Memo38+Circulations+(amongst+informants,+other+experts,+policy+makers)

Ideally this book will circulate in several circles – although they all have crossover with at least one other area.


 * History –** More specifically Atlantic and Colonial History. The time period that I am studying will initially draw in readers, but I hope that by offering an alternative reading of history and piracy, as well as colonial science, that more research will be done into how the construction of science as an institution was not as clean a process as contemporary history portrays it to be.


 * Subaltern Studies / Access and Appropriation of Technology –** By positioning pirates as a marginalized or at least disenfranchised social group, I hope that I can shed some light on how it is that social groups that operated on the outskirts of society were 1. Not really as much on the outskirts as we would think, 2. Were able to make contributions to science and technology, 3. Were able to gain some sort of economic or social power through the access to technology. It is this section of the book that I see the most influence on contemporary policy or academia being held. Perhaps there will be more exploration into how technology has facilitated empowerment in the past and in contemporary society.


 * Criminal Studies –** Pirates are one of the most well known examples of criminals. Pirates have been around for centuries and continue to operate today. I think the novel contribution in this area might be the positioning of pirates as the go between for indigenous knowledge to be transferred to the European state. Perhaps continued and wider study of criminal appropriation of technology as well as the criminal-state relationship might be more examined as a result.


 * Science and Technology Studies –** Of course! This book should die in right with STS. I see it mainly being used as a case study for scientific knowledge construction, the sociology of knowledge, SCOT, history of science and technology, postcolonial studies, etc.

Certainly this book will not have an impact on “informants” since there aren't really any living at this current point in time. However, perhaps it will have some impact on policy recommendations for dealing with indigenous peoples and for bringing indigenous knowledge under the umbrella of legitimate science.