The languages of Indian Ocean studies: Models, methods and sources

Abstract

This introductory survey offers a critical reflection on the development of Indian Ocean studies over the past three decades. It pays particular attention to the gaps in our understanding left by adopting foundational paradigms from elsewhere (particularly the Mediterranean) rather than developing “tailor‐made” models based on primary sources in the languages of the Indian Ocean itself. Looking back over previous scholarship, the critical part of the essay focuses on the influential model of a holistic, environmentally determined maritime “world” of enduring and persistent interactions, and the longstanding focus on trade as a sufficient enabling mechanism for “cosmopolitan” cultural interactions. Looking forward to future avenues of research, the constructive part of the essay then turns to the importance of written source materials in Indian Ocean languages, and the new methods and insights suggested by this evidentiary corpus.