Conference on Community and the Sea in the Age of Sail

The interdisciplinary conference on 'Community and the Sea in the Age of Sail' will explore the part played by community in the history of ships, port cities, oceangoing and empire. What part did community play in the complex world of the seas and their ships, and what did it mean to be a 'part' – or not – of these communities as such?

The conference seeks to bring together different perspectives on the histories of the sea and the many different communities of people traversing the sea or otherwise dealing with the ocean. Thus, the event will explore forms of agency involving issues of race, class, gender, cultural identity and performance.

We wish to confront issues like: How did questions of community shape struggles for agency among both seafaring and port-resident groups, and to what extent were these struggles themselves about commonality? What was the political arithmetic of authority and resistance in the age of sail? How was it performed and what was its rhetoric?

Keynote speakers include Professor Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh, USA and Professor Clare Anderson, University of Leicester, UK

The conference is held under the auspices of CEPS - Cultural Encounters of Premodern Societies and CGS - Institute of Cultural and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark.

For more information on the event please email the organizers

• Research Student, Johan Heinsen, Aalborg University
• Associate Professor, Torben Kjersgaard Nielsen, Aalborg University