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In this book, Sharada Balachandran Orihuela examines property
ownership and its connections to citizenship, race and slavery, and
piracy as seen through the lens of eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century American literature. Balachandran Orihuela
defines piracy expansively, from the familiar concept of nautical
pirates and robbery in international waters to post-revolutionary
counterfeiting, transnational slave escape, and the illegal trade
of cotton across the Americas during the Civil War. Weaving
together close readings of American, Chicano, and African American
literature with political theory, the author shows that piracy,
when represented through literature, has imagined more inclusive
and democratic communities than were then possible in reality. The
author shows that these subjects are not taking part in unlawful
acts only for economic gain. Rather, Balachandran Orihuela argues
that piracy might, surprisingly, have served as a public good,
representing a form of transnational belonging that transcends
membership in any one nation-state while also functioning as a
surrogate to citizenship through the ownership of property. These
transnational and transactional forms of social and economic life
allow for a better understanding the foundational importance of
property ownership and its role in the creation of citizenship.
In this book, Sharada Balachandran Orihuela examines property
ownership and its connections to citizenship, race and slavery, and
piracy as seen through the lens of eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century American literature. Balachandran Orihuela
defines piracy expansively, from the familiar concept of nautical
pirates and robbery in international waters to post-revolutionary
counterfeiting, transnational slave escape, and the illegal trade
of cotton across the Americas during the Civil War. Weaving
together close readings of American, Chicano, and African American
literature with political theory, the author shows that piracy,
when represented through literature, has imagined more inclusive
and democratic communities than were then possible in reality. The
author shows that these subjects are not taking part in unlawful
acts only for economic gain. Rather, Balachandran Orihuela argues
that piracy might, surprisingly, have served as a public good,
representing a form of transnational belonging that transcends
membership in any one nation-state while also functioning as a
surrogate to citizenship through the ownership of property. These
transnational and transactional forms of social and economic life
allow for a better understanding the foundational importance of
property ownership and its role in the creation of citizenship.
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