Charting the Future: Atlantic Studies and Global Currents

This book features methodological and theoretical perspectives that embody fundamental questions concerning the historical paradigm of Atlantic Studies and beyond to explore, cultural theory, visual culture, literature, and the narratives and iconography of popular culture (among others). Embracing a transdisciplinary and forward-looking approach, the volume charts new directions for understanding the Atlantic world through contributions that examine river networks, transatlantic Indigenous travel, the circulation of letters and "exotic" animals, the French Atlantic slave trade, and museum spaces as sites of decolonizing processes. It also proposes expanded geographies—such as viewing the Atlantic from the Arctic—and reconsiders the cultural currents that continue to shape global imaginaries. This collection marks the twentieth anniversary of Atlantic Studies: Global Currents, offering a timely reflection on the journal’s legacy while pointing to the future of the field. This volume will be of interest to scholars and students in Atlantic Studies, history, literary and cultural studies, art history, postcolonial studies, and global and transoceanic studies.