The Life of the Red Sea Dhow: A Cultural History of Seaborne Exploration in the Islamic World

ISBN-13: 9781848858060 / Angielski / Twarda / 2019 / 384 str.

Dionisius A. Agius

Opis

For centuries the waters of the Red Sea have been amongst the most hazardous and feared in the world. Strong or erratic winds have taken lives and broken boats, smashed against rocks or hidden sandbars. Pirates too have menaced: some out for booty alone; others for slaves. Many seafarers have been terrified by the capricious genies of the ocean, and only by prayer and ritual might crew members hope to ward off any disaster or evil that might befall their ship.
Central to this archetypal and perilous maritime scene has been the dhow, the versatile sailing craft that survives to this day and that for many hundreds of years has linked the commercial and pilgrim centres of sea and desert. In his new book Dionisius A. Agius, one of the foremost scholars of Islamic material culture, offers a lucid and wide-ranging history of the iconic dhow from medieval to modern times. While the history of global and seafaring exploration is more popular than ever, seaborne discovery from Islamic lands remains an understudied subject. Whether discussing trade and salt routes; shoals and wind patterns; spice harvest seasons; litanies and votive offerings to the sea; or the deep and resonant connection between language, memory, and oral tradition, this is the first book to place the dhow in its full and remarkable cultural contexts.

Recenzje

This a work of such scholarship and erudition that it should become a classic the second it is published. As a child sailing through the Red Sea on the army troop ships travelling to and from the Far East I have known and remembered these extraordinary and majestic boats. They sailed alongside us as we dropped anchor at Aden, circled us at Port Said and accompanied us through the Suez Canal. As old as time, and as pertinent today as they were before Abraham was born, these sturdy, graceful vessels did more than carry goods and people: they represented freedom, trade, exploration and endeavour, war and peace. Above all, they symbolize the interaction between Islam and the rest of the world; the publication of this book is timely indeed. A painting of dhows, reddened by the setting sun, hangs above my desk as I write. I can hear the creak of their timbers and the slap of the sails in my small study in London. Romantic, trustworthy, the dhow occupies a place in my heart reached by no other memory. Joanna Lumley, OBE, FRGS 20190114

Spis treści

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
List of abbreviations
Note on the transliteration system
1. Cultural memories of the Red Sea
2. 'Our life on the sea is gone but our stories will last for ever'
3. The geographic context
4. Red Sea corridor: the Early Modern period
5. The Red Sea sailing dhow
6. On building the dhow: sites, skills and techniques
7. Documenting and remembering old dhows
8. The sanbuks of the Red Sea
9. The dhow landscape: the northern and southern Red Sea
10. 'Our life is the sea: the ship, the coast and the anchorage know us'
11. On board the dhow: eating, resting and entertainment
12. This dangerous sea
13. 'You only ride the sea if you know the sea': winds and sails
14. 'We set forth with a favourable wind': the Red Sea dhow trade
15. 'We sail with the hope of a good catch': fishing and shell collecting
16. The dhow hunt: the slave trade and gun running in the southern Red Sea
17. The dhow, the coast and the sea: interacting with nature, the spirits and the supernatural
18. Cultural identities of a Red Sea landscape: recollections and reflections
Glossary
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Index

O autorze

Dionisius A. Agius is Al Qasimi Professor of Arabic Studies and Islamic Material Culture at the University of Exeter. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Geographical Society.