Description:

The Buffett Institute for Global Affairs hosts colloquia for graduate students to present their research to globally engaged faculty and fellow students. This talk features History PhD candidate Aisha Valiulla presenting her dissertation chapter titled "'Aja'ib al-Hind: The Mystical Indian Ocean World, 900–1400." Q&A and discussion will follow; light refreshments will be served.

Valiulla's research traces the literary legacy of the Indian Ocean world in Arabic scholarship between 900–1400. She explores medieval Arabic-language travel narratives, histories, geographies, encyclopedias, and books of wonder to analyze how 'al-Hind' (India/Indian Ocean world) was written and who the sources were of this Indic information. There were two genres in Indic information: akhbar (news) and 'aja'ib (wonders). This chapter analyzes the Indian Ocean world through the perspective of 'aja'ib and traces how the genre shaped the perception of and immortalization of the Indian Ocean world across four centuries.

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