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Sindbad's Ocean: Reframing the Market in the Middle East

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2016

Johan Mathew
Johan Mathew*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, N.J.; e-mail: johan.mathew@gmail.com
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Extract

There are few figures as universally beloved and yet recognizably “Middle Eastern” as Sindbad. The text of Sindbad's seven voyages travel easily across continents and languages and many of the tales blur imperceptibly into those of Homer's The Odyssey and Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Yet this swashbuckling adventurer is also firmly situated in the world of Abbasid Iraq and the Indian Ocean world. Sindbad is clearly identified as a good Muslim and respected Baghdadi merchant, and while fantastical, there are recognizable geographic and cultural markers that locate his voyages within the Indian Ocean world. This iconic character of Arab popular culture pushes us to contemplate how easily the Arab world flows into that of the Indian Ocean.

Type
Roundtable
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 754 - 757
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

NOTES

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