The Indian Ocean World Podcast
The Indian Ocean World Podcast seeks to educate and inform its listeners on topics concerning the relationship between humans and the environment throughout the history of the Indian Ocean World — a macro-region affected by the seasonal monsoon weather system, from China to Southeast and South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Based out of the Indian Ocean World Centre, a research centre affiliated with McGill University’s Department of History and Classical Studies, under the direction of Prof. Gwyn Campbell, the Indian Ocean World Podcast is part of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded Appraising Risk Partnership, an international collaboration of researchers dedicated to exploring the critical role of climatic crises in the past and future of the Indian Ocean World.
Episodes

Apr 6, 2026
Apr 6, 2026
53 min
Gillian Mathys (University of Ghent) joins Philip Gooding to discuss her newly published book "Fractured Pasts in Lake Kivu’s Borderlands:Conflicts, connections and mobility in Central Africa"
Scholar Profile: https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/gillian.mathys
Book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fractured-pasts-in-lake-kivus-borderlands/28EE1FFBB2BDDA8814964DD39656B959
Bukavu Series: https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/podcasts/the-bukavu-expo
The Indian Ocean World podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sofia O’Reilly, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership, “Appraising Risk, Past and Present.”
Music: “Nam Nhi-tu” by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con.

Jan 29, 2026
Jan 29, 2026
46 min
Eric Jennings (University of Toronto) joins Philip Gooding to discuss his newly published book "Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean"
Scholar profile: https://www.history.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/eric-jennings
Book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300264531/vanilla/
The Indian Ocean World podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sofia O’Reilly, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership, “Appraising Risk, Past and Present.”
Music: “Nam Nhi-tu” by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con.

Nov 26, 2025
Nov 26, 2025
47 min
Kundai Manamere (University of the Free State) joins Philip Gooding to discuss her newly published book "Malaria on the Move: Rural Communities and Public Health in Zimbabwe, 1890-2015."
Scholar profile: https://www.ssrc.org/fellows/f1b62cd1-500a-eb11-a813-000d3a3be5cf/
Book: https://www.ohioswallow.com/9780821425862/malaria-on-the-move/
The Indian Ocean World podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sofia O’Reilly, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership, “Appraising Risk, Past and Present.”
Music: “Nam Nhi-tu” by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con.

Nov 13, 2025
Nov 13, 2025
25 min
Everjoy Grace Chiimba (University of Bonn) joins Philip Gooding to discuss her ongoing paper, which explores youth narratives and organization following Cyclone Idai.
Scholar profile: https://kulturgeographie-mainz.de/team/everjoy-chiimba/
The Indian Ocean World podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sofia O’Reilly, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership, “Appraising Risk, Past and Present.”
Music: “Nam Nhi-tu” by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con.

Sep 25, 2025
Sep 25, 2025
32 min
Prof. Devika Shankar (The University of Hong Kong) joins Philip Gooding to discuss her new book, An encroaching sea : nature, sovereignty and development at the edge of British India 1860-1950(Cambridge University Press, 2025).
Scholar profile: https://history.hku.hk/staff-d-shankar/
Book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/an-encroaching-sea/F95A7CEFEDC145611A2E27DC2751A5D7
The Indian Ocean World podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sofia O’Reilly, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership, “Appraising Risk, Past and Present.”
Music: “Nam Nhi-tu” by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con.

Sep 10, 2025
Sep 10, 2025
36 min
Prof. Fiona Williamson (Singapore Management University) joins Dr. Philip Gooding to discuss her recently published monograph: Imperial Weather Meteorology, Science, and the Environment in Colonial Malaya (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2025). Their discussion covers the development of meteorological science under British rule in colonial Singapore and Malaya, with real implications for how the impacts of global warming are understood in the present.
A specialist in the environmental history of southeast Asia and the wider Indian Ocean World, Prof. Williamson has particular interest in the history of the climate, meteorology and extreme weather in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Scholar profile: https://faculty.smu.edu.sg/profile/fiona-clare-williamson-1066
Book: https://faculty.smu.edu.sg/profile/fiona-clare-williamson-1066
The Indian Ocean World podcast is hosted by D. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sam Gleave Riemann and Sofia O’Reilly, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership, “Appraising Risk, Past and Present.”
Music: “Nam Nhi-tu” by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con

Jul 15, 2025
Jul 15, 2025
50 min
Prof. Alastair McClure (Hong Kong) joins Dr. Philip Gooding (IOWC, McGill) to discuss his first monograph, Trials of Sovereignty: Mercy, Terror and the Making of Criminal Law in British India, 1857-1922 (Cambridge UP, 2024). Their conversation covers state violence, coercive mercy, and Indian national politics under the British Raj.
A specialist in South Asian legal history, Prof. McClure is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, University of Hong Kong.
Links:
University Profile: https://history.hku.hk/staff-a-mcclure/
Book: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/history/south-asian-history/trials-sovereignty-mercy-violence-and-making-criminal-law-british-india-18571922?site_view=desktop
The Indian Ocean World Podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sam Gleave Riemann, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership "Appraising Risk, Past and Present."
Music: "Nam Nhi-tu" by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con

Feb 27, 2025
Feb 27, 2025
35 min
Dr. Philip Gooding (IOWC, McGill) is joined by Adam Bobbette (Glasgow) to discuss his 2023 book, The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java, published by Duke University Press. Their conversation covers the history of plate tectonic theory, human-earth systems relationships, and how to live and do research in the Anthropocene.
Dr. Adam Bobbette is Lecturer in Political Geology in the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow. The Pulse of the Earth is his first monograph and is currently being translated into Indonesian. In addition, he has co-edited four books on the academic press; contributed to The London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, Cabinet, N+1, and e-flux; and collaborated creatively with filmmakers, architects, and visual artists.
Links:
University Profile: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/ges/staff/adambobbette/
The Pulse of the Earth: https://dukeupress.edu/the-pulse-of-the-earth
The Indian Ocean World Podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced by Sam Gleave Riemann, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership "Appraising Risk, Past and Present."
Music: "Nam Nhi-tu" by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con

Oct 16, 2024
Oct 16, 2024
36 min
Dr. Philip Gooding (IOWC, McGill) is joined by Dr. Lukas Ley and Tarini Monga (both Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology) to discuss the research group, "S.AND - The Future of Coastal Cities in the Indian Ocean." Their conversation covers the shifting roles of sand in human environments, with particular attention to their current fieldwork in the port of Marseille and peri-urban Goa, respectively.
Lukas Ley is Research Head of the S.AND research group. He holds PhD in Anthropology from the University of Toronto and his first monograph, Building on Borrowed Time: Raising Seas and Failing Infrastructure, was published in 2021.
Tarini Monga is a PhD candidate in the S.AND research group at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology.
Links:
S.AND project website: https://www.s-and.org/
Dr. Ley's profile: https://www.eth.mpg.de/ley
Ms. Monga's profile: https://www.eth.mpg.de/monga
The Indian Ocean World Podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sam Gleave Riemann, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership "Appraising Risk, Past and Present."
Music:
"Nam Nhi-tu" by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con

Sep 25, 2024
Sep 25, 2024
34 min
This week, Dr. Philip Gooding (IOWC) is joined by Prof. James Warren (Murdoch) to discuss his monumental new book, Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines. Their conversation covers Prof. Warren's decades-long research project that led to this book, the impact of extreme storms on South East (and especially Philippine) history, and the shifting social dynamics that impact vulnerability to such events.
Prof. James Warren is Emeritus Professor of History at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. Over his long and celebrated career, he has published 9 books and over 140 shorter pieces, held posts at universities on three continents, and made major contributions to research in South East Asian history, particularly environmental history.
Links:
University profile: https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/profile/james_warren/overview
Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines: https://unipress.ateneo.edu/product/typhoons-climate-society-and-history-philippines
The Indian Ocean World Podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sam Gleave Riemann, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership "Appraising Risk, Past and Present."
Music:
"Nam Nhi-tu" by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con










