Events and
Activities

For thousands of years, people, ideas, and commodities have moved along a cultural and commercial contact zone linking Africa and the Gulf. And while Islamic and Swahili civilizations have flourished together along the shores of the northwestern region of the Indian Ocean and its extension into the Gulf, most of the scholarship in the African diaspora that looks at the movement of people, ideas, and commodities out of Africa centers the last 400 years of recorded history in the Atlantic World.

This presentation looks at Bahrain as a historical site and point of convergence for many African, Arabic, and Islamic peoples, cultures, and commodities in the service of pearling and its remembrances.

It draws from evidence from historical pearl divers, contemporary artists, and members of traditional bands to trace the movement from Africa and the movement of Africa people, cultural practices, and material culture to Bahrain. While the history of African diaspora in Bahrain has yet to be written, this presentation suggests that such a history might be consider work, ritual, entertainment as sites of community formation or enactment.