November 7-10, 2002
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

     Study of the Indian Ocean and its trade networks during the medieval through early modern periods has been extensive since at least the beginning of the 20th century. Points of approach have also been manifold, including perspectives looking east from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, as well as looking west from Southeast Asia and the Bay of Bengal. The majority of these studies, however, have concentrated on aspects of the social and economic history of this “globalizing” network, along with some studies – fewer in number – examining the specific objects traded as commodities among far-flung regions. Also, the focus of scholarship has systematically been on the late pre-modern periods, specifically the transition from “traditional” economies and trading systems to the different modes of commerce instigated by incorporation of the Portuguese, Dutch and British military powers.
     The present workshop proposes to contribute twofold to this wide field of study: First, it will provide the beginnings of a systematic focus and analysis of important evidence from the 11th-15th centuries which has come to light during the last three decades, thereby elucidating the continuities and disruptions in patterns of travel, and commodity production and exchange between this earlier period and the more recent, better studied centuries. Second, through the participation of scholars from various disciplines, the Workshop hopes to contribute new methodologies for research not only to Indian Ocean studies in general, but more specifically to the analysis of material culture as historical evidence.
     The primary geographical focus of the Workshop will be on western India, particularly the loci of trade along the Gujarat and Konkan coasts during the 11th through 15th centuries. In order to discern possible changes in the patterns of commerce and cultural exchange in the Indian Ocean network, and their relevance to medieval-period activities, examination of surviving documents from the early historic era will form a background to the endeavor. The overall framework for the project has been inspired by objects of trade, specifically the Kelsey Museum’s collection of medieval Gujarati textiles excavated in Egypt, and the parallel Newberry Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University. It has been beneficially noted that the ‘attention [of Indian Ocean scholars] has centered on material remains as indicators of contacts rather than on communities themselves.’ This timely observation being fully heeded, the present workshop has been conceptualized as an examination of the objects as functioning within two broad communities, one being comprised of the craftspeople who produced the commodities, and the other comprised of the various socio-economic groups who purchased and utilized these products. The aim, then, is to investigate the commodities in their production, exchange, and circulation without neglecting the communities who made this happen.
     Toward this dual end, specialists in various fields of the history of the Indian Ocean and medieval cultural exchange have been invited to participate. The represented disciplines include history, textile history, historical anthropology and sociology, numismatics, art and architectural history, and modern textile design. There are virtually infinite questions which need to be addressed from the perspective of western India, as both the point of origin of many goods, and as an entrepôt for commodities and communities seeking new places to call home. The workshop hopes to address these questions with innovative and cross-disciplinary methodologies. The issues addressed will pertain to – but will not be limited to – the organizations of craftspeople and their socio-religious inflections; the interactions between these producers and the merchants; the location of craft-production neighborhoods within urban configurations; the differences between exported and locally circulated commodities; the presence or absence of common iconographic motifs among the various productions, including objects and architecture; the creation of commodities designed specifically for export markets, and the possible mechanisms through which craftspeople learned these preferences and incorporated them into their creations.
     From the perspective of the Mediterranean, Egypt and Southeast Asia, parallel as well as divergent questions must be addressed. Among the latter, perhaps the more salient would be issues of precisely who the export market was: It is known that western Indian textiles were in wide circulation in medieval Egypt, mostly among the non-élite ambits. How were these imported textiles evaluated in comparison with the local products? What were the other cloths in use (e.g. tiraz fragments), and from whence did they come? Was there a connection between architectural and textile epigraphy? What were the changes in patterns of usage during the span of these four to five centuries, and to what could they be attributed? The questions outlined here are not exhaustive, by any means, but they do hope to open new modes of inquiry into the history of Indian Ocean contacts, fleshing out the communities behind the commodities and vice versa. Ultimately, the workshop’s end will be the elucidation of two ends of a continuous trade network between Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean Basin, both in terms of objects exchanged, as well as their reception among communities who themselves were often moving among several worlds.
     The workshop is scheduled for November 7-10, 2002. It has received the support of the Center for South Asian Studies, the Rackham Graduate School, the Institute for the Humanities, and the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The venue for the Workshop is the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. The format of the meetings will include a viewing session of the objects inspiring and underpinning this project, as well as public presentations. The proceedings of the workshop will then be published as a collection of contributions to the study of the travel of objects and communities within the India-Mediterranean and India-Southeast Asia maritime networks. Possible venues for publication include a special number of Ars Orientalis, the Museums Bulletin (University of Michigan), and the Kelsey Museums Studies Series.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Dr. Ruth Barnes- Curator of Textiles, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University
Dr. Shailendra Bhandare- Asst. Keeper of Coins, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University
Ms. Carol Bier- Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.
Ms. Claudia Brittenham- Yale University
Dr. Mark Horton- Reader in Archaeology & Head of Department, University of Bristol (UK)
Dr. Eiluned Edwards- Research Fellow, PRASADA (De Montfort University), Leicester (UK)
Dr. Phyllis Granoff- Professor of Religious Studies, McMaster University (Canada)
Dr. Engseng Ho- Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University
Dr. Elizabeth Lambourn- Research Fellow, PRASADA (De Montfort University), Leicester (UK)
Dr. Alka Patel- Fellow, Michigan Society of Fellows & Assistant Professor, Department of the History of Art,
                          The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Dr. Grant Parker- Assistant Professor of Classics, Duke University
Dr. Himanshu Ray- Professor of History & Archaeology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
Dr. Carla Sinopoli- Professor of Archaeology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dr. Jochen Sokoly- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Dr. Donald Whitcomb- Oriental Institute, University of Chicago