The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Omar H. Ali, Professor & Dean, Lloyd International Honors College (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Over the course of nearly 20 centuries, millions of East Africans crossed the Indian Ocean and its several seas and adjoining bodies of water in their journey to distant lands, from Arabia and Iraq to India and Sri Lanka. Called Kaffir, Siddi, Habshi, or Zanji, these men, women and children from Sudan in the north to Mozambique in the south Africanized the Indian Ocean world and helped shape the societies they entered and made their own. Free or enslaved, soldiers, servants, sailors, merchants, mystics, musicians, commanders, nurses, or founders of dynasties, they contributed their cultures, talents, skills and labor to their new world, as millions of their descendants continue to do. Yet, their heroic odyssey remains little known. The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean World traces a truly unique and fascinating story of struggles and achievements across a variety of societies, cultures, religions, languages and times.

Additional Information

Publication
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and The New York Public Library
Language: English
Date: 2011
Keywords
African Diaspora, Indian Ocean, Kaffir, Siddi, Habshi, Zanji, Africanization

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