean
Researchers: Stephen Muecke, Devleena Ghosh and Michael Pearson.
In brief:
This project examined trade cultures in a region which was the hub of the major world economic system in the pre-colonial period, and is now restrengthening. It thus links the earliest global system with current globalisation studies, giving those analyses historical depth. The first cultural studies project in Indian Ocean studies, it matches new theory to the empirical diversity of the region, analysing the way cultural forces add value to commodities, while creating diverse forms of transnational culture and identity. The project has made major contributions to cultural/historical and postcolonial thought, creating a new field of study: Indian Ocean Cultural Studies.
Link to the Cultures and Commerce in the Indian Ocean website for more information.
