Pirates and Poets

Panel discussion with James Arnold (literary scholar, Virginia University), Louis-Philippe Dalembert (Haiti), Sibylle Fischer (Spanish and Portuguese Literature, New York University)

Moderator: Kofi Yakpo (linguistics and political science, Radboud University Nijmegen), Introduction: Gesine Müller

Even before the term "globalization" became a buzzword, there existed in the 19th Century an exchange of knowledge and culture of truly global proportions. Pirates - and other seafarers- sailed between Europe, the Caribbean and Africa, and aside from transporting looted goods, they transported people as well - and with them their languages, histories, traditions, cultural practices. Writers fled into exile and their focus turned to issues around migration, integration, and loss of homeland. How have these early global processes influenced our notion of modernity?