Connectivity in Motion: Island Hubs in the Indian Ocean World (Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies)

This original collection brings islands to the fore in a growing body of scholarship on the Indian Ocean, examining them as hubs or points of convergence and divergence in a world of maritime movements and exchanges. Straddling history and anthropology and grounded in the framework of connectivity, the book tackles central themes such as smallness, translocality, and "the island factor." It moves to the farthest reaches of the region, with a rich variety of case studies on the Swahili-Comorian world, the Maldives, Indonesia, and more. With remarkable breadth and cohesion, these essays capture the circulations of people, goods, rituals, sociocultural practices, and ideas that constitute the Indian Ocean world. Together, they take up "islandness" as an explicit empirical and methodological issue as few have done before.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xxvi Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Introduction (Burkhard Schnepel)....Pages 3-31 Islands Connect: People, Things, and Ideas Among the Small Islands of the Western Indian Ocean (Edward A. Alpers)....Pages 33-55 Small Island Hubs and Connectivity in the Indian Ocean World: Some Concepts and Hypotheses from Historical Anthropology (Andre Gingrich)....Pages 57-91 Displaced Passengers: States, Movements, and Disappearances in the Indian Ocean (Godfrey Baldacchino)....Pages 93-108 Front Matter ....Pages 109-109 The Role of Kilwa in the Trade of the Western Indian Ocean (Gwyn Campbell)....Pages 111-134 Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean, and Nineteenth-Century Global Interface (Jeremy Prestholdt)....Pages 135-157 Ali Mfaume: A Comorian Hub in the Western Indian Ocean (Iain Walker)....Pages 159-180 Multifaceted Identities, Multiple Dwellings: Connectivity and Flexible Household Configurations in Zanzibar Town (Kjersti Larsen)....Pages 181-206 Front Matter ....Pages 207-207 A Hub of “Local Cosmopolitans”: Migration and Settlement in Early Eighteenth to Nineteenth-Century Port Louis (Vijayalakshmi Teelock)....Pages 209-229 The Making of a Hub Society: Mauritius’ Path from Port of Call to Cyber Island (Burkhard Schnepel)....Pages 231-257 Dis/Entangled Hubs: Connectivity and Disconnections in the Chagos Archipelago (Steffen F. Johannessen)....Pages 259-287 Big Men Politics and Insularity in the Maldivian World of Islands (Boris Wille)....Pages 289-317 Considering the Island Capital Male’ as a Hub for Health-Related Mobilities (Eva-Maria Knoll)....Pages 319-343 Front Matter ....Pages 345-345 From Salsette to Socotra: Islands across the Seas and Implications for Heritage (Himanshu Prabha Ray)....Pages 347-367 Serendipitous Connections: The Chinese Engagements with Sri Lanka (Tansen Sen)....Pages 369-395 Changing Connectivity in a World of Small Islands: The Role of Makassar (Sulawesi) as a Hub Under Dutch Hegemony (Jürgen G. Nagel)....Pages 397-420 Ambon, a Spicy Hub: Connectivity at the Fringe of the Indian Ocean (Keebet von Benda-Beckmann)....Pages 421-446 Back Matter ....Pages 447-452 I. Themes -- 1. "Connectivity in Motion": Island Hubs in the Indian Ocean World -- 2. Islands Connect: People, Things and Ideas among the Small Islands of the Western Indian Ocean -- 3. Small Island Hubs and Connectivity in the Indian Ocean World: Some Concepts and Hypotheses from Historical Anthropology -- 4. Displaced Passengers: States, Movements and Disappearances in the Indian Ocean -- II. Case Studies -- 5. The Role of Kilwa in the Trade of the Western Indian Ocean -- 6. Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean and Nineteenth-Century Global Interface -- 7. Ali Mfaume: A Comorian Hub in the Western Indian Ocean -- 8. Multifaceted Identities, Multiple Dwellings: Connectivity and Flexible Household Configurations in Zanzibar Town -- 9. A Hub of "Local Cosmopolitans": Migration and Settlement in Early Eighteenth- to Nineteenth-Century Port Louis -- 10. The Making of a Hub Society: Mauritius' Path from Port of Call to Cyber Island -- 11. Dis/Entangled Hubs: Connectivity and Disconnections in the Chagos Archipelago -- 12. Big Men Politics and Insularity in the Maldivian World of Islands -- 13. Considering the Island Capital Male' as a Hub for Health-Related Mobilities -- 14. From Salsette to Socotra: Islands across the Seas and Implications for Heritage -- 15. Serendipitous Connections: The Chinese Engagements with Sri Lanka -- 16. Changing Connectivity in a World of Small Islands: The Role of Makassar (Sulawesi) as a Hub Under Dutch Hegemony -- 17. Ambon, a Spicy Hub: Connectivity at the Fringe of the Indian Ocean Annotation This original collection brings islands to the fore in a growing body of scholarship on the Indian Ocean, examining them as hubs or points of convergence and divergence in a world of maritime movements and exchanges. Straddling history and anthropology and grounded in the framework of connectivity, the book tackles central themes such as smallness, translocality, and 'the island factor'. It moves to the farthest reaches of the region, with a rich variety of case studies on the Swahili-Comorian world, the Maldives, Indonesia, and more. With remarkable breadth and cohesion, these essays capture the circulations of people, goods, rituals, sociocultural practices, and ideas that constitute the Indian Ocean world