darkmatter Journal - http://www.darkmatter101.org/

Special Issue - Call for Papers: Pirates and Piracy in History, Literature and Theory

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 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