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Introduction: Coastal Studies for an Age of Sail
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Introduction: Coastal Studies for an Age of Sail

Alexander Dick and Eric Gidal
Eighteenth-century studies, Vol.59(1), pp.1-12
09/2025
DOI: 10.1353/ecs.2025.a973961

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Abstract

This introduction proposes the coast, where ecological, political, and aesthetic forces converge, as a critical site for understanding eighteenth-century culture. By tracing the various ways coasts were mapped, engineered, represented, and contested, it outlines the interdisciplinary relations between eighteenth-century studies and the emerging field of coastal studies. It also highlights the coast’s dual role as infrastructure and metaphor in shaping global and local histories as well as literary forms.
coasts Geography infrastructure metaphor scale colonialism interdisciplinarity

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