ARCH 0676 - Pirates of the Caribbean:
Scalawags, Sailors, and Slaves
Instructor: Matt Reilly
Email: [email protected]
MWF: 2:00-2:50
108 Rhode Island Hall
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
207 Rhode Island Hall
Office Hours: Mondays 3:00-5:00 or by appointment
Course Overview
Avast ye maties! This course is designed to be an in-depth analysis of the legendary bandits,
mischievous scalawags, and barbarous buccaneers that roved the high seas from the sixteenth to
the eighteenth century. We begin our investigation by addressing the recent fascination with
pirate culture and history over the past 10-15 years. We then depart on an exploration of the
Caribbean where pirates struck fear into the hearts of mariners, traders, merchants, planters, and
colonial authorities for centuries. The simultaneous rise of piracy and capitalism in the region is
not coincidental and we explore the strong, and often contentious, relationship between the two.
In doing so, we will investigate the market forces that drove Atlantic World economics and
spawned the rise of piracy, with a particular emphasis on the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We’ll
confront the legends and myths surrounding infamous pirates like Blackbeard, “Black Sam”
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Bellamy, Captain Morgan, and some lesser known bandits to separate fact from fiction. Despite
the popularity of these larger than life figures, we spend far more time discussing the thousands
of individuals who comprised the motley crew of Caribbean pirates and unpack how piracy was
perceived by throughout the Atlantic world. Who were these people? Where did they come
from? How and why did they become pirates? What was daily life like for a pirate? Through
archaeological and historical scholarship we explore multiple facets of the lives of pirates on the
high seas from their ships, their everyday belongings, the goods they plundered, the hideaways
they called home, the people they forged relationships with, the havoc they caused, and the
legends they left behind.
Course Goals
Aside from bringing out your inner-pirate, this course seeks to introduce students to the
culture(s) of pirates throughout the Atlantic region during a crucial period in world history.
Designed as an introductory course, students will learn the archaeological methods employed to
unearth the lives of pirates past. Additionally, the literature surveyed will present history from a
bottom-up perspective, privileging not just the narratives of the infamous and powerful, but those
traditionally omitted or forgotten from history. The readings will encourage students to critically
examine why piracy emerged and flourished in the Caribbean from the sixteenth to the
eighteenth century. In emphasizing the importance of the emergence of Atlantic capitalism and
slavery, the course attempts to connect these transatlantic forces that dramatically and tragically
affected the lives of millions of people. The course seeks to bring historical and archaeological
perspectives to pop culture icons that have gripped the public imagination and illustrate their
significance within Atlantic world history.
Class Format
Attendance: Students are required to be in class for both lectures and activity days (described
below) on a weekly basis. Excused absences need to be cleared with the instructor and must
adhere to university policies regarding what constitutes an excused absence. Unexcused absences
will result in a diminishing attendance grade as well as missing any in-class activities that take
place during the absence. Students that miss class are responsible for the material they miss
while absent.
Lectures: Monday and Wednesday sections will primarily consist of lectures (including
PowerPoint presentations as well as other media such as videos or music). Students are expected
to have completed readings scheduled for each lecture as outlined on the reading schedule below.
While reading assignments will be covered in lecture, I will supplement this material with topics
not covered in readings. Additionally, while not all reading material will be covered in lecture,
students are expected to be familiar with all reading materials for discussions and exams.
Students are encouraged to ask and answer questions during lectures!
Activity Days: Course meetings on Fridays will be reserved for discussions, activities,
presentations, and films. This is an opportunity for students to raise questions they generated
from readings and lecture material and to spark discussion amongst their classmate. All students
are expected to participate in a respectful and considerate manner. From time to time we will
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also have group activities where students will work with one another on assignments. Finally, we
will watch segments of films and television episodes. Students will be expected to answer
questions distributed in hand-outs on the day of the film viewing.
Required Texts
Ewan, Charles R. and Russell K. Skowronek, eds. (2016). Pieces of Eight: More Archaeology of
Piracy. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Listed as Ewan on the reading schedule.
Rediker, Marcus (2004). Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Boston:
Beacon Press. Listed as Red on the reading schedule.
All required texts are relatively inexpensive, you can find them at the university bookstore as
well as web retailers like Amazon.
Other readings including scholarly articles and book chapters will be available online.
Estimated Time Allocation
Activity
Duration
(hours)
Frequency
Total
Class
Reading
Studying for exams
Film critique
Final Paper
TOTAL
2.5
9
6
5
20
14
12
2
1
1
35
108
12
5
20
180
Assessment
Attendance and Participation:
In-Class Activities, (Pop) Quizzes, and Film Guides:
Film Critique:
In-Class Exam:
Research Paper:
Final Exam:
10%
10%
15%
20%
20%
25%
Film Critique
In the past decade numerous Hollywood movies and television series have portrayed the lives of
pirates in and around the Caribbean region. Students are required to select an individual film or
two episodes a particular series and write a substantive and thoughtful critique utilizing materials
learned in class and in course readings. Critiques should be 4-5 pages in length and will be due
on Friday, October 14th. There are several titles to choose from and those that are acceptable
will be discussed in class. Students are NOT permitted to write a critique for any film or episodes
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of television shows watched in class. Please note that papers should NOT be a synopsis of the
plot or a description of your favorite/least favorite character. Rather, you are expected to
comment on the choices made by the makers of the film concerning how pirates are portrayed.
Based on what you’ve learned, are the portrayals accurate? If not, what historical or
archaeological evidence suggests otherwise? More specifics will be discussed in class.
Research Paper
Students will complete a research paper due on Friday, December 9th. Students are responsible
for choosing a specific individual, ship, or island as the focus of a research paper that will be 6-8
pages and include proper citations and a bibliography. To be clear, this paper is NOT a
biography of a pirate, a chronology of a ship, or a history of an island. Research papers should be
a critical examination of the role of the specific person, ship, or island in the broader Caribbean
region’s culture and history of piracy. Students should incorporate course readings as well as
additional sources to engage with broader socioeconomic processes and how they relate to the
student’s person, ship, or island of interest. Students are required to discuss how archaeology has
contributed what we know about the person, ship, or island. Finally, students are required to
utilize at least five sources that are NOT course readings or found on websites. This includes
books (gasp!), scholarly journals, newspapers, etc. Students must discuss their choice of person,
ship, or island with the instructor in order to receive approval. Note that this should be done early
in the semester (beginning in October) to allow ample time to conduct research.
Policies
Cell phone use is NOT allowed in class. Phone usage is painfully obvious and is a distraction to
all parties. It can wait until after class.
Laptop use is NOT permitted. PowerPoints will have limited text and I encourage you to take
notes by hand. You may use a laptop if and only if you speak with me beforehand and can
provide documentation from the SEAS office. Brown University is committed to full inclusion of
all students. Please inform me if you have a disability or other condition that might require
accommodations or modification of any of these course procedures. You may speak with me
after class or during office hours. For more information contact Student and Employee
Accessibility Services at 401-863-9588 or [email protected].
Late assignments will lose a full letter grade (10 points) for each day that they are late. Note that
as soon as a due date and time has passed the assignment is considered a day late. In other words,
if a paper is due at 2:00 on a Friday, it will be considered late by 2:01. Please contact the
instructor or teaching assistant as soon as possible if you need an extension.
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Class and Reading Schedule
**Readings listed for a particular date should be read before that class meeting and are
subject to change**
Week 1: Sept. 7th and 9th
Wednesday: Introduction to the course, syllabus, hopes and dreams
Friday: Pirates in popular culture
Reading: Skowronek, Russell K. and Charles R. Ewan (2016). “Shiver Me Timbers!: The
Influence of Hollywood on the Archaeology of Piracy” in Ewan, pp. 193-207 (this chapter will
be available online).
Week 2: Sept. 12th, 14th, and 16th
Monday: Why pirates? Old World origins and contextualizing Atlantic pirates
“Towards a General Theory of Piracy” by Shannon Lee Dawdy and Joe Bonni (2012).
Anthropological Quarterly. 85(3):673-700.
Kardulias, P. Nick and Emily Butcher (2016). “Piracy in a Contest Periphery: Incorporation and
the Emergence of the Modern World-System in the Colonial Atlantic Frontier.” Journal of
World-Systems Research 22(2): 542-564.
Wednesday: Social Bandits or Rational Criminals?
Readings: “What is Social Banditry?” by Eric J. Hobsbawm in Bandits (1969):17-29
“The Invisible Hook” by Peter T. Leeson in The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economies of
Pirates (2009):1-19.
Friday: In-class film – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Week 3: Sept. 19th, 21st, and 23rd
Monday: NO CLASS – International Talk Like a Pirate Day (Celebrate Accordingly)
Wednesday: Introduction to the Caribbean region – island geographies and biographies
Reading: Barker, David (2011). “Geographies of Opportunity, Geographies of Constraint.” In
The Caribbean: A History of the Region and its Peoples, edited by S. Palmié and F. Scarano, pp.
25-38.
Knight, Franklin W. (1990). “Settlements and Colonies.” In The Caribbean: The Genesis of a
Fragmented Nationalism, by F.W. Knight, pp. 27-65.
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Friday: The rise of piracy – The early Spanish empire and English privateering into the Golden
Age
Readings: “Piracy in Spanish America: A History” by Nina Gerassi-Navarro in Pirate Novels:
Fictions of Nation Building in Spanish America, pp. 13-38.
Lane, Kris E. (1998). “Spain and the Sixteenth-Century Corsairs.” In Blood and Silver: A History
of Piracy in the Caribbean and Central America by K.E. Lane, pp. 9-30.
Week 4: Sept. 26th, 28th, and 30th
Monday: The sugar revolution – the emergence of New World capitalism
Readings: Abbott, Elizabeth (2008). “The Reign of Sugar Begins.” In Sugar: A Bittersweet
History, by E. Abbott, pp. 11-41.
Palmié, Stephan (2011). “Toward Sugar and Slavery.” In The Caribbean: A History of the
Region and Its Peoples, edited by S. Palmié and F.A. Scarano, pp. 131-147.
Wednesday: The slave trade – origins, growth, and socioeconomic impact
Readings: “Productivity in the Slave Trade” by David Eltis (2000). In The Rise of African
Slavery in the Americas, pp. 114-136.
Williams, Eric (1994[1944]). “British Commerce and the Triangular Trade.” In Capitalism and
Slavery, by E. Williams, pp. 51-84.
Friday: Sea Chanteys: Pirate songs and what they tell us about maritime bandits
Week 5: Oct. 3rd, 5th, and 7th
Monday: Meet the Pirates – who are they and why did they become pirates?
Readings: Chapters 1, 2, and 3 in Red, pp. 1-59.
Wednesday: Pulled from amongst the poor and punished – pirate origins
Readings: Chapter 5 in Red, pp. 83-102
Rediker, Marcus (2014). “The Sailor’s Yarn.” In Outlaws of the Atlantic: Sailors, Pirates, and
Motley Crews in the Age of Sail, by Marcus Rediker, pp. 9-29.
Friday: In-class film and hand-out – Episode of Black Sails
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Week 6: Oct. 10th, 12th, and 14th
Monday: NO CLASS – INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY
Wednesday: Archaeology 101 – Methods, concepts, artifacts, and maritime archaeology
Readings: Skowronek, Russell K. (2016). “Setting a Course toward an Archaeology of Piracy.”
In Ewan, pp. 1-14.
Chapter 6, “Pirates and Markets” by David J. Starkey in Bandits, pp. 107-124.
Friday: Film Critique Due Before Class via Canvas
In-class activity – Understanding stratigraphy and other archaeological principles
Week 7: Oct. 17th, 19th, and 21st
Monday: Pirate places – Port Royal, Jamaica
Readings: Hamilton, Donny L. (2006). “Pirates and Merchants: Port Royal, Jamaica. In X Marks
the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy, edited by R.K. Skowronek and Charles R. Ewen, pp 13-30.
“Early English Jamaica without Pirates” by Carla Gardina Pestana (2014). The William and
Mary Quarterly. 71(3):321-360.
Wednesday: Pirate places – The Bay Islands, Panama, and the Making of Port Royal
Readings: Chapters 6 in Ewan, pp. 132-164.
Finamore, Daniel (2006). “A Mariner’s Utopia: Pirates and Logwood in the Bay of Honduras.”
In X Marks the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy, edited by R.K. Skowronek and C.R. Ewan, pp.
64-80.
Friday: IN-CLASS EXAM
Week 8: Oct. 24th, 26th, and 28th
Monday: The Ship – Home, transport, factory, and prison
Readings: Chapter 4 in Red, pp. 60-82
Chapter 2 in The Slave Ship by Marcus Rediker (2007), pp. 35-58.
“Hydrarchy: Sailors, Pirates, and the Maritime State” in The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter
Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker (2000), pp. 143-173.
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Wednesday: Maritime archaeology and excavating pirate ships
Readings: Chapters 4 and 5 in Ewan, pp. 93-131.
Friday: In-class activity – Debate!
Week 9: Oct. 31st, Nov. 2nd, and 4th
Monday: Maritime archaeology continued – The Whydah and the Queen Anne’s Revenge
Readings: Chapter 2 in Ewan, pp. 15-56.
Wednesday: Pirate things? What can artifacts tell us about pirates and piracy?
Readings: Chapters 9, 10, and 11 in Ewan, pp. 208-259.
Friday: Rum! **No samples will be provided**
Week 10: Nov. 7th, 9th, and 11th
Monday: A motley crew of “masterless people” – piracy as resistance
Readings: “Masterless People: Maroons, Pirates, and Commoners” by Isaac Curtis (2011). In
The Caribbean: A History of the Region and its Peoples, pp. 149-162.
Chapter 10, “Black Men under the Black Flag” by Kenneth J. Kinkor in Bandits, 195-210.
Wednesday: Piracy as resistance? – Empire and governing the high seas
Reading: “Legal Spaces for Empire: Piracy and the Origins of Ocean Regionalism” by Lauren
Benton (2005). Comparative Studies in Society and History. 47(4):700-724.
Hanna, Mark G. (2015). “Setting up for Themselves, 1697-1701.” In Pirate Nests and the Rise of
the British Empire, 1570-1740, by M.G. Hanna, pp. 251-291.
Friday: Film clips analyzing gender and piracy
Week 11: Nov. 14th, 16th, and 18th
Monday: Gender and sexuality amongst pirates – female pirates
Readings: Chapter 6 in Red, pp. 103-126
“Women Pirates and Pirates’ Women” by David Cordingly. In Under the Black Flag: The
Romance and the Reality of Life Among Pirates, pp. 56-78
Wednesday: Masculinity and (homo)sexuality
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Readings: “Life on Board an Early-Eighteenth-Century Ship” by Hans Turley (1999). In Rum,
Sodomy and the Lash: Piracy, Sexuality, and Masculine Identity, pp. 10-27
Chapter 11, “The Buccaneer Community” by B.R. Burg in Bandits, pp. 211-243.
Ransley, Jesse (2005). “Boats are for the Boys: Queering Maritime Archaeology.” World
Archaeology 37(4):621-629.
Friday: Information session on conducting efficient research using the library’s resources
Week 12: Nov. 21st, 23rd, and 25th
Monday: The decline of piracy and questioning the social banditry trope
Readings: Chapters 7, 8, and conclusion in Red, pp. 127-176
Hanna, Mark (2015). “Well-Behaved Pirates Seldom Make History: A Reevaluation of the
Golden Age of English Piracy.” In Governing the Sea in the Early Modern Era: Essays in Honor
of Robert C. Ritchie, edited by P.C. Mancall and C. Shammas, pp. 129-168.
Wednesday and Friday: NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
Week 13: Nov. 28th, 30th, and Dec. 2nd
Monday: Local pirates – Thomas Tew: The “Rhode Island Pirate”
Readings: “’A Man of Courage and Activity’: Thomas Tew and Pirate Settlements of the IndoAtlantic Trade World, 1645-1730” by Kevin McDonald, pp. 1-21.
“Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Brown University” by the Brown University Steering Committee
on Slavery and Justice, pp. 7-31.
Wednesday: Contemporary connections – the “problem” of piracy and the law
Readings: “Pirates, Then and Now: How Piracy was Defeated in the Past and Can Be Again” by
Max Boot (2009). Foreign Affairs. 88(4):94-107.
Bahadur, Jay (2011). “Boyah” and “A Short History of Piracy.” In The Pirates of Somalia:
Inside Their Hidden World by J. Bahadur, pp. 14-43.
Friday: In-class film and hand-out – Selections from Stolen Seas: Tales of Somali Piracy
(2012).
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Week 14: Dec. 5th and 7th
Monday: Pirate culture(s)?
Readings: “Yo-ho, yo-ho, a seren’s life for me!” by Louise A. Hitchcock and Aren M. Maeir.
World Archaeology. 46(4):624-640.
“Welcome the Outlaw: Pirates, Maroons, and Caribbean Countercultures” by Erin Mackie
(2005). Cultural Critique. 59:24-62.
Wednesday: In-Class Final Exam
Final Paper Due on Wednesday, December 14th at 2:00 PM via Canvas
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