Summary
A summary of Professor Carolyn Cooper's keynote lecture at the 2026 Caribbean Studies Association Conference, exploring the concepts of piracy, resistance, and the struggle for Jamaica's coastline.
Carolyn Cooper: Pirates on the Beach and Capitalist Appropriation of Jamaica's Coastline
Highlights
Keynote Overview and Thematic Framework
Delivered at the 50th Annual Caribbean Studies Association Conference, Professor Emerita Carolyn Cooper examines piracy as a dual concept. She analyzes it as both a primal signifier of the predatory economics of plantation slavery and as a subversive tool of resistance, referencing Louise Bennett's 'Colonization in Reverse' to celebrate pirate radio stations that brought Caribbean music to the UK.
Discussion on Beach Appropriation
The lecture features a mid-session dialogue with filmmakers Emiel Martens and Elsie Vermeer regarding their documentary 'Beach Inna Bondage: The Fight for Jamaica's Coastline'. The discussion, produced in collaboration with JaBBEM and Keznamdi, highlights the ongoing efforts to protect Jamaica's coastline from capitalist appropriation.