Kimberley Peters & Phil Steinberg | 10 Myths of Critical Ocean Geography

The time has passed for geographers to deride their discipline as terracentric. For decades now, geographers from a range of subdisciplinary perspectives have been turning to the ocean (and other non-solid spaces) to develop alternative modes of understanding, and as they do so they draw on and contribute to parallel trends occurring in other disciplines. And yet the strategies adopted in what some have called an ‘oceanic turn’ all too often reproduce the very epistemologies and ontologies that the turn to the ocean had sought to undermine. In this paper, we dive deep and identify 10 myths that are prevalent in much of the critical ocean geography literature. Like most myths, these myths are not objectively ‘wrong’; in many instances, in fact, they provocatively suggest truths that are less clear when viewing things ‘from the land’. However, in their simplified explanations, and in the narratives that emerge around those explanations, these myths of critical ocean geography typically foreclose other ways of thinking that might go further in realising the ocean’s potential as a means for destabilising critical thought.
Speakers:
Kimberley Peters is a human geographer focused on the social, cultural, and political dynamics of maritime spaces. Her 15-year research journey covers power dynamics and governance in marine environments, examining topics like pirate radio ships and deep-sea mining. She has authored eight books including "The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space" and "Water Worlds: Human Geographies of the Ocean," contributing significantly to the field of geography.
Phil Steinberg is the UArctic Chair in Political Geography at Durham University and previously taught at Florida State University and various other institutions. His research examines the projection of social power onto spaces like the world-ocean, the internet, and the Arctic, focusing on aspects from cartography to governance. Steinberg's work encompasses a broad range of subjects including international law and the lifestyles of individuals within these expanses, drawing on his PhD from Clark University.