TY - BOOK ID - 46203641 TI - Commerce with the Universe PY - 2013 SN - 0231164556 9780231164559 9780231164542 9780231535595 0231535597 0231164548 9781306311168 1306311160 PB - New York, NY DB - UniCat KW - Indic literature KW - National characteristics, East Indian, in literature KW - East African literature (English) KW - East Indians KW - Asian Indians KW - Indians, East KW - Indic peoples KW - Ethnology KW - English literature KW - History and criticism KW - 891.1 KW - 891.1 Indische literatuur KW - Indische literatuur KW - Littérature indienne (de l'Inde) de langue anglaise KW - Caractère national KW - Littérature africaine de langue anglaise KW - Indiens (de l'Inde) KW - National characteristics, East Indian, in literature. KW - Histoire et critique. KW - Dans la littérature KW - History and criticism. KW - Dans la littérature. KW - Indians (India) UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:46203641 AB - Reading the life narratives and literary texts of South Asians writing in and about East Africa, Gaurav Desai builds a surprising, alternative history of Africa's experience with slavery, migration, colonialism, nationalism, and globalization. Consulting Afrasian texts that are literary and nonfictional, political and private, he broadens the scope of African and South Asian scholarship and inspires a more nuanced understanding of the Indian Ocean's fertile routes of exchange.Desai shows how the Indian Ocean engendered a number of syncretic identities and shaped the medieval trade routes of the Islamicate empire, the early independence movements galvanized in part by Gandhi's southern African experiences, the invention of new ethnic nationalisms, and the rise of plural, multiethnic African nations. Calling attention to lives and literatures long neglected by traditional scholars, Desai introduces rich, interdisciplinary ways of thinking not only about this specific region but also about the very nature of ethnic history and identity. Traveling from the twelfth century to today, he concludes with a look at contemporary Asian populations in East Africa and their struggle to decide how best to participate in the development and modernization of their postcolonial nations without sacrificing their political autonomy. ER -