Call for Papers: Pirates and Piracy

Special Issue - Call for Papers: Pirates and Piracy
>
> Once consigned to the romance of film and literature, the figure of the
> pirate has a renewed cultural presence. From solicitous debates around
> intellectual property to the recent maritime hijackings off the Horn of
> Africa, piracy looms large in the twenty-first century. This special issue
> of darkmatter seeks to engage critically with the politics of piracy. As in
> the 17th and 18th centuries, piracy today is an activity that often takes
> place at the so-called periphery of metropolitan capitalism. Piracy
> challenges the primitive accumulation and wage labour discipline of
> capitalism at large, while recapitulating and amplifying its violence. This
> special issue is interested in work that explores how and why modern piracy
> emerges against the backdrop of neo/colonial relations of production.
>
> Possible topics might include:
>
> * Piracy as the expression/outside of global capitalism;
> * Piracy and inter/transnational law, property rights and human rights;
> * Piracy and the War on Terror;
> * Media piracy and the geopolitics of the culture industry;
> * The pirate as a celebrated and reviled figure of rebellion and
> neo/colonial resistance;
> * Outlaws, pirates and poachers in media studies, cultural studies and
> philosophy;
> * Freebooters, pirates and buccaneers, and their place in capitalist and
> neo/colonial relations of production;
> * The cultural politics of race, digital reproduction and p2p file-sharing
> technologies;
> * Racialized representations and performativity of the pirate and piracy in
> film, animation, art and literature
> * The pirate as a figure of trangressive dis/ability.
>
> Articles between 1,500 - 8,000 words are welcome, as are alternative format
> submissions such as commentaries, reviews, audio, visual and digital
> contributions. Please submit an 300 - 500 word abstract if you are
> interested.
>
> For darkmatter's editorial policy and online submission information:
> http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/submission/
> For further inquiries about the 'Pirates and Piracy' special issue, email
> Andrew Opitz (Guest Editor): opit0010@umn.edu
>
> Deadline for Abstracts: 1 May 2009
> Deadline for Articles: 1 Sept 2009
> Publication date: Nov 2009
>