
JAMES SETH
Maritime Music - Shipboard Performance - Shakespeare

Dr. James Seth is an Associate Professor of English at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA (U.S.). He teaches Shakespeare, early British literature, travel narratives, and LGBTQ+ literature, among other topics. He is also a faculty member in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at CWU.
His research interests include maritime performance studies, shipboard music, Shakespeare, early modern drama, historiography, and oceanic folklore.
His first book, Maritime Musicians and Performers on Early Modern English Voyages: The Lives of the Seafaring Middle Class, was published by Amsterdam University Press in 2022 and republished by Routledge in 2025.
His second book, Authority and Disruption in Early Modern Maritime Theatre: Mock Kings at Sea, is currently under contract with Routledge.