Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Netherlands
fellow
Guangtian Ha
2023-2024
Home institution
Haverford College
Country of origin (home institution)
United States
Discipline(s)
Anthropology and ethnology
Medieval history
Theme(s)
Globalization
Labor, Capital & Innovation
Migration
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Guangtian Ha is Assistant Professor of Religion at Haverford College.
Research Project
From Baghdad to Canton: Sailors, Slaves, and Global Blackness in Medieval Maritime Asia
Black sailors in medieval trans-regional seafaring across the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, were recruited, purchased, or kidnapped from various locations across Africa, Arabia, and Southeast Asia and were referred to by various names in different regions. The enslaved black sailors were the lifelines of seafaring and the human infrastructure that welded the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea.
Guangtian Ha aims to uncover the history of medieval transregional seafaring from the perspective of black sailors. By analyzing Arabic, Persian, and Classical Chinese sources alongside recent archaeological discoveries in Southeast Asia, he seeks to reclaim the silenced voices of these sailors and reconceptualize the idea of global blackness beyond Africa and its diaspora.
Research Interests:
Medieval maritime history; Black sailors and enslavement; trans-regional seafaring; global blackness beyond diaspora