Centre for Indian Ocean and Transoceanic Studies

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Centre for Indian Ocean and Transoceanic Studies

The Centre for Indian Ocean and Transoceanic Studies is an intellectual harbor where histories of migration, trade, exchange, circulation and cross-cultural dialogue unfold across centuries. It acts as a confluence of history, commerce and seafaring legacies, where surges of the past meet currents of contemporary scholarship. From Swahili merchants and Hadhrami sailors to Bombay entrepreneurs and Perso- Arab financiers, we revisit and retell the endless stories of traders, navigators and entrepreneurs who shaped a world without frontiers, where goods, ideas, exchange and destinies interlace across vast waters. At the Centre, we study maritime histories to trace the echoes of dhow sails, the rustles of portside negotiations and the intellectual exchanges that turned oceans into bridges rather than barriers. We map the shifting currents of human ambition that turned the Indian Ocean into a quivering nexus of exchange which formed circulation networks from the Arabian and Swahili coasts to the sweltering docks of Bombay and Mandvi. Our scholarship pilots trade routes to explore the waves of language, religion, craft traditions, diasporic movements, cultural hybridity, ecological perspectives, knowledge networks and environmental consciousness, the silent at the same enduring forces that shaped civilizations. For us, the past is though a distant shore, it acts as a living, breathing, moving archive of interwoven destinies, waiting to be rediscovered.

Vision

The Centre for Indian Ocean and Transoceanic Studies envisions itself as a leading research emporium for reimagining maritime histories, knowledge networks and global exchanges across oceanic worlds. Ingrained in rigorous archival research, oral histories and interdisciplinary inquiry, the Centre traces the routes of trade, migration and intellectual connectivity that have shaped the Indian Ocean and its transoceanic extensions. Connecting past and present, it aims to provide critical conversations on the resilience of maritime communities, the legacy of seafaring traditions, and the evolving undercurrents and countercurrents of global capitalism.

The Centre champions a multifaceted approach and wishes to apply perspectives from diverse disciplines to decode the fluid and enduring relationships between the ocean, its people, and the lands it binds together.

Research Projects

Currently, the Centre runs a Research Centre project in collaboration with K J Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies- funded by the Ministry of Education. This intern centric project is focused on the theme of Maritime Shipbuilding, Seafaring and Navigation Tradition. Seafaring Knowledge and Nautical Science in the Indian Ocean World since 2023. Dr. Chhaya Goswami is the Principal Investigator and Co -PI is Dr. Pallavi Jambhale. Another theme on Artistic Tradition is Co investigated by Dr. Monalisa Behera and Dr. Bhagyashree Bavre.

  • It investigates the tacit knowledge of Malam navigators, shipbuilding techniques and indigenous nautical mapping systems compounded by maritime communities across the Gulf of Kachchh i.e. North west coast of India, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea.
  • Explores the scientific dimensions of wind patterns, celestial navigation, and ecological adaptations embedded in traditional seafaring practices.
  • Examines the movements of Indian, Arab, and Persian merchant communities and their roles in shaping hybrid cultural identities across the Indian Ocean rim.
  • Understanding the transoceanic lexicon exchange, religious practices, and settlement patterns in port cities from Muscat to Mandvi.

2. Centre is also running a mega project on the Digital Archives:

The project is to catalogue the West Asia-related records in the Maharashtra State Archives and the National Archives of India, then to digitize those records for an online digital archive. Goswami has been working with Professor Dr. James Onley on this project since 2012, overseeing two teams of researchers in Mumbai and New Delhi. There are about 100,000 records on West Asia in these two archives, which will take the rest of this decade to catalogue. The project is currently funded by Dr. Onley endowed chair, the Ahmed Seddiqi Chair in Gulf and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

3. Bhatias in Arabia and East Africa: Transregional Identity, Settlements and Trade Network.

This research book project funded by the Global Bhatia Foundation traces the commercial circuits of Bhatia entrepreneurs with Arab, Swahilis traders, Hadhrami financiers and navigators who formed transregional trade connections across the oceanic rim. It maps the circulation of goods, currencies, and credit systems that sustained economic exchanges from Muscat, Zanzibar to Bombay. It also comprehends the concepts of Maritime Migrations and Diasporic Entanglement.

Chapter scheme of the Bhatia Volume

  • From Transient to Settlers: The Bhatias of the Gulf of Kachchh in the Western Indian Ocean.
  • Bhatia enterprise in the Commercial Spheres of the Arabian Gulf.
  • The Bhatia Capital Dynamism and Emergence of the Big Business Houses in East Africa.
  • Patterns of Contemporary Settlement and Commercial Excogitations.
  • Epilogue