Spatial history is an analytical framework which seeks to understand abstract layers of the lived experiences of individuals and communities. Exploring the interplay between the physical and the abstract dimensions of a space–whether it be a home, a city or a sailing ship, to name a few examples–can offer us new perspectives on how spaces were felt and understood emotionally by their inhabitants. These emotions, in turn, may illuminate new dimensions of the social or political exercises of certain groups in relation to space and place. Compelling academic work surrounding spatial history often blends together the trappings of many different disciplines such as geography, anthropology, and even environmental sciences to create richer analysis and meaningful storytelling.
However, despite spatial history’s desire to discover and describe such a fundamental human experience–the emotional layers of the spaces we inhabit–the theory and language which are necessary to express these layers sometimes veer dangerously toward the abstract and intangible. This blog post seeks to highlight an intriguing piece of recent scholarship from Cambridge which in my opinion successfully balances dimensions of spatial history with a strong narrative thread which grounds the analysis in its physical space and alongside the human lives which surround it.
Historian Ilay Golan’s article “This Ship Prays: The Southern Chinese Religious Seascape through the Handbook of a Maritime Ritual Master” was published this last September (2024) in the Religions journal. In “This Ship Prays”, Golan uses a Daoist liturgical manuscript from between the late seventeenth to early nineteenth century as his primary source to investigate the religious traditions of Fujianese sailors of the South China Sea throughout the early Qing dynasty. The contents of the manuscript include a vast array of rituals to be undertaken by the ship’s crew, directed by their fellow crewmate and “Ritual Master”, at various points and ports of call throughout their voyages. Golan argues that the rituals possess a “trans-locality” about them, uniquely reflecting both the changes and the constants of the professional maritime lifestyle. The manuscript, referred to as “ACZK” is augmented by other travel accounts of these rituals from European perspectives. This cross referencing of accounts serves to strengthen Golan’s analysis whilst also deepening the narrative engagement of the piece: readers are invited to create a richer, more holistic understanding of the rituals and their practitioners using this wider pool of descriptions.
Golan’s work offers a fundamentally spatial perspective into the lived experiences of the Fujianese sailors who engaged with rituals like those found in ACZK. He discusses the concept of “sacred geography” alongside the trans-spatial worship structures outlined in ACZK, and even the aforementioned European travel accounts work to further situate “This Ship Prays” in a complex, developed sense of space. Additionally, Golan maintains a clear narrative voice throughout the piece that both conveys his argument clearly and makes it easier for the reader to follow along in the visualization of these ritual practices and spaces. This clarity and firm connection to a reconstructed reality is something that theory-heavy spatial history (and spatial geography, social science, etc…) pieces sometimes struggle with. Golan successfully marries his complex analysis with this engaging narrative style. His compelling voice is more than just set-dressing: it makes his history feel ‘real’, and in a sense it also restores humanity to the sailors he discusses.
“This Ship Prays” reminds us that successful spatial histories need not wallow in abstract theory in order to tackle abstract realities. Golan offers thoughtful, respectful analysis to ACZK’s rituals, and in doing so he provides audiences with an impactful vision of the layered space of Fujianese merchant vessels and the South China Seas which surrounded them. The physical helm, the spiritual helm-god. The physical stormy seas, the spiritual angry deity. In understanding the concurrence of the physical and the spiritual, we glean valuable new insight into the lives and landscapes of these historical actors.