Piratenverlichting
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
Les Pirates des Lumières ou la véritable histoire de Libertalia
Piraten. Auf der Suche nach der wahren Freiheit
L'utopia pirata di Libertalia
啓蒙の海賊たち　あるいは実在したリバタリアの物語
Pirackie Oświecenie albo prawdziwa Libertalia
Iluminismo pirata: Em busca da verdadeira liberdade
Пиратское Просвещение, или Настоящая Либерталия
Ilustración Pirata
Piratenverlichting
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
Les Pirates des Lumières ou la véritable histoire de Libertalia
Piraten. Auf der Suche nach der wahren Freiheit
L'utopia pirata di Libertalia
啓蒙の海賊たち　あるいは実在したリバタリアの物語
Pirackie Oświecenie albo prawdziwa Libertalia
Iluminismo pirata: Em busca da verdadeira liberdade
Пиратское Просвещение, или Настоящая Либерталия
Ilustración Pirata

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia

David Graeber’s final posthumous work, Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia, explores the rich history of pirate societies and their influence on the Enlightenment. Rooted in David’s field research in Madagascar, the book examines how the Zana-Malata, descendants of pirates, practiced protodemocratic governance. Challenging the European-centric view of Enlightenment thought, David reveals non-European contributions to “Western” ideas and highlights alternative social orders that offer new possibilities for the future.

First published 2019

Translations

  • Dutch
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Polish
  • Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Russian
  • Spanish

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Pirates have long lived in the realm of romance and fantasy, symbolizing risk, lawlessness, and radical visions of freedom. But at the root of this mythology is a rich history of pirate societies—vibrant, imaginative experiments in self-governance and alternative social formations at the edges of the European empire.

In graduate school, David Graeber conducted ethnographic field research in Madagascar for his doctoral thesis on the island’s politics and history of slavery and magic. During this time, he encountered the Zana-Malata, an ethnic group of mixed descendants of the many pirates who settled on the island at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia, Graeber’s final posthumous book, is the outgrowth of this early research and the culmination of ideas that he developed in his classic, bestselling works Debt and The Dawn of Everything (written with the archaeologist David Wengrow). In this lively, incisive exploration, Graeber considers how the protodemocratic, even libertarian practices of the Zana-Malata came to shape the Enlightenment project defined for too long as distinctly European. He illuminates the non-European origins of what we consider to be “Western” thought and endeavors to recover forgotten forms of social and political order that gesture toward new, hopeful possibilities for the future.

Part I: Pirates and Mock Kings of the Malagasy Northeast
Pirates Come to Madagascar
The Problem With Booty
The Real Economy of Sainte-Marie
The Real Libertalia I: Ambonavola
More Mock Kings: John Plantain
Some Problems With Chronology

Part II: The Advent of the Pirates From a Malagasy Point of View
A Sexual Revolution Against the Children of Abraham?
Women as Political Tokens
Women Traders and Magical Charms
Domestic Affairs
On the Opposition Between Military and Sexual Power

Part III: Pirate Enlightenment
Initial Situation
The Initial Challenge
The Great Kabary
Oath-Taking
Ratsimilaho Made King
Heroic Warfare
Court and Kingdom, and the Rise of the Zana-Malata
Conclusions
The Real Libertalia II: The Betsimisaraka Confederation

Appendix: Pirate and Enlightenment Time Line
Bibliography
[Back Matter]
Also by David Graeber
A Note About the Author

Dutch

Piratenverlichting
Title: Piratenverlichting First Published: 2023 ISBN: 9789493213395 Publisher: Maven Translators:

Rogier van Kappel

 Pages: 208

English

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
Title: Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia First Published: 2023 ISBN: 9780374610197 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Pages: 208
Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia
Title: Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia First Published: 2023 ISBN: 9781250321879 Publisher: Picador Pages: 208

French

Les Pirates des Lumières ou la véritable histoire de Libertalia
Title: Les Pirates des Lumières ou la véritable histoire de Libertalia First Published: 2019 ISBN: 9782377291076 Publisher: Editions Libertalia Translators:

Philippe Mortimer

 Pages: 240

German

Piraten. Auf der Suche nach der wahren Freiheit
Title: Piraten. Auf der Suche nach der wahren Freiheit First Published: 2023 ISBN: 9783608987195 Publisher: Klett-Cotta Translators:

Werner Petermann

,

Werner Roller

 Pages: 256

Italian

L'utopia pirata di Libertalia
Title: L'utopia pirata di Libertalia First Published: 2021 ISBN: 9788833021027 Publisher: Eleuthera Translators:

Elena Cantoni

 Pages: 216

Japanese

啓蒙の海賊たち　あるいは実在したリバタリアの物語
Title: 啓蒙の海賊たち　あるいは実在したリバタリアの物語 First Published: 2025 ISBN: 9784000616850 Publisher: 岩波書店 Translators:

Takashi Sakai

 Pages: 230

Polish

Pirackie Oświecenie albo prawdziwa Libertalia
Title: Pirackie Oświecenie albo prawdziwa Libertalia First Published: 2025 ISBN: 978-8383355085 Publisher: Zysk Translators:

Jarosław Skowroński

 Pages: 224

Portuguese (Brazil)

Iluminismo pirata: Em busca da verdadeira liberdade
Title: Iluminismo pirata: Em busca da verdadeira liberdade First Published: 2026 ISBN: 978-8535944976 Publisher: Companhia das Letras Translators:

Fernanda Abreu

 Pages: 192

Russian

Пиратское Просвещение, или Настоящая Либерталия
Title: Пиратское Просвещение, или Настоящая Либерталия First Published: 2024 ISBN: 9785911037598 Publisher: Ad Marginem Translators:

Anton Voznesenskiy

 Pages: 256

Spanish

Ilustración Pirata
Title: Ilustración Pirata First Published: 6 Mar 2024 ISBN: 978-84-344-3746-3 Publisher: Editorial Ariel Translators:

Joan Andreano Weyland

 Pages: 208

Йо-хо-хо и глоток демократии

«Пиратское Просвещение»: миф о Либерталии и реальный урок равенства

В издательстве Ad Marginem вышла посмертно изданная книга антрополога Дэвида Гребера «Пиратское Просвещение» — своего рода документальный приключенческий роман о радикальных политических экспериментах на Мадагаскаре XVII–XVIII веков.

Подрыв всех структур власти

О книге Дэвида Гребера «Пиратское Просвещение, или Настоящая Либерталия»

Опубликованная посмертно работа Дэвида Гребера посвящена пиратским сообществам на Мадагаскаре XVIII века. Антрополог предлагает рассматривать это явление как полноценную часть Просвещения — не европейского, а глобального. Книга выйдет по-русски в этом году, но читатели «Горького» уже могут ознакомиться с ее основными тезисами в обстоятельном материале Дмитрия Жихаревича.

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