Course Description

Pirates are perhaps the most villainous and fearsome enemies of civilized society. And yet they are also beloved rogues that are considered appropriate material for children’s cartoons and Disney theme parks. How can the same set of people be barbarous and beloved at the same time? This seeming contradiction is at the heart of what we are going to explore in this course. Piracy in the form of raiding and theft on the sea has existed almost as long as people have been able to sail. This class consequently attempts to cover the most important manifestations of piracy in world history from Ancient Egypt till the 21st century. We are interested not just in what pirates did, but how they thought, how they organized themselves, how they were viewed by the rest of society, how pirates were suppressed, and the effect of piracy on political and the economic systems. Our study of piracy opens up new insights into the history of international commerce, international law, colonialism, political sovereignty, race, gender and globalization.