Module description
Corsairs, filibusters, swashbucklers, buccaneers, renegades: the rich lexicon of piracy in our vocabulary of rebellion attests the role they have long played in the collective imagination. But there is a complex history from which they sprang on onto the global stage. The rise of the pirate as a dangerously desirable figure is intimately linked to the maritime expansion conducted by several European nations in the early modern period, that coalesced into the creation of Empires and colonies through which European powers came to dominate world history by the 19th century. This module reads against the grain of those dominant narratives of colonialism as world-making by focusing on the pirate as an interruptive force, who derails the movement of peoples, goods, ideas, and laws across the maritime routes linking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds. Important tools in the module will be the reading practices of postcolonial theory, which will teach us to extract and assess this alternative history of the post/colonial pirate.
The module will take you through some key literary texts that, from the 16th century onwards, have ensured that preeminent position of pirates within popular culture, including children’s literature and franchised fantasy. This is a great opportunity to return to some literary classics of the 19th and 20th century, and connect them to earlier texts that inaugurate the discourse around piracy, as well as to more recent resurgence of pirates in Hollywood, Bollywood, gaming, and the Red Sea. Following the trails of Captain Kidd, Captain Flint, Long John Silver, La Buse, and the Count of Monte Cristo, we shall connect the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean Sea, taking in on the way issues of race and gender on the pirate ship, pirates and colonial commodities such as rum and sugar, Pirates’ English, Somalian pirates today, piracy as still-useful metaphor for hacking the capitalist and neoliberal system, and, of course, the sunken treasure chests that continue to haunt our imaginations.
Assessment details
1000 word critical review (15%), 2000 word essay (85%)
Educational aims & objectives
This module reads against the grain of those dominant narratives of colonialism as world-making by focusing on the pirate as an interruptive force, who derails the movement of peoples, goods, ideas, and laws across the maritime routes linking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds. Important tools in the module will be the reading practices of postcolonial theory, which will teach us to extract and assess this alternative history of the post/colonial pirate. The module will also teach students to nuance standard maritime historiographies through literary reading practices, as well as evaluate the metaphoric application of piracy to contemporary, interruptive, economic practices.
Learning outcomes
- A firm knowledge of debates regarding piracy, both historical and contemporary, the history of capitalism, and the history and literature of European expansionism.
- A critical understanding of how literary narratives, including children's literature, can shape the way we think about global economic flows.
- The tools to read against the grain of standard narratives of culture, morals, and value, by learning to interrogate critically representations of race, gender, and class therein.
- The ability to apply theories developed in the contemporary period (postcolonial theory) to understand the manifestation of the above issues within texts of an anterior period (the colonial world).
Through the module, therefore, the students will refine their ability to collate, compare, and analyse diverse material, to write argumentative prose that synthesises material from different areas, and to transfer information from one area to illuminate another.
Teaching pattern
1 hour lecture and 1 hour seminar, weekly