One of the best ways to introduce recent scholarship on the Indian Ocean world into the classroom is to invite contemporary scholars to discuss different ways of thinking about maritime trade, environmental dynamics, Diasporas, archeological explorations, economic development, and empire and colonialism, among other themes. During the four weeks of the 2002 National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute on "The Indian Ocean: Cradle of Globalization" at the University of Pennsylvania, visiting scholars discussed key themes of their work with participating Fellows. The Scholar Voices Web pages briefly summarize key points of each scholarly presentation and provide selected reading lists. The purpose is,

• to help students and faculty apply new approaches to the study and teaching of the Indian Ocean
• to help comprehend the historical and cultural dynamism of the Indian Ocean and the place of its littoral populations in world history. 

Index of Scholar pages

• Sugata Bose, Harvard University ~ Introducing An Interregional Arena through the Eyes of a Poet: Rabindranath Tagore's Discovery of the Indian Ocean

 
• Howard Spodek, Temple University ~ The Indian Ocean in World History Perspective 

 
• T. J. Wilkinson, University of Chicago ~ Environmental dynamics and human activity 

 
• Andrew Watson, University of Toronto ~ Agrarian and Cultural Diffusion

 
• Brian Spooner, University of Pennsylvania ~ Cultural dynamics of the Indian Ocean, and Islam in the Indian Ocean

 
• Edward Alpers, University of California, Los Angeles ~ Diasporas in Indian Ocean History

 
• Nancy Pinto-Orton, Widener University ~ Traditional Wooden Boat Building in Gujarat: An Interactive Model of a Craft Specialization 

 
• Roxani Margariti, Emory University ~ A city and the sea: Maritime trade and urban organization in medieval Aden 

 
• Pia Brancaccio, The College of New Jersey ~ The Indian Ocean and the Deccan plateau: archaeological traces of cross-cultural encounters 

 
• Kurt Behrendt, Temple University ~ South Asian International Trade and the Indian Ocean, 1st c BCE-5th c CE

 
• Robert Nichols, Richard Stockton College ~ Imperial Formations: 700-1700 

 
• Savita Nair, Mount Holyoke College ~ India and Africa: British Colonial Era Migration and Diaspora 

 
• Hal Schiffman and Brian Spooner University of Pennsylvania ~ Languages and the Uses of Literacy in the Indian Ocean 

 
• Alwiya Omar, Indiana University ~ Swahili as Cultural Synthesis

 
• Kelly Askew, University of Michigan ~ Taarab in Swahili Culture

 
• Carol Muller, University of Pennsylvania ~ Indian Ocean Soundscapes

 
• Lynn Lees & Lee Cassanelli, University of Pennsylvania ~ Varieties of Imperialism and Colonialism in the Indian Ocean, 19th and 20th Century, and Asian and African Nationalisms and their Legacies 

 
• Larry Bowman, University of Connecticut ~ Indian Ocean Politics and Societies during the Cold War Era

 
• Alan Heston, University of Pennsylvania ~ Issues of Economic Growth and Development in the Indian Ocean in the New Millennium 

 
• Devin Hagerty, University of Maryland ~ Contemporary Crises Around the Indian Ocean 

• Institute Fellows

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