Dhow culture does exist, and it is defined by the social cosmopolitanism it brought with it. Social cosmopolitanism in this regard is defined as the creation of a community in the Indian Ocean that enabled inter-cultural exchange of maritime traditions and practices. Yet, the phrase ‘dhow culture’ remains a contested term in the context of the Indian Ocean sphere and maritime histories. Altered by imagined and exotic European narratives and a fascination with names like Sinbad, there is a need to reconsider where the roots of the term lie since the withdrawal of colonial powers from the Middle East. This is particularly because of exoticised European ideas that have created imagined narratives about maritime tradition in the Gulf, with one example being an over exaggeration of the historical prevalence of piracy in the region. With the English language referring to a ‘dhow’ purely as a type of vessel, though no such parallel term exists in the Arabic language or its many dialects, it is evident that there needs to be greater clarity in how one approaches the term ‘dhow culture’ beyond the classification of ship types. This is because a simple focus on the ‘dhow’ as a vessel does not take into account the complex networks of cultural exchange, whether it be through religion, art, cuisine or maritime techniques that the Indian Ocean sphere enabled. This is of particular importance in the Persian/Arabian Gulf region, given the rapid development of cultural and heritage initiatives in nations now well aware of the looming giant that is the post-oil economy. Gulf nations like Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have long homed in on maritime tradition as shared cultural heritage in territories geographically dominated by desert and shore, seeking a balancing act between desert-dwelling Bedouin nomad culture and seafaring peoples[1].
This is by no means an entirely recent endeavour, as one considers films emerging from the region as early as the 1970s revolving around the topic of the sea and its ties to Khaleeji identity – a particular example being The Cruel Sea (1972)[2], Kuwait’s first ever produced film. What is clear from this is that the idea of dhow culture stems from so much more than simply the shape that a seafaring vessel takes. The fact that one ship is a baghlah and another a sambuq is irrelevant when faced with the traditions and customs that come with seafaring. Dhow culture is instead defined by the far reaching social and economic institutions it developed in the Indian Ocean sphere. Culturally, this critically involves the spread of Islam, the transfer of ship manufacture and navigation techniques and cross-cultural artistic exchange. Economically, this takes the form of vast networks built around exchanging valuable luxury goods and necessities between East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent and further east.
This paper will focus on French historian Fernand Braudel’s third level of history – that of the longue durée (in English – the long term). This is defined by a need to understand history through movements rather than moments, focusing on the relationship between humans and their environment and the creation of history through constantly repeating cycles of long duration[3]. The significance of this is how it enables history to be examined particularly through the study of institutional and structural change over an extended period of time – especially significant in the case of Indian Ocean trade which has existed for centuries and even as far back as the pre-Christian period. It is important to highlight that dhow culture is not a recent creation, and while Islam is integral to the understanding of dhow culture as it stands now, dhow culture had existed long before then[4]. This also highlights the need to understand that dhow culture is not an unfixed, never-changing concept – it is instead shaped and reinterpreted over time as new cultures and technologies are introduced to and emerge within the region. The accounts of Alan Villiers, author and sailor, of travelling aboard a Kuwaiti dhow in the 20th century may differ from that of earlier accounts from Portuguese and Dutch merchants, whose own experiences differ from Ibn Battuta, but the fact is that these accounts all emerged discussing the same thing – that of a community of trade networks that enabled cultural exchange throughout the Indian Ocean.
Dhow culture is defined by the environment in which it emerged, that of the Indian Ocean, which provided many factors needed to facilitate exchange and prosperity across the region. Abdul Sheriff, Director of the Zanzibar Indian Ocean Research Institute, writes in his book Dhow Cultures of the Indian Ocean, ‘Economic unification of the ocean was facilitated by the paramount climatological factor in the Indian Ocean, the seasonal reversal of the monsoons’[5]. This means that the monsoon winds in the Indian Ocean determined when sailors could and could not sail, but effectively created a network of natural trade routes connected by winds that could propel sails. In addition to this, the parts of the year where it became too dangerous to sail created a need for sailors and merchants to settle and integrate into the societies they were otherwise simply ‘visiting’, to an extent. Living abroad for six months of the year in a foreign port created conditions that promoted what Sheriff calls ‘longer period of social interaction between visiting sailors and local people, which was to have long-lasting social and cultural impact on the development of littoral societies’[6].The diverse climates that existed within the Indian Ocean also helped facilitate the creation of said trade networks with each area within the Indian Ocean sphere having its own valuable natural resources and a need or desire for resources from other regions. Prominent examples of this are that of timber in East Africa and the west coast of India (which would become a key part of ship manufacture), spices and later textiles on the east coast of India, as well as dates and pearls in the Middle East[7]. In many ways, the material significance of these trade goods would not only create lucrative trading networks that would fuel regional economies for centuries and eventually European empires whose colonial ambitions often revolved around control of territory in the Indian Ocean, but also cultural significance as they became critically tied with the lifestyles of those living there.
Critical to our understanding of dhow culture are the cultural exchanges facilitated and enabled by the Indian Ocean and its material wealth. These cultural developments do not simply run parallel to economic developments in the region, and are instead critically intertwined with the practice of trade and consumption. This is particularly highlighted in the spread of Islam throughout the Indian Ocean from Zanzibar to Indonesia. Meilink-Roelofsz, writing in her 1962 book Asian Trade and European Influence, references the conversion of Malacca stating that ‘the influence of the Islamic traders is quite evident. And these people were by no means all socially insignificant…it was quite possible for the two qualities, commercialism and religious zeal, to be combined in one person’[8]. While there is much debate surrounding political involvement whereby rulers in Southeast Asia aligned themselves with Muslim traders while in conflict with Hindu realms further inland on the islands of Java and Sumatra, it is difficult to deny the prominent figure of the Muslim trader both as an economic force and a religious one. Philip Lucasz, an East India company official, makes record of (presumably Arab and Muslim) wealthy merchants from western Asia residing in Indonesia, and another account from Portuguese apothecary Tomé Pires even claims most of the small Muslim states in Java were founded by Muslim traders in the first place[9]. While this shows that there is an important connection between maritime commerce and the spread of Islam in Indonesia – particularly in the case of Muslim merchants facilitating trade, we see similar patterns again repeated in places like southern India with the Mappila Muslims and Zanzibar Muslims. Muslim groups and Muslim settlements become essential to maintaining the trading networks of the Indian Ocean. Patterns of consumption are also carried along these established trading networks and Sheriff uses the effective example of dates to show how cultural and economic practice became intertwined. Dates were not only a luxury food item that could be preserved and transported easily and efficiently throughout the Indian Ocean, but were also religiously significant as part of the breaking of the fast during Ramadan – a practice now shared across the entire ocean[10]. Artistic and cultural developments occurring as a result of these trading networks continue to resonate to this day, especially with greater support from heritage initiatives like the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), the Dhow Countries Music Academy and the Jahazi Literary and Jazz Festivals, highlighting this idea of dhow culture that expands far beyond simply boat designs[11].
In conclusion, dhow culture does exist and it revolves around cultural and economic exchange in the Indian Ocean region. This includes through patterns of consumption with things like dates for religious reasons and timber for the purpose of shipbuilding, and artistic developments through music, film and literature. Islam is intrinsically linked to the development of the idea of dhow culture, evidenced by the prominent role of Muslim settlements and traders all throughout the Indian Ocean region, but it is important to note that while dhow culture is largely defined by Muslim influence, it is not exclusively defined as such in a region populated by an extremely diverse range of ethnicities and religions. Dhow culture is a flexible and fluid term that has changed throughout history from the pre-Christian period with Roman coins in India, the ebbs and flows of European trading empires and colonialism, to the GCC oil boom. Just as the practice of making the vessels themselves has changed from its reed lashings to iron rivets and nails, from palm frond sails to cloth, the very idea of dhow culture itself adapts to the ways in which cultural and economic exchange take place in the Indian Ocean through inter-cultural exchange of maritime traditions and practices. Essential to the preservation and continued development of dhow culture is regional heritage programmes and continued investment by national governments and international bodies, and recognition that dhow culture is a case of shared heritage that stretches across oceans and ethnicities and has created the Indian Ocean dynamic we see today.
[1]Dokoupil (Reuters), Matin. “Sailing Heritage Catches Fresh Wind.” Khaleej Times. June 23, 2012. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/general/sailing-heritage-catches-fresh-wind. [2]The Cruel Sea, 1972. [3] Sheriff, Abdul. Dhow Cultures of the Indian Ocean Cosmopolitanism, Commerce and Islam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010, 3. [4] Sheriff, Dhow Cultures, 8. [5] Sheriff, Dhow Cultures, 2. [6] Sheriff, Dhow Cultures, 22. [7] Sheriff, Dhow Cultures, 11. [8] Meilink-Roelofsz, M. A. P. Asian Trade and European Influence: in the Indonesian Archipelago between 1500 and about 1630. CHAM: SPRINGER, 1970, 4. [9] Meilink-Roelofsz, Asian Trade and European Influence, 6. [10] Sheriff, Dhow Cultures, 12. [11] Bissell, William Cunningham. “From Dhow Culture to the Diaspora: ZIFF, Film, and the Framing of Transnational Imaginaries in the Western Indian Ocean.” Social Dynamics 38, no. 3 (2012), 480.