Arghya Sengupta
About
a.sengupta@student.uw.edu.pl
Arghya Sengupta was a dual-degree student in International Relations at the University of Haifa and the University of Warsaw.
With a background in history and law, his research interests focus on maritime connectivity and cultural interactions between South Asia and the Middle East.
He explores how the exchanges of the Indian Ocean have shaped diplomatic histories and cultural identities over centuries.
Sengupta’s work aims to highlight the enduring historical ties that continue to influence contemporary geopolitical and cultural relations between India and the Mediterranean world.
Lecture Abstract:
This paper will examine the place of Kolkata within Jewish networks of the Indian Ocean, focusing on how its role as a major port will help illuminate both the city’s identity and the experiences of its Jewish community. From the nineteenth century onward, Kolkata developed into one of the most important colonial gateways linking South Asia with the Middle East, East Africa and Southeast Asia. Its river–sea connection, commercial houses and multicultural neighbourhoods created conditions in which Jewish merchants from Basra, Baghdad and Aden could establish themselves and participate in a wider world of maritime exchange. The study will explore how these merchants, officials and artisans brought with them commercial practices, cultural habits and communal traditions that interacted with Kolkata’s diverse social environment. It will draw on travelogues, diaries of British and Jewish officials, merchant correspondence and early photographs to show how everyday life in the port contributed to a distinctive Jewish presence, one rooted in West Asian memory yet shaped by Bengali urban modernity. By situating Kolkata within the broader Indian Ocean world, the paper will argue that the city functioned as a meeting point where trade, culture and knowledge moved together. It will demonstrate how Jewish mobility contributed to Kolkata’s emergence as a cosmopolitan port and why examining this community is essential for understanding the cultural history of maritime Asia.