[csaa-forum] Call for Chapters - Piracy: Leakages from Modernity

[James Arvanitakis]

Call for Chapters

Piracy: Leakages from Modernity
A book on Piracy edited by Martin Fredriksson and James Arvanitakis

'Piracy' is a concept that seems everywhere in the contemporary world. From the big screen with the dashing 'Jack Sparrow', to the dangers off the coast of Somalia; from the claims by the Motion Picture Association of America that piracy funds terrorism, to the political impact of pirate parties in countries like Sweden and Germany. While the spread of piracy provokes responses from the shipping and copyright industries, the reverse is also true: for every new development in capitalist technologies, some sort of 'piracy' moment emerges.

This is maybe most obvious in the current ideologisation of Internet piracy where the rapid spread of so called Pirate Parties is developing into a kind of global political movement. While the pirates of Somalia seem a long way removed from Internet pirates illegally downloading the latest music hit or the European Parliament, it is our assertion that such developments indicate a complex interplay between capital flows and relations, late modernity, property rights and spaces of contestation. That is, piracy seems to emerge at specific nodes in capitalist relations that create both blockages and leaks between different social actors.

The issue of piracy, then, seems to capture a broader malaise in the developments of late capitalist modernity. As capital relations intensify, there seems to emerge zones of piracy, which lead to demands for greater enclosure. While some of these are seen as a political response such as the Pirate Party, others represent alternatives to capitalist relations such as the new commons movement. Further, other forms of piracy are endemic of those 'left behind': be it the Somali pirates or the settlements of squatters (or land pirates) that emerge throughout India. For many, piracy is merely a way to avoid paying for movies and songs, while others see it as a backlash against the enclosure of the intellect such as copying textbooks or developing generic drugs.

Piracy can thus be a matter of mere entertainment but it can also represent a zone outside of capital relations or a leakage of modernity. This is no way meant to romanticise the contemporary pirate: rather we want to highlight the complex nature of both capital relations and the reactions and counter-reactions that follow.

These various aspects of piracy form the focus for this book, preliminary entitled Piracy: Leakages from Modernity. It is meant to be a collection of texts that takes a broad perspective on piracy and attempts to capture the multidimensional impacts of piracy on capitalist society today. The book is edited by James Arvanitakis at the University of Western Sydney and Martin Fredriksson at Linköping University, Sweden, and published by Litwin Press, USA. It is open for recently unpublished articles from all academic disciplines and we particularly welcome contributions by young and emerging scholars. Possible subjects of interest could for instance be:

* The history of copyright and piracy - particularly outside of the Western world
* Piracy and copyright: the contestation over the public/private sphere
* The enclosure of the contemporary commons
* Piracy and development: the textbook trade
* Globalisation, copyright and piracy
* The ideology of piracy
* The cultural figure of the pirate
* Somali piracy: the new bad guys or a reaction to failed modernity?
* Indian land claims and piracy
* Biopiracy and claims over indigenous knowledge
* Piracy in China and/or developing economies
* The Pirate Party: Kids having fun or alternatives to copyright?
* Piracy and terrorism?
* Piracy and gender
* Black threat and white nemesis: The colour of piracy

If you want to contribute to this book please send an abstract of no more than 1000 words to Martin Fredriksson (martin.fredriksson at liu.se<mailto:martin.fredriksson at liu.se>) or James Arvanitakis (j.arvanitakis at uws.edu.au<mailto:j.arvanitakis at uws.edu.au>). Deadline for abstracts is December 7 and if your abstract is accepted deadline for full articles will be March 1. Publication is preliminary scheduled for December 2012.

James Arvanitakis, PhD

Senior Lecturer - School of Humanities and Languages
Head of Program - Dean Scholars
Research member - Centre for Cultural Research
Member of the Ally Program for GLBIT students
Fellow - Centre for Policy Development

www.jamesarvanitakis.net<https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jamesarvanitakis.net>

Harper Lee: Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

University of Western Sydney
Rm UG05, Building U
Kingswood Campus
Ph: +61-47360391
Mob: +61-438-454-127
www.uws.edu.au<https://email.uws.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=b8a0230cbcb44c06b284e6f5777c2892&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.uws.edu.au>


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