Upcoming Events
“Of Ships and Gods: Indians at Berenike and how they got there”
By Steven E. Sidebotham
Archaeological excavations at Berenike, a Ptolemaic-Roman (third century BC-sixth century AD) port on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, began in 1994 and are on-going. Our fieldwork has unearthed numerous artifacts and ecofacts indicating robust commercial and cultural contacts with many areas of the ancient world.
Initially established to procure African elephants for service in the armies of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt, and to import aromatics and other commodities, Berenike developed into a prominent nexus concatenating Europe, Africa and Asia in a vast maritime network during the Roman era. Archaeological evidence indicates relations between Berenike and vast areas of the Mediterranean as far west as Morocco and Spain, into West Asia as well as along the Indian Ocean coast of Africa during the first to the later fifth/early sixth centuries AD. Evidence also suggests indirect communication with Indonesia. However, the most intensive and extensive contacts outside the Roman world were with India.
This lecture will focus on the remains of the ships that brought Indians to Berenike for commercial purposes and the extensive evidence for their presence at the emporium.
Indian Indenture in the French Sugar Plantations
Indira Karamcheti
Saturday, November 2. 3:00 - 5:00
AFH Conference Center
57 Charter Oak Ave Hartford, CT
“Indian Indenture in the French Sugar Plantations” will be presented by Indira Karamcheti in English on November 2, 2024 from 3:00-5:00 PM.
After the (second) French abolition of slavery in 1848, French sugar planters in the Caribbean and in the Indian Ocean turned to the use of indentured workers from India. In the 19th century, they drew people from their colonies in Pondicherry and Karikal in South India, and established communities in Réunion, Mauritius, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. Out of this global diasporic history, three interesting figures emerge: two 20th century writers, the Mauritian writer/scholar Khal Torabully and the Martiniquan Raphaël Confiant, and an indentured servant in Martinique from the 19th century.
Indira Karamcheti is Associate Professor of the Global South Asian Studies Program at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Trained in literary studies, her work focusses on imperialism, the South Asian diaspora, as well as children’s literature and education.
This is a low building at the rear left of large parking lot. It is adjacent to the Capewell Lofts. The building has a ramp and you can enter through the door on the right.
Please bring a snack to share. Wine will be provided.
RSVP below. Please feel free to donate to this event.
Sign up and pay on the website.
Past Events
All That Breathes
Film Screening and Conversation with Director Shaunak Sen
Monday, April 8, 2024
7:00 pm
The Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies
Lecture: Professor Hardeep Dhillon, University of Pennsylvania
Memories: A Microhistory of Expatriation and Family Life
March 26, 2024
6:00 pm
Downey 200 (Lounge)
Play performance: The Elephant is Very Like by Ankita Raturi
February 15, 2024
7:30 pm
Theater Department Studio