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The Appraising Risk Partnership

A Historical Database of Climatic Crises in the Indian Ocean World

The Historical Database ↗

Maps and Visualizations ↗

One of the goals of the Appraising Risk partnership is to utilize data collected from diverse specialties and disciplines to analyze and visualize the complex relationship between environment, ecology, culture and history in the Indian Ocean World.

The IOW 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.


Our Project

The Appraising Risk Partnership is an international collaboration of scholars and researchers dedicated to exploring the critical role of climatic crisis in the past and future of the Indian Ocean World. With generous support from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the partnership seeks to create a comprehensive spatial and temporal database of human-environment interaction and interdependence during periods of climatic change.


Latest from the Partnership:


The Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC) is a research initiative and resource base established to promote the study of the history, economy, and cultures of the lands and peoples of the Indian Ocean world (IOW) – from China to Southeast and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Our most recent podcast:

Philip Gooding – “On the Frontiers of the Indian Ocean World: A History of Lake Tanganyika, c.1830-1890” The Indian Ocean World Podcast

Our usual host, Dr. Philip Gooding (IOWC, McGill), is our interviewee this week, answering a few questions about his first monograph, On the Frontiers of the Indian Ocean World: A History of Lake Tanganyika, c.1830-1890 (Cambridge UP, 2022) with our producer, Sam Gleave Riemann. As well as introducing the book to listeners who haven't had a chance to read it yet, they answer a handful of questions that Philip didn't have time to address at his book launch, considering the role of Christian missionaries and Muslim merchants, narratives of continuity and change, and his varied methodologies. Philip earned a PhD in History from SOAS London in 2017. He joined the Indian Ocean World Centre as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2018 and since then has published a number of articles on East African and Indian Ocean history, co-edited two multi-author volumes, and served as associate editor of the Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies. Links: Book: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009122023 Website: https://indianoceanworldcentre.com/postdoctoral_fellows/philip-gooding/# 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.”

Cover image from Pexels