JIOWS Vol. 9, Iss. 1-2 (2025) is out now!

We are very pleased to announce that the Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies has just published their ninth volume! Please find the entire volume here.

Table of Contents:

Editorial

Editors of the JIOWS, “Editorial Introduction,” 1: https://doi.org/10.26443/jiows.v9i1-2.218

Articles

Maya Vinai, Lakshmi Krishnan, Bhasura Sangeetika, “Crafting the Divine Ship: Understanding Indigenous Shipbuilding Practices through Performative Traditions,” 2-26: https://doi.org/10.26443/jiows.v9i1-2.221

Omer Awass, “Knowledge without Borders: Epistemic Communities, Dialogically Engaged Discursive Tradition, and the Transmission of Islamic Scholarship in the Eastern Indian Ocean World: Connections between Southeast and Western Asia,” 27-52: https://doi.org/10.26443/jiows.v9i1-2.224

Conversations

Alastair McClure, “In Conversation: Alastair McClure on Trials of Sovereignty: Mercy, Violence and the Making of Criminal Law in British India, 1857-1922,” 53-62: https://doi.org/10.26443/jiows.v9i1-2.227

Queries should be directed to the editors at jiows@mcgill.ca

IOWC WINTER 2026 Speaker Series Schedule out now

The IOWC’s Winter Speaker Series Schedule is now available. Talks will take place on Wednesdays at 3pm. Download the programme here.

IOWC Fall 2025 Speaker Series Schedule out now

The IOWC’s Fall Speaker Series Schedule is now available. Talks will take place on Wednesdays at 3pm. Download the programme here.

IOWC Research Featured in Digital Humanities Webinar

Our project manager, Dr. Philip Gooding, was recently featured in a CHOICE Media webinar entitled “Redefining research: Uncovering climate impact insights with digitized primary sources.” In this webinar, Dr. Gooding discussed the importance of historical archives to climate reconstruction, especially in the Global South. As he argues, they can help fill the gaps left by natural scientists, whose work has disproportionately focused on North America and Europe. Historical methods can be central to improving knowledge about regional climate systems, which can, in turn, improve models that project the future effects of global warming.

Indian Ocean World Centre Working Paper Series, Vol. 22

We are very pleased to announce the publication of a new working paper in the the Indian Ocean World Centre Working Paper Series: “Caste, Climate, Conversion: Pariah Labour and Mobility in Late-Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Colonial Madras” by Debanjan Das, a Masters student in History at McGill, as well as a Research Assistant at the IOWC. Congratulations, Debanjan!

Further information about the Working Paper Series, including submission guidelines, can be found here. This is an exciting publication opportunity for students and other junior scholars who wish to publish while retaining copyright.