Workshop themes have been released for Intercolonial Networks; Oceanic Circulations: Re-Thinking The Indian Ocean, University Of Technology Sydney
11 – 13 March 2009

• Subaltern and creole connections across imperial boundaries
• Islands in the ocean as sites of heightened connectivity
• The dissemination of knowledges, especially via printing presses using vernacular languages
• Comparisons and insights from Atlantic studies
• The validity of terracentric models and themes for oceanic studies
• Subaltern people at sea and on land: stokers, sailors, wharfies, bar owners, prostitutes
• The adoption, adaptation and transfer of technologies
• Patterns of religious connections, and ties to Mecca and Rome
• New epistemologies for Indian Ocean studies and the ambivalent promise of Cultural Studies
• Indigenous groups flourishing in the entrails of the ‘British lake’ in the nineteenth century
• Imperial and indigenous literatures: e.g. Joseph Conrad v. Amitav Ghosh; Wilber Smith v. Abdulrazak Gurnah; Ibn Battuta v. Vasco da Gama