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The Global Indies: Historicizing Oceanic Metageographies

The Global Indies: Historicizing Oceanic Metageographies This essay begins by observing that the Indian and Atlantic Ocean worlds were deeply linked in eighteenth-century British literature and colonial discourse—so deeply, in fact, that they shared a common name: “the Indies.” Theorizing outward from this case study, this essay advocates a historicist approach to Oceanic Studies. Given that the shape of the world system has proved remarkably malleable over time, it argues that we need to pay more attention to the periodic reorganizations of oceanic space that have occurred over the course of the longue durée . More specifically, this essay suggests that literary scholars should attend to the ideological formations, or metageographies, that have been produced by—and in some cases helped to engender—these systemic shifts in the organization of global space. Finally, it argues that so doing will require adopting new methodologies around spatial scale. Atlantic world Indian Ocean world British Empire eighteenth-century literature transnational http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Comparative Literature Duke University Press

The Global Indies: Historicizing Oceanic Metageographies

Cohen, Ashley L.
Comparative Literature , Volume 69 (1) – Mar 1, 2017
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Duke Univ Press
ISSN
0010-4124
eISSN
1945-8517
DOI
10.1215/00104124-3794559
Publisher site
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Abstract

This essay begins by observing that the Indian and Atlantic Ocean worlds were deeply linked in eighteenth-century British literature and colonial discourse—so deeply, in fact, that they shared a common name: “the Indies.” Theorizing outward from this case study, this essay advocates a historicist approach to Oceanic Studies. Given that the shape of the world system has proved remarkably malleable over time, it argues that we need to pay more attention to the periodic reorganizations of oceanic space that have occurred over the course of the longue durée . More specifically, this essay suggests that literary scholars should attend to the ideological formations, or metageographies, that have been produced by—and in some cases helped to engender—these systemic shifts in the organization of global space. Finally, it argues that so doing will require adopting new methodologies around spatial scale. Atlantic world Indian Ocean world British Empire eighteenth-century literature transnational

Journal

Comparative Literature – Duke University Press

Published: Mar 1, 2017

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