Spring 2024, CairoShort Course
Sailing the Grey: Perspectives on piracy and pirates
Course details
- Cycle
- Spring 2024, Cairo
- Length
- 8 weeks
- Format
- In person
- Taught in
- English
Share
Discuss it with AI
- Choose your preferred AI assistant.
- A new tab will open with a prompt prepared for this page.
- Press Send to begin exploring the page through dialogue, CILAS-style.
About the course
Pirates have always existed in a gray area, sailing both within and outside of established systems, continuously demonized and idolized, hunted and protected. They seemed to be everywhere and nowhere in particular, always on the fringe of society.
As we delve into stories, primary sources, historical accounts, and cultural representations, we will question the portrayal of pirates as mere outlaws and explore the socio-political, economic, and cultural factors that shaped their existence and pursuits. We will look at their motivations, tactics, and the impact of piracy on maritime trade, colonial powers, and global politics.
Throughout the course, we will explore questions like, How and why has the image of pirates in the collective changed across history? What drives the duality of their actions? What is Puracy exactly? How do pirates challenge traditional notions of law and governance? How have Western narratives of piracy shaped our perception of outlawry and the open sea? Were Barbary pirates savage slavers? And what commonalities can we find between modern piracy and its historical counterparts?
In our quest to challenge conventional narratives and shed light on the intricate dualities that define piracy, we aim to gain a more nuanced understanding of these notorious individuals beyond the narratives we take for granted.
Who teaches it
Menna Fahmy wanted to be a pirate since she was seven, she was told she couldn’t so many times that she took it upon herself to understand why that is. After a brief albeit intense affair with journalism, she now works in tech.
Drawing from a diverse range of interests and a lifelong fascination with mythology, history and pirates, she aims to discover the threads of piracy's story, intricately woven into the rich tapestry of the Mediterranean's past (or to simply get a ship, abandon all material possessions and go find out what it means to make the sea a home).
Course flow
Sessions without a date
- Chapter 1: Piracy in the eastern mediterraneanLeonidas Mylonakis.
- Chapter 2: Enemy of all mankindSteven Johnson.
- Chapter 4: Enemy of all mankindSteven Johnson.
- An-arrgh-chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate OrganizationLeeson.
- Chapter 4: Between the devil and the deep blue seaMarcus Rediker.
- The Calculus of Piratical Consent: The Myth of the Myth of Social ContractLeeson.
- Somalia’s “Pirate Cycle”: The Three Phases of Somali PiracyEdward R. Lucas, 2013.
- The Colonial Origins of Theorizing Piracy’s Relation to Failed StatesJennifer L. Gaynor.
- من الجزائريين إلى اليمنيين: مجاهدو البحار ومحاصرة الاستعمارأحمد الدبش.
- Epilogue: Piracy in the eastern mediterraneanLeonidas Mylonakis.
- Holy Warriors, Rebels, and ThievesJoshua M. White.
- مذكرات خير الدين بربروسحبنا للبحر فوق كل حب, الفقراء يترقبون طريقنا, نلنا دعاء السلطان, الحرب مع أسبانيا.
- OTHELLO TURNS TURKDaniel Vitkus.
- القرصنة البحرية : دراسة فقهية مقارنةمحمد بن عبدالعزيز اليمني, 2012.
- Chapter 6: Captain Kid and the war against piratesRobert Ritchie.
- Chapter 4: Seafaring WomenDavid Cordingly.
- Women and the Gendered Roles of Somali PiracyBrittany Gilmer.
- Section 4, chapter 2- The golden Age of piracydavid head.
- Parrots and Pieces of Eigh’: Recent Trends in Pirate StudiesClaire Jowitt.
- CRIME AND LACK OF PUNISHMENTThomas K. Heebøll-Holm.
- The horror of the ’enemy of humanity’ – on pirates, terrorists and statesMikkel Thorup.
Get the CILAS newsletter
New courses, open calls and articles from CILAS, in your inbox.
18 October 2026
Join CILAS's Spring semester of 2026
- Spring 2026, Cairo
