Written by Tiffany Miron, November of 2024
Throughout the course of my project, that is perhaps the most frequently asked question about my research. Though, it is a close contest between that question, and the usual follow-up question; “So, do you like Pirates of the Caribbean?". While this may lead some to believe that I get annoyed that people ask those types of questions rather than questions actually pertaining to my research, I welcome the more random questions about how I came to such a topic. Usually as a response, I ask if they want a serious answer or the actual answer, because my inspiration for my research is unconventional and not what many would expect.
The Fun Backstory
Evidently, my interest in pirates goes much farther back than the timeline of my research. It all originally started back when I was in middle school, when my oldest brother gave me the game Assassin's Creed; Black Flag for Christmas. That game was, and still is, one of my absolute favorite video games. If anyone reading this is pondering playing it, I would highly recommend it and can honestly say it has a lot of historically accurate elements, especially a lot of the details about the notorious pirates the game utilizes as characters. That game made pirates an underlying loved interest of mine long before I was even considering being a history major. It wasn’t until right before my senior year of high school that I decided I wanted to major in history, originally thinking that I would go to law school once finishing my degree. Coincidentally, in the first quarter of my senior year, I was also taking an independent art class where I could do whatever projects I wanted. Because my main art medium of choice is painting, I decided to spend the entire quarter painting a massive 3’ by 4’ pirate ship portrait. That project not only demonstrated my still prevalent interest in pirates, but it also encouraged me to do more poking around and learning more of the history of pirates. While that painting is not my best work by any means, I look back at the memories of making it very fondly. During that time, I also made a graphite portrait of Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, so it is safe to say that I have a love for that movie series as well.
The More Serious Answer
If those inquiring are looking for a more serious answer about how I came upon my research topic, I do have a more conventional answer. During the spring semester of my first year of college, I had to pick a topic to research for my historical research methods course that is required for my major. Originally, I believed that this would be my only opportunity to research pirates, as I fully did not anticipate pirate research being a serious or long-term project. For that course, I did a case study comparison of the pirates Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, and Anne Bonny, one of two well-known women pirates from the Golden Age of piracy. During that semester-long project, I concluded that the text surrounding the two varied greatly in tone because historians were not inclined to speak positively about a woman doing “non-womanly” things for the time period. Through my work there, I was recommended to join the Ronald E. McNair program, which gave me the opportunity to take what I believed would be a small project into something bigger and more serious.
I’m shocked it took me this many blog posts to discuss why pirates have been the focus of my research, as it is a question I get very frequently. Sometimes, I think that others believe I hate media portrayals of pirates because I research them and would be frustrated with the inaccuracies, but I do and have enjoyed pirate media for many years. Thankfully, I am able to divide the two aspects in my mind and can thoroughly enjoy both the media and the reality. While I have a more serious answer, I do have fun telling others about my own history with pirate history, and how it has shaped other aspects of my life far before researching it was my reality.
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