Rewriting the History of the Shanty: New Evidence, New Origins, New Narratives

This paper presents a substantially revised history of the shanty based on evidence that has never before appeared in print. Drawing on the research behind my book From Ship to Screen, I introduce newly uncovered sources – many non-Anglophone, overlooked, or previously inaccessible – that radically transform what we thought we knew about shanties: their origins, evolution, cultural networks, and global trajectories. I propose that our long-standing narrative of the shanty is not only incomplete but fundamentally inaccurate, and that a new historical framework is now possible for the first time.