Why are so many students attracted to studying the Arts? Many students would cite flexibility as the most valuable advantage of their studies. The phrase the world is your oyster might be cheesy, but in this case, it just so happens to be true: in Arts, the possibilities of industry, research area, discipline, and specialty are seemingly endless. As such, weâre launching a new series diving into the nooks and crannies of student research conducted on campus.
This November, weâre spotlighting the . Directed by Gwyn Campbell, Professor in the Department of History & Classical Studies, the IOWC aims to promote the holistic study of the Indian Ocean world. The IOWC officially became a McGill-affiliated research centre in 2011 and has since gone on to publish peer-reviewed articles, working papers, projects, and podcast episodes exploring the region through the past and contemporary history, geography, economy, environment, and politics. We spoke to undergraduate researcher Lilia Scudamore, U2 History, and Dr. Philip Gooding, IOWC Project Manager, to find out more about student involvement in this research.
Lilia Scudamore has worked with the Indian Ocean World Centre for about a year now. Through our discussion she provided great insights into the procedures and applications of her work and how this has positively contributed to her time at McGill.
At the IOWC I collect archival qualitative data from a variety of sources for climate reconstruction. But Iâve worked on a couple different projects in the last year which have varied a little bit in methods and goals.
My first project, which I spent about 5 months on, was focused on collecting data from China between 1835-1880. For this project, I read through thousands of pages of letters from the Church Missionary Society (CMS) mission books and recorded all mentions of environmental factors such as rainfall, disease, crop anomalies, prices, famine, and political instability. After collecting this data, I divided it by topic, and then went through and indexed the data. So, as an example, the IOWC uses a 7-point scale for indexing rainfall, ranging from â3 through 3. A value of â3 represents a severe drought which results in famine, and 3 represents heavy rainfall which results in floods. Each category has a slightly different index. From here, I was able to map my data using QGIS so environmental patterns over time and across the eastern coast of China could be visualized.
This project was especially unique because it arose out of a conversation Dr. Gooding had on the IOWC podcast with Dr. Pao K. Wang. Dr. Wang is a researcher who has dedicated an incredible amount of his career to the construction of the REACHES database, which is an extensive collection of indexed environmental data from Chinese government officials across centuries. However, a lot of environmental data out of China has yet to be verified with other sources. So that largely inspired this project, and Dr. Wang has generously sent us some of his ongoing research from the time period I investigated, so hopefully in the future we will do more direct collaboration with the REACHES database and their findings.
I finished that project (for now) a couple of months ago. Currently, several people at the IOWC are working on collecting environmental data from around the world between 1883- 1885. These years are significant because theyâre related to the eruption of Krakatau, which is one of the largest volcanic bursts in history. Weâre interested in the environmental impacts of this eruption in the years after, as well as exploring how far these consequences reached. I first began with CMS documents again to collect data about China. Now Iâm using the Straits Times database to look at historical newspapers for these years and collecting data about Southeast Asia. Other researchers at the IOWC have been recording data for East Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East.
How does this research contribute to the larger goals of the IOWC?
The IOWC is an environmental research centre committed to studying the Indian Ocean World. So obviously, both main projects fall under that basic directive. Beyond this, one of the things that really made me interested in working at the IOWC is their commitment to collaboration across the world. My first project really epitomized this idea of academic collaboration that I havenât experienced before. Another scholar at a different institution suggested something that would help further his research and global understanding of the climate, and the IOWC was really quick to pick up the ropes and engage in that discussion.
How does this research correlate to your interests outside of the centre?
I am a history student, and so even outside of the centre, my work with the IOWC is very applicable to how I approach primary sources and for learning different ways to gather evidence beyond what school typically teaches and the practice we get in classes. I also really enjoy reading, so being paid to read is fantastic.
What does a day in the life of an IOWC undergraduate researcher look like?
Most of my work is very methodological so it changes by stage. The longest stage is definitely collecting data, I think this is true for most historians. So, it is primarily just reading and recording data I may come across. When I complete that or a stage of it, my next steps are typically to index data and map it, and from here I can move on to analysis.
Why is the work being conducted at the IOWC so valuable?
A couple things come to mind. First, about 50% of the worldâs population lives in the Indian Ocean World. Thatâs an incredibly impactful number of people who are influenced by the monsoon system. As we look to climate models to predict the future, understanding past environmental conditions becomes increasingly important to contextualize and add information to these models, as well as to understand how people historically have reacted to climate anomalies. I think framed in that context, the work that the IOWC does feels very meaningful to me.
What initially intrigued you about the IOWC and influenced you to apply?
I only knew the IOWC was hiring based off an ad that was sent on one of the history student listservs. But about a month before that I attended one of the History Student Associationâs events where several faculty members and fellows presented their research. Dr. Gooding (who we call Nodd) presented some of his work. That was my first exposure to environmental history, and I found it incredibly compelling and such a different approach to my previous understandings of history. It really expanded how I believe history can be applied and how interdisciplinary it can be. So I was excited to learn they were hiring last winter.
What have been some of your major take aways from this role so far?
Iâve learned how important it is to be able to collaborate on archival research and through projects. The Krakatau project I mentioned earlier is an incredibly large effort, and attempting to do that by yourself would take years. Instead, several research assistants and faculty members are able to more efficiently work towards findings and become more regionally attune to possible impacts. In terms of history, a big takeaway for me has been learning other ways it can be applied. Iâve always loved history but have not had a clear idea of how Iâd like to apply it to my future. While Iâm still unsure, Iâve learned how many different pathways and specialties there are that many people are unaware of. The IOWC has definitely expanded my perception of opportunity.
Research assistant positions are somewhat less common amongst Arts students. What are some of the positives of the position that other History students may not be aware of? Do you think other Arts students should pursue research in their undergrad?
Absolutely! I do think there is this perception in the social sciences that research opportunities are limited, but I think that is a grave misunderstanding. I have two research positions actually within the history department, and both offer very different experiences and skills to build on. I really encourage other undergraduates to read listservs or speak to professors about potential opportunities. I think it is very unique to have such hands-on experience with archival research and data collection as an undergraduate, which is the greatest positive for me. In addition, it allows writing and publishing opportunities students may not otherwise get. Lastly, undergraduate studies are a very unique opportunity to try lots of different things. Like any job, being a research assistant has helped me figure out what I enjoy, what I dislike, and what qualities are most important to me to help me figure out what I want to do in the future.
To get a more holistic perspective of working at the IOWC, we spoke to , the Project Manager at the IOWC and a postdoctoral fellow who specializes in African, Indian Ocean, and World history/studies. He began working at the IOWC and has been involved in the research centreâs academic publishing, podcast recording, and conference organizing, in addition to his work as a project administrator of the IOWCâs ongoing SSHRC Partnership project, .
âOne of my core responsibilities is as the Associate Editor of the ,â Dr. Gooding told us. âThe JIOWS is the world leading academic publication in the humanities and social sciences focusing on the Indian Ocean World. Our success is such that we successfully applied to have the JIOWS indexed on SCOPUS earlier this year and that our downloads have increased exponentially on a year-on-year basis.â
Dr. Gooding is also the co-editor of the IOWCâs , which âshowcases the best developing research by advanced undergraduate and graduate students focusing on the Indian Ocean World.â This series in particular is unique because itâs copyright free and typically publishes the earlier versions of research. It provides a perfect opportunity for students to receive editorial feedback on earlier drafts of their research while itâs still ongoing.
One of the most creative-leaning initiatives at the Indian Ocean World Centre is its podcast series. Lucky for us, Dr. Gooding hosts these discussions and provided some insight into the goals of the series. He divulged, â[the podcast] is now an important medium for interviewing scholars about recent or ongoing research related to the environment in the Indian Ocean World. [âŠ] Our catalogue is highly interdisciplinary, with scholars from across the humanities and social sciences having participated.â
Since working at the IOWC, Dr. Gooding has coordinated 3 conferences on topics relating to the Indian Ocean World, from , to , and even the . Recently, in his supervisory role over undergraduate Research Assistants, Dr. Gooding noted that their work âhas enhanced my research process significantly, as is shown by some of their inclusion as co-authors on some of my peer-reviewed research articles (see , for example). Further, their involvement with the IOWCâs research has enabled them to submit their own work to academic blogs ( and ). There are more of both on the way!â
And of course, Dr. Goodingâs ongoing role at the IOWC is that of a researcher himself. He published his first monograph last year as a postdoctoral fellow and pointed us to a comment made by one reviewer: âin the chapter focusing on climate, agriculture, and the environment, I â[reveal] the important intellectual influence of [my] academic home at the Indian Ocean World Centre at Ïăœ¶ÊÓÆ”.â This was absolutely correct, and this intellectual influence continues to inform my current research and role at the IOWC.â
Wanting to learn more about the pathway to this kind of research role, we inquired about Dr. Goodingâs academic career thus far, and what initially drew him towards researching the history, economy, and cultures of the lands and peoples in the region.
âI was originally trained as an Africanist historian at SOAS, University of London. My graduate research focused on the Great Lakes region of eastern Africa during the nineteenth century â a topic I became interested in very early on during my time as an undergraduate student. However, I found that a grounding in the history of the Indian Ocean World helped me to answer several of the questions I was struggling with as a doctoral candidate â especially as they pertained to Islam, slavery, material cultures, and commercial networks. In fact, these ideas started to crystalize in 2014, when I presented some preliminary research at the IOWCâs weekly speaker series. (IOWC Director) and the IOWCâs wider team of researchers provided me with valuable feedback and ideas as I began to write up my PhD thesis. These discussions were so fruitful that the âIndian Ocean Worldâ as a macro-regional concept became the framing device behind the that eventually stemmed from my doctoral research.
Since being at the IOWC, I have found the Indian Ocean World, as a concept, to be a fruitful framing device for developing further research, especially in environmental history. In short, my current research examines the history of eastern Africa and the wider Indian Ocean World with an emphasis on the importance of human-environment interaction. This necessitates an understanding of the Indian Ocean monsoon system, on which all the states and societies of the Indian Ocean World rely for seasonal rainfall. This approach is especially relevant in todayâs era of global warming, which is already disrupting the monsoon cycle, and thus also regional climates, over the Indian Ocean World.â
Discovering a niche within a certain area of research often does happen by chance; getting the opportunity to work on one specific project during your undergraduate degree sometimes sparks a lifelong curiosity that eventually translates into a fully realized career as a researcher. Conducting research within the Arts is unique in the sense that many areas and niches overlap, which allows for flexibility in approach, technique, and perspective, especially as students delve deeper into academia.
Dr. Gooding agreed. When asked what the most meaningful aspect of his research at the IOWC, he answered unequivocally, âits interdisciplinary nature.â
âAlthough it is based in the Department of History and Classical Studies, the IOWC has connections with scholars at McGill in departments across both the humanities and social sciences. Through its Appraising Risk project, moreover, it partners with scholars in departments in other universities who are trained in a range of disciplines, including in the natural and health sciences. In this context, my most valuable research contribution may end up being what is now a that is under review for , an open-access climatology journal. This manuscript [âŠ] develops a novel methodology that is rooted in both history and climate modelling to reconstruct past climatic conditions in inland Tanzania in the years before the introduction of modern instruments. If successful, the methodology will significantly revise the practice of climate reconstruction, especially in regions and time-periods for which existing models show a lot of uncertainty. [âŠ] Such research is necessary for establishing baselines for analyzing how global warming will affect regional climates in the present and future, therefore showing the importance of interdisciplinary approaches that are rooted in the practice of history to the challenges of global warming.â
To finish off our discussion with Dr. Gooding, we wondered how current Arts students can get involved in this type of work. Currently, the IOWC has several undergraduate researchers, including Lilia, supporting various projects. We were curious, how is this type of research valuable to a student at that point in their academic career?
Dr. Gooding advised that Research Assistantships are often advertised via Workday in September, January, or May, and offer opportunities to âlearn and practice novel and interdisciplinary research methods, which they can deploy in their courses; they are encouraged to write up their methods and findings so they can receive useful editorial feedback from more advanced scholars at the IOWC; and they are involved in the research process to the point of publication of academic blog posts and peer-reviewed articles. Thus, undergraduate Research Assistants benefit from access to a vibrant and interdisciplinary research culture that also significantly advances their academic track record.â
In addition to their Research Assistant roles, the IOWC also hosts conferences and events open to students. Gooding mentioned, âthese events represent useful opportunities to learn about the intellectual labour that goes into producing academic research, while also providing opportunities to network with professors and potential collaborators for the future.â
If youâre looking for more information on the Indian Ocean World Centre, feel free to visit their , listen to the hosted by Dr. Gooding, or follow them on Instagram @iowc_mcgill. Finding research positions in Arts can be tricky, but with such versatile skill sets, itâs worth looking outside your immediate areas of interest! You never know, one undergraduate research position could spark a lifelong curiosity in a field completely opposite of what youâd anticipated.