Environmental violence and postnatural oceans : : Low trophic theory in the registers of feminist posthumanities

• Environmental violence takes form of both “spectacular” events, like ecological disasters usually recognised by the general public, and “slow  violence”, a type of violence that occurs gradually, out of sight and on a long-term scale (Nixon 2011). Planetary seas and oceans, loaded with cultural meanings of that which “hides” and “allows to forget”, are the spaces where such attritional violence unfolds unseen and “out of mind”. Simultaneously, conventional concepts of nature and culture, as dichotomous entities, become obsolete. We all inhabit and embody the world differently, as variously situated people, divided by national, sexual, bodily and economic status, and as very variously situated nonhumans in an increasingly anthropogenic world.This chapter focuses on subtle “slow violence” unfolding through the instances of submerged chemical weapons, so-called dead zones, invasive species and high- and low-trophic mariculture in the Baltic and North Sea regions. It zooms in on the select cases of such “environed bodies”, their stories of excruciating slow violence and yet also on unexpected encounters with care and hospitality. The aim is to unfold a low-trophic theory for the naturecultural research on violence and care within environmental humanities, and to engage a coexistential ethics of environmental adaptability informed by feminist posthumanities.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Genusstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Gender Studies (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Övrig annan humaniora (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Other Humanities not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Kulturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Cultural Studies (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Teknikhistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History of Technology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

oceanic studies

environmental humanities

feminist environmental humanities

blue humanities

low trophic mariculture

Historiska studier av teknik, vetenskap och miljö

History of Science, Technology and Environment

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)