HIST 258:  Indian Ocean
Fall 2001

Instructor:  Professor Pinch
Class Hours: Tues and Thurs, 10:30 - 11:50
Office Hours: Tues 1-3, or by appointment (x2399; wpinch@wesleyan.edu)

This lecture/discussion course surveys the history of Southern Asia and the Indian Ocean to about 1750. Topics to be
examined include travel and exploration, religious culture, social change, land and sea-based technologies, trade,
and state formation. Readings will combine historical analysis with primary sources - including travel accounts, religious poetry,
imperial chronicles, courtly drama, and popular literature.

The following texts are required for the course and are available at Atticus:

Additional documents are available online (underlined with a link in the syllabus below).  Sudents are strongly urged to supplement the readings and lecture/discussion with timely perusals of The Historical Atlas of South Asia [HASA], two editions of which are located in the atlas cases in the reference section of Olin Library.

The grade for the course will be based upon the following (see the schedule of lectures and readings for respective due dates):

Note on the papers:  Each student will choose, at the beginning of the semester, an original travel account that deals with the Indian Ocean in our period.  Choices must be finalised by September 10th.  The four linked papers and bibliography will be based on this account, as follows:
  1. Vital statistics:  Due September ??20??.  This introductory section of the essay will consist of a basic description of the travel account, including the author's identity (and any questions pertaining thereto), the route taken and mode of travel, the circumstances of authorship (why and when and how it was written), the manuscript and publication history, and any noteworthy particulars concerning the editor and/or translator.  Students should also mention remarkable forensic details, such as the quality of the paper and binding, the size of the pages, any special orthographic conventions employed, the existence of illustrations, maps, tables, index, and any other noteworthy physical attributes.  This section should be approximately 500 words.
  2. Social Relations:  Due October 5.  In this portion of the essay, students will report on the traveler's observations concerning human social relations.  Since different travelers will emphasize different aspects of human behavior, there will be considerable latitude.  Some may focus on social hieararchy, ostracism, and theories of corporeal purity and pollution, whereas others may emphasize gender and sexual mores, whereas others still may be interested in language or household.  Some travelers may take a sensationalist approach simply to compare the people and culture of foreign lands unfavorably with those of his home country.  Others may be more even-handed in their treatment.  The goal for the student is to use the travel account to say something concrete about how humans interacted in the environment encountered by the traveler, despite what may appear to be subjective reporting.  This section should be approximately 750 words.
  3. Trade:  Due October 20.  In this portion of the essay, students will draw on their travel accounts to describe the economic world of the Indian Ocean, or the regional pocket of the Indian Ocean described in the account.  Kinds of questions to be answered include:  What are the goods being produced and traded?  Where does trade occur?  How is it structured (are there specific markets for specific goods, do certain communities control certain commodities, are their overarching political units that superintend trade)?  What is the status of merchants?  How is money organised and transmitted?  (Based on the observations of the traveler, students may wish to focus on one or another of these questions, rather than attempt to answer all of them.)  This section should be approximately 750 words.
  4. Religion, Science, and Belief:  Due November 5.  In this section students will draw on their respective accounts to describe the deeper mental worlds visited by the traveler.  What did the people encountered believe about the nature of the world around them, about creation and their own origins, about ultimate causes, about planes of existence?  Did they believe in supernormal beings, and if so, what forms did they take?  Or did they reject such understandings?  How did the traveler respond to these understandings?  Care should be taken to supplement generic terms, such as "Christian" or "Muslim" or "Hindu" or "Buddhist," with more specific descriptive language.  750 words.
  5. Discovery:  Due November 20?.  Students will follow their own instincts and interests to comment or reflect on the travel account.  This section will serve as a kind of conclusion to the essay, but it should not simply recapitulate what has already been written in previous sections.  Students may wish to comment on the question of travel and "discovery," or explore the motives of the author, or think more broadly about the nature of the Indian Ocean world.  Or something else altogether.  500 words.
  6. Final Draft and Bibliography:  Due December 1.  In addition to revising the essays, both in response to the instructor's comments and suggestions as well as to better link the sections together, students should also compile an annotated bibliography of relevant works.  The bibliography should consist of at least three articles from scholarly journals, three scholarly books, and one primary source (that intersects with and in some way sheds light on the account).


Schedule of Topics and Readings:

Part 1: Trade

DATE TOPIC READING
4 Sep India and the Indian Ocean TC, 1-33 
HASA III.C.5
6 Sep Islam in the Indian Ocean TC, 34-62 
HASA, IV.3, V.1
8 Sep al-Biruni among the Hindus AI, i-xix, 1-195 
HASA, IV.4
11 Sep Europe and the Indian Ocean TC, 63-97 [Map quiz today, based on TC, maps 6 and 7] 
HASA, VI.B.1, VI.B.2, VI.B.3, VI.B.5
13 Sep Coastal emporia  TC, 98-118
15 Sep 16th-century travelers' accounts Sidi Ali Reis, Mirat ul Memalik, 16th century, up to "Our Experience In Bakhtar-Zemin (Kabulistan)" 
Vasco da Gama, Round Africa to India, 1497-1498 CE, entire 
RESERVE:  Narrative of Domingo Paes, 236-291
18 Sep Sea TC, 119-137
20 Sep Ships TC, 138-159
22 Sep Space, time, and body AI, remainder
25 Sep Land TC, 160-181
27 Sep Goods TC, 182-202
29 Sep In an Antique Land AL, 1-238
2 Oct Capital TC, 203-220
4 Oct Asia Before Europe TC, 221-229 
Thomas Mun, England's Treasure
6 Oct In an Antique Land AL, remainder
Part 2:  Faith
9 Oct Paper due Comment on Part 1 sources
11 Oct Banaras
13 Oct  Fall break
16 Oct Ravidas and Kabir SSI, 1-61
18 Oct Nanak SSI, 63-88
20 Oct Belief, status, and memory RESERVE: Pinch, "History, Devotion, and the Search for Nabhadas of Galta," 367-399
HASA, V.5, VI.A.4
23 Oct Sur and Mira SSI, 91-141
25 Oct Tulsi SSI, 143-174
27 Oct Paper Due Comment on Part 2 sources
Part 3:  State
30 Oct Mughal beginnings ME, 1-28 
HASA, V.4, V.6, VI.A.1 (top half)
1 Nov Mughal consolidation ME, 29-57 
HASA, VI.A.1 (lower half)
3 Nov Discovering Hindustan RESERVE:  Baburnama, 6-7, 310-363 [note that there is a glossary at the end] 
*Abu'l Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, pp. 45-50, 68-78, 115-162, 292-320 
*Abu'l Fazl, Akbarnama, vol. 2, pp. 416-425
6 Nov Din-i-illahi ME, 58-78
8 Nov Mansabdari ME, 79-93 
HASA, VI.A.2
10 Nov Akbar's innovations *Abu'l Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, 162-223 [note that pp. 177-218 is by Badauni, an opponent of Abu'l Fazl], 241-292
13 Nov Jahangir and Nur Jahan ME, 94-118
15 Nov Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal ME, 119-150
17 Nov Europeans in Company Service *The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, vol. I, 210-259* 
*The Travels of Peter Mundy, vol. II, 71-224* 
HASA, VI.A.5
27 Nov 1658-59 and the rise of Aurangzeb ME, 151-184 
HASA, VI.A.3
29 Nov Structural change in 17th-century India ME, 185-204
1 Dec A European in Mughal service *Manucci, Storia do Mogor, vol. II, 305-442*
4 Dec Maratha insurgency in the Deccan ME, 205-252
6 Dec Mughal unravelling ME, 253-298 
HASA, VII.A.1
8 Dec Maratha Rashtra and Sikh Khalsa *Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism, ed. and trans. McLeod, 1-62 (and endnotes, 147-152)* 
*Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, 134-219*
9 Dec Paper due Comment on Part 3 sources
Final Exam TBA