CARPO Podcasts
with Desirée Custers and Hubert Kinkoh
In this episode of the WASSAP podcast, hosts Desirée Custers and Hubert Kinkoh are joined by Professor Anne K. Bang, historian at the University of Bergen and a leading scholar of the Indian Ocean world, to explore the historical and cultural connections linking East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
The conversation challenges the idea of the Red Sea as a barrier between regions and instead presents it as a space of mobility, exchange, and connectivity. Professor Bang explains how maritime trade routes connected coastal communities across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, facilitating the movement of merchants, scholars, religious leaders, manuscripts, and ideas over centuries. She highlights the role of trade, Islamic scholarly networks, and social relations in shaping interconnected societies on both shores.
Drawing on her research on Zanzibar, Professor Bang discusses questions of identity, belonging, and cosmopolitanism in port cities that have long been embedded in wider transregional networks. She also reflects on how historical patterns of exchange challenge simple centre-periphery narratives and why policymakers and researchers should pay closer attention to the complex identities and longstanding connections that continue to underpin Africa-West Asia relations today.
About the WASSAP podcast
WASSAP: The Africa - West Asia Podcast translates the findings of a three-year research project on West Asian (Gulf)–Sub-Saharan African relations into an accessible, engaging audio format. It explores how economic, political, cultural, religious, and security ties between selected Gulf countries and African partners are evolving and why these shifts matter globally, particularly for Europe.
Hosts of the podcast are Desirée Custers (project manager, CARPO) & Hubert Kinkoh (Senior Researcher, CARPO)
About the WASSAP project
The project explores the multi-dimensional and complex relations between selected Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran) and four Sub-Saharan countries (South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia). It aims to deconstruct and analyze their economic networks, cultural and religious affiliations, and political and security cooperation. Based on empirical research, the project provides a better understanding of Gulf-African exchange, its challenges and opportunities, as well as its implications for Europe. The project is financed by the Robert Bosch Foundation and will run for three years.
Guest:
Professor Anne K. Bang – Professor of the History of the Middle East and Islamic Africa, University of Bergen
Shownotes:
Big thanks for the support to
Editor: Marco Bussi
