Cory Doctorow's linkblog
I read a prepublication draft of the book for a blurb, and I was *riveted*. In the early 18th century, the Zana-Malata people - a new culture created jointly by pirates from around the world and #Malagasy - came to dominate the island. They brought with them the democratic practices of pirate ships (where captains were elected and served at the pleasure of their crews) and the matriarchal traditions of some Malagasy, creating a feminist, anarchist "Libertalia."
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Cory Doctorow's linkblog
One note on that "final posthumous work" epithet. I'm told that Graeber left behind a *mountain* of unpublished work, in various degrees of done-ness, ranging from notebooks to unpublished articles. I'd be *very* surprised if this was the last work of Graeber's we see in print.
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Cory Doctorow's linkblog
Back in Madagascar, the Zana-Malata laughed themselves silly at the credulous crowds on the other side of the world.
18th century Madagascar was a crossroads of sea-traders, religious apostates (radical Jews!), exiles and sea-bums of every description. Graeber describes how the Zana-Malata's egalitarian made them resilient and adaptable, able to meet aggression with force when needed, or to turn it away when possible.
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Cory Doctorow's linkblog
Graeber tells this tale as skillfully as any 18th century romantic pirate novelist, but grounded in academic rigor and careful research. "Pirate Enlightenment" is a swashbuckling, #AntiAuthoritarian thrill-ride through the true pirates of the Indian Ocean, and the legacy they left behind.
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Cory Doctorow's linkblog
Graeber retrieves and orders the history of this Libertalia from oral tradition, primary source documents, and records from around the world. Taken together, it's a tale that is rollicking and romantic, but also hilarious and eminently satisfying.
For example, the pirates of Madagascar found it useful (and amusing) to trick visitors into thinking the island had #PirateKings.
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Cory Doctorow's linkblog
They created sham courts, where Zana-Malata, Malagasy and pirates put on elaborate cons for visitors where they all pretended to be subjects of a pirate monarch whose treasures were borrowed for the duration of the show.
These shams, in turn, spawned a popular English literature, with the liked of #Defoe penning bestselling, fantastical accounts of the pirate kings and their improbable adventures.
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