The Gulf in World History: Arabia at the Global Crossroads

The Gulf sits at an ancient crossroads of cultures and faiths, and at the heart of modern trade stretching back to the origins of civilization. As a site of both conflict and peaceful encounter, it can be studied in the context of world history, as a place of cultural and historical encounter. From medieval astrology to museum architecture, from the trade of glass and pearls to the role of Indians, Africans, Christian monks, Mandaeans and merchants, this book spans historical periods and disciplinary approaches. It is united by one overarching theme: the Gulf as a cosmopolitan nexus and space of encounter. The chapters describe a Gulf simultaneously perched on the edge of empires and at the centre of world events. Presenting new evidence, new theoretical approaches, and new arguments, this volume aims to change understandings of the Gulf in the world.

Table of Contents:
Map of the Gulf Acknowledgements Author Biographies Chapter 1: World History in the Gulf as a Gulf in World History, Allen Fromherz Part 1 - Gulf Cosmopolitanism Chapter 2: The Cosmopolitan Figure as Ethical Exemplar: Notes from a Tenth-Century Gulf Encyclopedia, Richard McGregor Chapter 3: The Gulf - A Cosmopolitan Mobile Society: Hormuz 1475-1515 CE, Valeria Piacentini Fiorani Chapter 4: From Jerusalem to the Karûn: What can Mandæan Geographies Tell Us?, Charles Häberl. Part II - The Gulf and the Indian Ocean Chapter 5: Merchant Communities and　Cross-Cultural Trade between Gujarat and the　Gulf:　Late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Ghulam A. Nadri. Chapter 6: Banians of Muscat: A South Asian Merchant Community in Oman and the Gulf, c. 1500-1700, Abdulrahman al Salimi Chapter 7: Khaliji Hindustan: Towards a Diasporic History of Khalijis in South Asia 1780’s-1960’s, Johan Mathew Part III - East Africa in the Khalij and the Khalij in East Africa Chapter 8: Africans and the Gulf: Between Diaspora and Cosmopolitanism, Matthew S. Hopper Chapter 9: East Africa, the Global Gulf and the New Thalassology, Mark Horton Part IV - Diversity and Change: Sky, Sea and Land Chapter 10: Astrology as a Node of Connectivity between the Premodern Mediterranean and Gulf, Michael A. Ryan Chapter 11: Ships of the Gulf - Shifting Names and Networks, Eric Staples Chapter 12: The Role of Indian Ocean Trade Inland: The Buraimi Oasis, Timothy Power Part V: Recent Gulf Archaeology Chapter 13: Pearl Fishing and Globalization: From the Neolithic to the 20th Century CE, Robert Carter Chapter 14: An Archaeology of Glass and International Trade in the Gulf, Carolyn M. Swan Part VI: Heritage and Memory in the Gulf Chapter 15: From History to Heritage: The Arabian Incense Burner, William G. Zimmerle Chapter 16: Doha’s Msheireb Heritage House Museums: A Discussion of Memory, History and the Heritage of the Indian Ocean World, Karen Exell Chapter 17: Omani Identity Amid the Oil Crisis, Lamya Harub

About the Author :
Allen Fromherz is Professor of History at Georgia State University and director of the Middle East Studies Center. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College in 2002 and received his PhD from St. Andrews University in Scotland in Medieval Islamic History in 2006. Dr. Fromherz has held several international fellowships including Fulbright, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center. He was a senior fellow in the humanities at NYU Abu Dhabi (2016). He has lived in various parts of the Gulf, including Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. He is President of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS). His publications include: Ibn Khaldun (Edinburgh University Press, 2010); The Almohads (IB Tauris, 2012); Qatar (Georgetown Univeristy Press, 2016) and The Near West (Edinburgh University Press, 2016).