Highlighting Hidden Stories: Dhow Cultures Between Zanzibar and the Persian Gulf

Between Zanzibar and the Persian Gulf: Dhow Cultures of the Western Indian Ocean in the 19th Century

In this lecture, Professor Rockel will present the distinct relationship between East African and the Middle Eastern civilizations, connected through the oceanic Dhow cultures. By examining these cultures and movements of the West Indian Ocean in the 19th century, Dr. Rockel will discuss the unique cultural contributions and history of often forgotten voices.

Professor Dr. Stephen Rockel is a specialist in African History at the University of Toronto (SC). He has particular interests in African social and cultural history, labour, slavery, urbanization, colonialism, environmental history, and war and society throughout the African continent and beyond. Before teaching at the University of Toronto, Dr. Rockel taught in the Department of Economic History at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. His book,Carriers of Culture: Labor on the Road in Nineteenth-Century East Africa, was awarded the Joel Gregory Prize by the Canadian Association of African Studies for the best book on Africa written by a Canadian and published in 2006 or 2007. In 2009, he published (with Rick Halpern), Inventing Collateral Damage: Civilian Casualties, War and Empire. His current research projects include a history of Tabora, as well as research on Tanzanian national identity, and South African apartheid exiles in Canada.

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