Cargoes in Motion

An innovative collection of essays that foregrounds specific cargoes as a means to understand connectivity and mobility across the Indian Ocean world.

Scholars have long appreciated the centrality of trade and commerce in understanding the connectivity and mobility that underpin human experience in the Indian Ocean region. But studies of merchant and commercial activities have paid little attention to the role that cargoes have played in connecting the disparate parts of this vast oceanic world. Drawing from the work of anthropologists, geographers, and historians, Cargoes in Motion tells the story of how material objects have informed and continue to shape processes of exchange across the Indian Ocean.

By following selected cargoes through both space and time, this book makes an important and innovative contribution to Indian Ocean studies. The multidisciplinary approach deepens our understanding of the nature and dynamics of the Indian Ocean world by showing how transoceanic connectivity has been driven not only by economic, social, cultural, and political factors but also by the materiality of the objects themselves.

Essays by:

Edward A. Alpers

Fahad Ahmad Bishara

Eva-Maria Knoll

Karl-Heinz Kohl

Lisa Jenny Krieg

Pedro Machado

Rupert Neuhöfer

Mareike Pampus

Hannah Pilgrim

Burkhard Schnepel

Hanne Schönig

Tansen Sen

Steven Serels

Julia Verne

Kunbing Xiao