Political Geographies of Piracy ─ Constructing Threats and Containing Bodies in Somalia

Political Geographies of Piracy examines the new security-development framework for combating piracy off the coast of Somalia. It demonstrates how counter piracy actors, particularly in the development sector, are reworking territorial sovereignties and reproducing markets of security and development in Somalia. Underlying onshore counter piracy strategies is a desire to both simultaneously secure and develop Somalia. However, the wider goal of these security-development strategies is to prevent and contain particular racialized and gendered actions and bodies on shore in Somalia. Drawing upon unique insider knowledge of the international counter piracy regime, Gilmer reveals the institutional machinations at stake in efforts to simultaneously combat and profit from Somali piracy. Research conducted on the ground in Somalia, and with convicted piracy prisoners detained in the Seychelles, also provides a rare glimpse into how security-development strategies for combating piracy are being promoted and resisted among various Somali communities.

Brittany Gilmer is Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Florida International University, USA. Her expertise includes geographies of security, development, and transnational crime in East Africa. She is a former consultant with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Counter Piracy Program headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.