m of care – feb 7
on pirates via MARCUS REDIKER – (50 present)
[1st in pirate series? 2nd: m of care – mar 7 with Stephen Snelders]
on history from below – zinn history et al.. who’s history is it
history ness et al.. pirates et al..
history from below is: 1\ working people are it’s subject 2\ always treats questions of power, resistance, oppression 3\ talks about expereince of ordinary people 4\ conscious ness of ordinary people 5\ recover voices of ordinary people 6\ about agency of ordinary people – what they do to get free.. it’s the most democratic kind of history.. everyone is included in history from below
?.. well .. all the whales .. if even .. via whalespeak.. so not even..?
on interp of pirates from above.. diff from that of below
who were they? common ordinary exploited seamen.. what were they doing? trying to escape violent capitalist system.. they capture ships and org selves in stunningly new ways.. democratically.. elect captain et al.. they limit use of punishment.. vote on whether someone should be punished.. created a share system for dividing up loot.. practicing democracy on ships.. a very subversive idea.. that you can run a ship in a diff way.. powerful ie to common sailors.. so killed them to show sailors.. if you dare to live differently we will hunt you down and kill you
oi.. democratic admin
your ignorance on pirates self org et al.. was put their by an invested interest in your ed.. ie: to protect systems of private property.. and limit your knowledge of other ways of living in the world.. what gets included in our history is always a shockingly political experience..
3 gens of pirates: 1\ buccaneers employed by english govt to attack govt of spain 2\ william kidd.. ruling claas turns against pirates 3\ upper classes no longer connected .. so over time.. more anti pirates
pirates could unite enemies in common cause..
probably greatest challenge from history of below is finding sources.. a lot didn’t read/write.. have to figure out how societies produced documentation about poor people.. via court.. poor people almost always involved in the law.. once you get sources.. then hold them up to satanic light and read them backwards.. illusion to what you did w witches.. saying witches make best historians.. the larger the base.. more variety.. more ability to judge..
on fun.. and david’s point.. to have fun
useful to talk about the in between zones.. back/forth between land/sea.. brokers of these radical ideas.. bring them back to land so can circulate more effectively there
maritime culture is generally international.. multi ethnic/national.. so coop of people on ships allows for a transmission of ideas/practices from one ship to another.. so i think many common elements.. regardless of many struggles over religion.. this circulation of hidden ideas..
history from below is always about power from above
[mark fuller question: How much did the Atlantic slave trade influence the intentionality of pirate self-organization? in chat] – asked a bit diff
turns out significant number of pirates had worked in the slave trade.. where conditions were deadly.. also .. pirates org’s rounds on merchant ships to capture slave ships before took on human cargo.. because ships were good/useful.. so interfered in slave trade.. black bart roberts.. slave trade figures into this very importantly.. significant number of pirates ships has sailors of african decent .. welcomed aboard.. becomes members of crew.. why.. pirates respected them as fighters.. so functional..
on consequences of not knowing history from below.. history from below is about working class experience.. also there is agency that is sometimes activated for racist/sexist ends.. so have to be careful in how we look at all these things.. also have to consider relationship people have to state.. huge distrust et al.. ie: anti vax in us.. related to distrust fro state.. so history from below can take many diff forms..
kelig: w this webinar hoping to show how studying past can help future
ay.. sea world history ness
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be you. 