The Persian Gulf and its neighbouring countries remain today one of the most important areas and strategic vortexes of the 21st century. The Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman have historically provided a natural conduit linking Iran and the other littoral states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. The Persian Gulf and its ports served for many centuries as centres of maritime commerce and trading networks for the exchange of goods, services and also information between Europe, East Africa, Southeast Asia and, of course, China.
But despite the availability of historical work carried out on the Persian Gulf and its neighbouring countries, there remains little in the way of research on the more anthropological aspects of these regions. There is, therefore, a relatively imperative need to revisit and discuss the anthropology proper, and thus the ethnography, of the riparian cultures and states of the Persian Gulf.
The symposium will focus on the overall anthropological/ethnographical topics that have emerged from the study the Persian Gulf, its neighbouring countries; more specifically, the sea and the people that surround it and that live off it. Presentations will be oriented around the following sub-themes:
* The wealth of the Persian Gulf: social and ecological relations of marine resource extraction;
* Lines of seafaring: place, memory and navigation;
* From coast to coast: how the sea joins the land;
* Stories aboard: narrative, song and dance on deck and on land;
* Water crafts: the skills of boat-building, mending and sailing;
* The social life of fluid space.
Although there will be a strong regional emphasis on the Persian Gulf and its neighbouring countries, this does not exclude a consideration of anthropological research from other parts of the world, especially when carried out by scholars who have specialised in the Persian Gulf. Since the symposium forms part of an overarching larger event, including an ethnographic film season about the Persian Gulf, presentations dealing with audio-visual or sensory perceptions and representations are particularly welcome. Submission should be effected online.
It is planned for the results of the symposium and a selection of papers to be published in a peer-reviewed book.
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