21A.525
Oceans and Us
Explores how people have understood and encountered the ocean, cross-culturally, as a site of danger, pleasure, travel, food-procurement, commerce, and tourism. Topics include imperial voyaging, piracy, the invention of seaside vacations, the politics of fishing, the culture of onboard living in surface and submarine ships, the rise of undersea entertainment and documentary, regimes of managing maritime spaces and species, and the emergence of the ocean as an object of global ecological concern, particularly around climate change and sea level rise.
Fall 2025
This course explores how people have understood and encountered the ocean, cross-culturally, as a site of danger, pleasure, travel, food-procurement, commerce, and tourism. Topics include imperial voyaging, piracy, the invention of seaside vacations, the politics of fishing, the culture of onboard living in surface and submarine ships, the rise of undersea entertainment and documentary, regimes of managing maritime spaces and species, and the emergence of the ocean as an object of global ecological concern, particularly around climate change and sea level rise.
Readings
- Desmond, Jane. 1999. “The Industries of Species Tourism.” Chapter 7 in Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World . University of Chicago Press, pp. 153–75. ISBN: 9780226143750.
- Comer, Krista. 2001. “Surfer Girls.” In Girlhood in America. Edited by Miriam Forman-Brunell. ABC-Clio, pp. 627–31. ISBN: 9781576072066.
- Steinberg, Philip. 2001. “Introduction: From Davy Jones’ Locker to the Foot Locker: The Case of the Floating Nikes.” In The Social Construction of the Ocean . Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521804431.
- ———. “Ocean-Space and Merchant Capitalism.” Chapter 3 in The Social Construction of the Ocean . Cambridge University Press, pp. 89–109. ISBN: 9780521804431.
- ———. “Ocean-Space and Industrial Capitalism.” Chapter 4 in The Social Construction of the Ocean . Cambridge University Press, pp. 110–38. ISBN: 9780521804431.
- ———. “Dissolving the Tree of Life: Alien Kinship at Hydrothermal Vents.” Chapter 2 in Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas . University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520250628.
- ———. “Blue-Green Capitalism: Marine Biotechnology in Hawai‘i.” Chapter 3 in Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas . University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520250628.
- Zhong, Raymond. 2025. “The Very Hungry Microbes That Could, Just Maybe, Cool the Planet," New York Times , October 6, 2025.
- ———. “Turning African Captives into Atlantic Commodities.” Chapter 2 in Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora . Harvard University Press, pp. 52–64. ISBN: 9780674023499.
- ———. “The Political Economy of the Slave Ship.” Chapter 3 in Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora . Harvard University Press, pp. 65. ISBN: 9780674023499.
- ———. “The Living Dead Aboard the Slave Ship at Sea.” Chapter 5 in Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora . Harvard University Press. ISBN: 9780674023499.
- ———. “Life and Death in Diaspora.” Chapter 7 in Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora . Harvard University Press, pp. 182–86. ISBN: 9780674023499.
- Rediker, Marcus. 2025. “A Horrific Tale of the Slave Trade, Destined to Become a Classic," New York Times , October 16, 2025.
- Rediker, Marcus. 1987. “The Seaman as Pirate: Plunder and Social Banditry at Sea.” Chapter 6 in Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea . Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521303422.
- Nordstrom, Carolyn. 2007. “Ports.” Chapter 12 in Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World . University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520250963.
- ———. “The World-Port.” Chapter 16 in Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World . University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520250963.
- ———. “The Investment Machine.” Chapter 17 in Global Outlaws: Crime, Money, and Power in the Contemporary World . University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520250963.
- ———. “Introduction: The Very Elder Gods Become Red Gold.” In Red Gold: The Managed Extinction of the Giant Bluefin Tuna . University of Minnesota Press. ISBN: 9781517908508.
- ———. “A History of the Bluefin Tuna Trade.” Chapter 1 in Red Gold: The Managed Extinction of the Giant Bluefin Tuna . University of Minnesota Press. ISBN: 9781517908508.
- ———. 2011. “Underwater Music: Tuning Composition to the Sounds of Silence.” Chapter 6 in The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies . Edited by Trevor Pinch and Karin Bijsterveld. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780195388947.
- ———. “Introduction: Significant Waves.” In A Book of Waves . Duke University Press. ISBN: 9781478019947.
- ———. “From the Water Wolf to the Sand Motor.” Chapter 1 in A Book of Waves . Duke University Press. ISBN: 9781478019947.
- ———. “Flipping the Ship.” Chapter 2 in A Book of Waves . Duke University Press. ISBN: 9781478019947.
- ———. “Waves to Order and Disorder.” Chapter 3 in A Book of Waves . Duke University Press. ISBN: 9781478019947.
- Alaimo, Stacy. 2017. “The Anthropocene at Sea: Temporality, Paradox, Compression.” Chapter 16 in Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities . Edited by Ursula K. Heise, Jon Christensen, and Michelle Niemann. Routledge. ISBN: 9781138786745.
- Watts, Laura, and Brit Ross Winthereik. 2017. “Ocean Energy at the Edge.” Chapter 13 in Ocean Energy: Governance Challenges for Wave and Tidal Stream Technologies . Edited by Glen Wright, Sandy Kerr, and Kate Johnson. Routledge. ISBN: 9781138668522.
- Hamilton-Peterson, James. 2007. Seven-Tenths: The Sea and Its Thresholds . Faber and Faber. ISBN: 9780571229383.
- Amrith, Sunil. 2020. “Climate Change and the Future of the Indian Ocean.” In Indian Ocean Current: Six Artistic Narratives . Edited by Prasannan Parthasarathi, 141–50. McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College. ISBN: 9781892850409.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Fall) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2025
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.