Pirates in the Early Modern World: Diversity, Power, and Resistance

HST

233

Pirates in the Early Modern World: Diversity, Power, and Resistance

An intersectional exploration of the rise, flourishing, and suppression of early modern pirates and pirate communities. Drawing on written texts, material culture, port excavations and shipwreck discoveries, the course will investigate pirates and their supporters, opponents, and victims in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Rim. Topics will include the political, religious, and economic background to piracy, the often-nebulous difference between pirates and privateers, the social and communal life of pirates at sea and ashore, efforts to suppress piracy, and pirate technology and tactics. The experiences of female, Native American, African, Asian, and mixed-descent pirates are considered, along with pirates of diverse gender and sexual identitiesand behaviors. The role of pirates as both participants in and opponents of the slave trade, and the often-ambivalent relationship between pirates and colonial regimes are also examined. Contemporary issues addressed include portrayals of pirates in modern popular culture, the ethics of underwater archaeology and salvage, and modern resurgences of piracy. For History majors and minors, this is designated as a world history or pre-1700 course.

Fall, Spring

Undergraduate

Yes

COPT - CSICW (CSI Contemporary World), COPT - CSIPD (CSI Pluralism and Diversity), COPT - CSISSA (CSI Social Scientific Analysis)

012536