Fugitives, Smugglers, and Thieves

248 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, notes, bibl., index

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-4092-1
Published: May 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4696-4091-4
Published: May 2018
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-4093-8
Published: April 2018
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-5424-7
Published: April 2018

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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 postrevolutionary 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 of the foundational importance of property ownership and its role in the creation of citizenship.

About the Author

Sharada Balachandran Orihuela is assistant professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Maryland.
For more information about Sharada Balachandran Orihuela, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Fascinating . . . Orihuela has delivered a creative and innovative study that will be of interest to early Americanists broadly and will be of particular interest to scholars of piracy, slavery, and the borderlands. Fugitives, Smugglers, and Thieves will teach well in the graduate classroom and is required reading for those working on the literary history of piracy."—Early American Literature

"Orihuela has provided in this work an absolutely necessary reconceptualization of piracy, broadening its contours to shape an altogether novel constituency while simultaneously demonstrating the ongoing relevancy of its exceptionality as a cornerstone to the state’s maintenance and expansion of power."—Journal of American Studies

“In this novel and highly original book, Sharada Balachandran Orihuela provides us with an unsettling yet fascinating way to look at the intimate ties between property ownership and national membership.”—Janet Neary, Hunter College

“Fugitives, Smugglers, and Thieves establishes not only the relationship between piracy, property ownership, and citizenry but also historical piracy’s ties to its contemporary manifestations. Balachandran Orihuela tells a compelling story with clarity and elegance.”—Gretchen Woertendyke, University of South Carolina