Matthew Raffety Ph.D.

Matthew Raffety is a historian of the early American republic. His research and publishing interests include legal, gender, and maritime history, with particular attention to questions of citizenship. His book project, The Republic Afloat, tracks how seamen conceived of themselves as individuals and how they defined their place within the United States. Professor Raffety’s teaching focuses on colonial America and the early United States, as well as public history and American sports history. 

• Ph.D., history, Columbia University
• M.Phil., history, Columbia University
• M.A., history, Columbia University
• B.A., history, Williams College

• Antebellum United States
• Gender history
• Legal history
• Maritime history
• Sports history

• “The Early Career of Frank Hague.” New Jersey History 124 (1) (2009): 29–56.
• “Recent Currents in Nineteenth-Century American Maritime History.” History Compass 6 (2) (2008): 607–626.
• “Discipline but Not Punish: Legality and Labor Control at Sea, 1790–1861.” In Pirates, Jack Tar, and Memory: New Directions in Atlantic Maritime History, edited by Bill Pencak and Paul Gilje. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport Press, 2008.
• “Proper Historical Analogies to Iraq Are Difficult.” Gonzaga Bulletin, October 20, 2006.
• “A Sea of Rebellion: Maritime Workers in the Age of the American Revolution.” In Social Perspectives on the American Revolution, edited by Andrew K. Frank. New York: ABC-CLIO, 2007.

• “‘I Fell in with a Woman, Who I Thought Was All Virtue’: Sex and Violence in Antebellum Seafarers’ Confessions.” American Historical Association Annual Conference, San Diego, 2010.
• “Contra Mundum VI: The Enemy of All Mankind: Pirates, Piracy, and the Autonomy of the High Seas.” Contra Mundum Lecture Series, Los Angeles, 2009.
• “Presidents and Presidents’ Day.” Radio interview on KXLY 920 Newsscope with Mike Fitzsimmons, Spokane, Washington, 2009.
• “Poli-Tees: The History of Political Merchandise.” On-air commentator, shopflicktv.com, Los Angeles, 2009.
• “When I Get You to the United States I’ll Make You Pay: Litigious Mariners and American Identity, 1835–1861.” Fifth International Congress of Maritime History, Greenwich, United Kingdom, 2008.
• Commenter and chair, two panels, Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Regional Conference, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, 2008.
• Commenter and chair, two panels, Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Regional Conference, Lincoln City, Oregon, 2007.
• Participant, “Maritime Mastery and Mobility,” roundtable discussion, Society for the History of the Early American Republic Annual Conference, Montreal, Quebec, 2006.
• “‘On the Whole He Leads a Puppyish Life Indeed’: Violence and Masculinity among Ships’ Officers.” Organization of American Historians Annual Conference, San Francisco, 2005.
• “‘I Am a Man the Same as You’: Manhood, Honor, and Violence at Sea before the Civil War.” Organization of American Historians Annual Conference, Memphis, Tennessee, 2003.
• “The Dreaded Pirates Gibbs and Wansley.” U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York, 2003.
• “‘When We Get to New York, I Will Have My Rights’: The Dissemination of Legal Knowledge at Sea, 1789–1861.” American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, 2002.
• “Labor and the Language of Rights in Mutinies on Nineteenth-Century New York Merchant Vessels.” Drawn from the Deep: Mariners’ Rights Symposium, South Street Seaport Museum, New York, 1998.

• Diversity grant in support of new courses fulfilling the College’s Social Justice Requirement, Gonzaga University, 2006
• Research council grant, Gonzaga University, 2006
• Sigety Family Fellow, American Antiquarian Society, 2001
• GSAS Summer Research Fellow, Columbia University, 2001
• Littleton-Griswold Prize, American Historical Association, 2001
• Metzger Prize, Columbia University, 2001
• President’s Teaching Fellow, Columbia University, 1999–2000

• Phi Alpha Theta, faculty sponsor
• Society for the History of the Early American Republic
• American Historical Association
• Organization of American Historians