Wider worlds: The Indian Ocean and African studies
本文综述四本关于印度洋与东非沿海社会的著作，强调印度洋文化对理解非洲东部社会、语言和宗教的重要性，适合对非洲历史、人类学或海洋文化感兴趣的学者。
The study of the wider world of the Indian Ocean is increasingly recognized as an integral part of African Studies. Coastal societies the length of the East African littoral developed as part of an Indian Ocean culture as much as an African one, and an awareness of this maritime cultural continuum is an essential part of understanding society, language, and religion on the eastern edge of the African continent. The first two books under review examine the ‘connected histories’ across the ocean in the context of wider networks of exchange. Abdul Sheriff's Dhow Cultures of the Indian Ocean sets the scene and historical context, and provides a broad yet vivid history of the seafaring societies around the rim of the Indian Ocean, from the first-century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea to the appearance of the Portuguese. Ocean of Letters by Pier Larson continues the history of the ocean into the colonial period, with a focus on Madagascar and the Malagasy diaspora, covering several hundred years of interaction between European and African peoples and their languages. The remaining two books focus on East Africa and take an anthropological approach to coastal Swahili societies, particularly the development of Islamic thought and practices. Knowledge, Renewal and Religion, edited by Kjersti Larsen, is a thought-provoking collection of studies relating to modernity, Islam, and society on the coast from Somalia to Madagascar, while Janet McIntosh's The Edge of Islam explores ethnic and religious identities in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi.