The Maritime Literature and Culture special session at PAMLA 2026 seeks papers that engage broadly with human activity at sea, particularly as they relate to the conference theme, “Our Ruling Classes: Culture, Power, Conflict.” Who rules the sea? How should we navigate and care for our oceans and waterways? What changes—social, ecological, political, cultural—have naval conflicts, commercial ventures, and other maritime activity brought about? How does a ship crew grapple with problems of leadership, mutiny, and internal conflict? This session encourages papers on maritime literatures and media that engage with these and other related questions.

Potential topics include:

- Naval conflict

- Ocean borders and maritime law

- Shipping and commercial activity

- Slave ships, the Transatlantic slave trade, and lives of enslaved voyagers

- The role of sea captains, ship hierarchy, and/or “hydrarchy”

- Mutiny and rebellion aboard ship

- Piracy and privateering

- Ship conditions and shipboard life

- Women at sea / gender and hierarchy

- Fishing, trading, and maritime labor

- Shanties, sea music, work songs, and storytelling

- Anthropocene / ecological effects of human contact

Proposals can be submitted through the PAMLA portal: 

https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/20079 

Please feel free to reach out to James Seth (sethj@cwu.edu) should you have any questions or concerns.