| 授業の目標・概要等 |
[Course Description]
This course explores ethnographic studies of contemporary underwater ecological dynamics. We will examine how maritime anthropology and ethnography illuminate the relationships between marine and aquatic environments and violence, critically analyze forms of ecological disruption underwater, and explore the connections between ocean resource conservation and dispossession. The course also considers how maritime anthropology contributes to contemporary debates on social and environmental change, including seafood production and water management.
While the course is recommended for advanced undergraduates—especially those considering coastal and marine topics for their theses—readings will be adjusted according to the academic level of enrolled students. Introducing interdisciplinary approaches from political ecology, maritime ethnography, and environmental anthropology, the course examines the political, economic, and social forces shaping environmental degradation and transformation in these uncertain times.
[Expected Outcome]
- Critically evaluate maritime anthropological theories, recognizing their strengths and limitations within socio-historical contexts.
- Analyze and articulate key debates at the intersection of maritime anthropology, ethnography, and environmental anthropology, linking theoretical discussions to contemporary issues.
- Apply maritime anthropology and ethnography to assess underwater precariousness and ecological challenges within historical, geographical, and cultural frameworks.
- Develop and present thoughtful critiques and reflections on class topics and peers’ analyses.
- Effectively communicate the politics of ocean change and underwater precariousness to both general and professional audiences. |
| 授業計画 |
Week 1 Introduction
[Objectives]
Topics include, but are not limited to, the following: the course outline, requirements, and expectations; the fundamental philosophical orientations in the environmental humanities and maritime anthropology.
Obligatory readings:
Mawani, Renisa. 2021. “Ocean as Method” https://thefunambulist.net/magazine/the-ocean/oceans-as-method-law-violence-and-climate-catastrophe
Week 2 Ocean as a Method
[Objectives]
Exploring the sociopolitical contexts and consequences of marine microbial research, it focuses on the genomic analysis of microbial communities. Helmreich provides an ethnographic study of the world of marine microbiology, involving fieldwork at an aquarium, at biotech labs, at professional conferences, and on oceanographic expeditions.
Obligatory readings:
Helmreich, Stefan. 2009. “Introduction.” Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp.1-30.
Helmreich, Stefan. 2011. “Nature/Culture/Seawater.” American Anthropologist 113 (1): 132-144.
Week 3 Reimagining the Sea
[Objectives]
We will explore decolonization, focusing on the interconnectedness of law, resources, and geopolitical issues in the context of Oceania.
Obligatory readings:
Hau‘ofa, Epeli, “Our Sea of Islands,” in A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands, ed. Eric Waddell,
Vijay Naidu, and Epeli Hau‘ofa (Suva, Fiji: School of Social and Economic Development, University of the South Pacific / Beake House, 1993), 2-17.
Fackler, Katharina, and Silvia Schultermandl. 2023. “Kinship as Critical Idiom in Oceanic Studies.” Atlantic Studies 20 (2): 195-225.
Week 4 Economization of the Ocean
[Objectives]
How has the ocean been utilized for capital investment, and how is nature integrated into the economy—while nature, in turn, resists, adapts to, or transforms economic systems? We will examine the processes of capital accumulation, which continually seek to increase economic efficiency in production and resource management, and explore their impact on aquatic ecosystems and marginalized fishing communities.
Obligatory readings:
Asdal, Kristin, and Tone Huse. 2023. “Introduction.” Nature-Made Economy: Cod, Capital, and the Great Economization of the Ocean. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Clausen, Rebecca, and Stefano B. Longo. 2012. “The Tragedy of the Commodity and the Farce of AquAdvantage Salmon®.” Development and Change 43 (1): 229-251.
Week 5 Aquatic Agency and the Politics of Invasions
[Objectives]
We will explore the agency of “invasive” species in human-disturbed marine environments. We will examine how environments and forms of life are conceptualized and coordinated in an ecology where both lionfish and fishermen are viewed as threats. Additionally, we will discuss the domestication of salmon, exploring classificatory indeterminacies and questioning what counts as nature when “icons of wilderness” are incorporated into regimes of domestication.
Obligatory readings:
Lien, Marianne Elizabeth, and John Law. 2011.“‘Emergent Aliens’: On Salmon, Nature, and Their Enactment.” Ethnos 76 (1): 65-87.
Moore, Amelia. 2012. “The Aquatic Invaders: Marine Management Figuring Fishermen, Fisheries, and Lionfish in The Bahamas.”Cultural Anthropology 27 (4): 667-688.
Week 6 Entanglement of Biological and Synthetic Materials in the Anthropocene
[Objectives]
We will examine how human-made materials (such as plastics and biomaterials) interact with and transform marine life, blurring boundaries between natural and artificial, living and nonliving.
Obligatory readings:
Dickinson Hannah and Johnson Elizabeth. 2022. “Digesting Planetary Harms: Ocean Life, Biomaterial
Innovation, and Uncanny Ingestions of the Anthropocene.” HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology 16 (2): 48-73.
De Wolff, Kim. 2017. “Plastic Naturecultures: Multispecies Ethnography and the Dangers of Separating Living from Nonliving Bodies.” Body & Society 23 (3): 23-47.
Week 7 Nature as Infrastructure
[Objectives]
We will critique the modern tendency to prioritize technological and human-centered solutions to environmental degradation and advocates for a more integrated, ecological approach that reimagines human-nature relationships.
Obligatory readings:
Wakefield, Stephanie. 2020. “Making Nature into Infrastructure: The Construction of Oysters as a Risk Management Solution in New York City.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 3 (3): 761-785.
Anderson, Ryan B. 2023. “Time, Seawalls, and Money: Anthropologies of Rising Seas and Eroding Coasts”, Environment and Society 14 (1): 23-42.
Week 8 Decolonizing Waters
[Objectives]
This week introduces the issues raised by Indigenous peoples, past and present, offering a framework for understanding global Indigenous activism and decolonizing actions.
Obligatory readings:
Todd, Zoe. 2016. “From a Fishy Place: Examining Canadian State Law Applied in the Daniels Decision from the Perspective of Métis Legal Orders.” TOPIA 36 (Fall 2016): 43-57.
Probyn, E. 2023. “Aqua/geopolitical Conjuncture and Disjuncture: Invasion, Resources, and Mining the Deep Dark Sea.” Cultural Studies 37 (4): 696-717.
[Names and Pronouns]
Students are expected to refer to their classmates by their stated names and pronouns. If you go by a different name or gender pronoun than the one that appears on the official course roster, please let me know.
The final paper will be conducted in person during the last class session. |