Shallow Blue Empire: A History of Pearl Diving in the Indian Ocean, 1850-1930

A vivid picture of environmental knowledge among those who lived, worked, and governed the Indian Ocean's pearl reefs. Through colorful and compelling vignettes, Tamara Fernando teaches readers about the books that sailors and captains read, the embodied knowledge of pearl divers, and the many British efforts to understand how and why pearl oysters lived and died. With this deep blue dive, Fernando shows us what an environmental history of the Indian Ocean should look like. -- Fahad Bishara, author of Monsoon Voyagers: An Indian Ocean History Through meticulous research across multiple languages and rarely consulted sources, Tamara Fernando reveals how pearl divers navigated imperial power from the ocean surface to the seabed. The result is an innovative exploration of labor, environmental history, and the material life of coral reefs. Ambitious and sweeping, Shallow Blue Empire showcases Fernando’s exceptional skills as a historian of the Indian Ocean. -- Nira Wickramasinghe, author of Slave in a Palanquin: Colonial Servitude and Resistance in Sri Lanka Shallow Blue Empire is an exemplary contribution to the histories of science, law, and empire because it moves below the waves and across regions rarely studied together. In the reefs and shallows, Tamara Fernando finds not only a diverse range of sources and forms of knowledge but also a rich assembly of sea life. Questioning key faultlines and orthodoxies in Indian Ocean histories, her account is a brilliant intervention that deserves wide reading. -- Sujit Sivasundaram, author of Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire An interdisciplinary tour de force, equal parts poetry and erudition. Shallow Blue Empire is not just a groundbreaking contribution to the environmental history of the Indian Ocean world, but also required reading for anyone interested in what happens along ocean shores, in the shallows, and on the waves. Moving like a dancer across the stage, this work is a precise performance of grace and power. -- Molly A. Warsh, author of American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire, 1492-1700 Shallow Blue Empire makes a powerful contribution to the environmental history of imperialism in the Indian Ocean. Following her human subjects in their encounters with oysters, Fernando reveals the contested, compromised nature of colonial authority where the ocean met the land. As she shows, oysters and their pearls make demands not only on those who seek to exploit their watery beds, but also on scholars who must find innovative ways to narrate their histories. -- Jonathan Saha, author of Colonizing Animals: Interspecies Empire in Myanmar