Oceans - Geography - Oxford Bibliographies
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Oceans - Geography - Oxford Bibliographies http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199... Oceans Philip E. Steinberg Introduction Until the beginning of the 21st century there were few studies of the ocean, or the world’s seas, in geography. Although cultural and political ecologists who studied coastal communities considered the watery spaces in which people worked, economic and transportation geographers considered the shipping routes that people (and commodities) crossed, and political and military geographers considered the ocean surfaces across which people fought, the ocean itself was generally conceived as a space beyond the boundaries of society, a space used by society, not of society. Physical geographers, meanwhile, while developing a robust literature in coastal geomorphology, tended to leave study of the deep sea to oceanographers. In recent years, physical geographers have made significant contributions to interdisciplinary oceanographic research, primarily through the application of remote sensing and GIS expertise and through climatological research on ocean-atmosphere interactions, but the explosion of ocean-related research in geography since the 1990s has primarily been in human and environmental geography. Much of the increase in human geographic studies of the ocean is due to influences from outside the discipline, including the turn in history to studying ocean basin–defined regions, the turn in cultural studies toward understanding the ocean as a space of cultural hybridity, and, more broadly, a growing environmental awareness of the ocean as a space that is exceptionally vulnerable to (and an indicator of) environmental transformation. Furthermore, as human geographers have turned their attention to such concepts as affect, mobility, nonterrestrial materialities, nonhuman agency, heterotopic spaces of resistance, and global spaces of exchange, the ocean has been embraced as an ideal space for thinking with, and thinking through the limits of, these emergent epistemologies. Setting Agendas for Ocean Geographies Beginning in the late 1990s, as significant numbers of geographers turned their attention seaward, special issues of geography journals began to appear that spelled out agendas for ocean geography. Wigen and Harland-Jacobs 1999 directly engaged the rise of ocean basin studies in the discipline of history, Steinberg 1999 sought to define the scope of a new subfield that would join elements from human and physical geography, and Lambert, et al. 2006 examined numerous aspects of marine geography within the context of historical geography. Concurrent with these special issues, Steinberg 2001 appeared as the first monograph that applied a contemporary geographic perspective in an attempt to understand the sea as a historical and social space, and, a decade later, Peters 2010 proposed expanding the agenda for marine geography to incorporate some of the latest thinking in human geography. Lambert, David, Luciana Martins, and Miles Ogborn, eds. Special Issue: Historical Geographies of the Sea. Journal of Historical Geography 32.3 (July 2006): 479–688. As elaborated on in the editors’ introduction, this special issue proposes that a seaward orientation of historical geography can shed light on three areas: new epistemological perspectives based on fluidity and betweenness; new perspectives that incorporate the imaginative, aesthetic, and sensuous geographies of the sea; and material and social geographies of individuals at sea. Articles available online for purchase or by subscription. Peters, Kimberley. “Future Promises for Contemporary Social and Cultural Geographies of the Sea.” Geography Compass 4.9 (September 2010): 1260–1272. In addition to reviewing recent literature in ocean geography, this article suggests three agendas for future research: the ocean as a space of mobility, the ocean as a space of the mystical and sublime, and the ocean as a space of co-constitution between human and nonhuman actors. Available online for purchase or by subscription. 1 of 19 15/04/2013 11:55 Oceans - Geography - Oxford Bibliographies http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199... Steinberg, Philip E., ed. “Focus: Geography of Ocean-Space.” Professional Geographer 51.3 (1999): 366–450. This focus section presents a broad range of work in ocean geography, from physical geography and marine remote sensing to transport geography and political ecology perspectives. Articles available online for purchase or by subscription. Steinberg, Philip E. The Social Construction of the Ocean. Cambridge Studies in International Relations 78. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Although published in a series on international relations, this book presents the first attempt by a geographer to analyze the world ocean as a global space of society, shaped through uses, regulations, and representations over five hundred years of modern history. Wigen, Kären, and Jessica Harland-Jacobs, eds. Special Issue: Oceans Connect. Geographical Review 89.2 (April 1999). This special issue emanates from the Oceans Connect project, which sought to reframe regional studies around the ocean region. Articles reflect on the project and the meaning of regional seas, as well as presenting studies of individual regions. Articles available online for purchase or by subscription. Literature Reviews and Bibliographies Despite being a relatively new subdiscipline, ocean geography has already spawned a number of comprehensive literature reviews that, in addition to providing critical introductions, thoughtfully identify themes and gaps in the existing literature. The contrast between West 1989, in which human geographies of the sea are largely restricted to tourism studies, and the works that followed is striking. Psuty, et al. 2008 begins to suggest a space for integration between human and physical geography, while Steinberg 2009 presents an overview of ocean incursions into all subfields of geography. The most-recent reviews—Mentz 2009 and Peters 2010—discuss how ocean geography is overlapping with key theoretical advances both from within and beyond the discipline of geography. Mentz, Steve. “Reading the New Thalassology.” In At the Bottom of Shakespeare’s Ocean. By Steve Mentz, 101–112. Shakespeare Now! London: Continuum, 2009. Although compiled by a literary scholar at the back of a book on the maritime aspects of Shakespeare’s plays, this bibliographic essay provides a comprehensive and exceptionally multidisciplinary review of current works in ocean studies, from a range of disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. Peters, Kimberley. “Future Promises for Contemporary Social and Cultural Geographies of the Sea.” Geography Compass 4.9 (September 2010): 1260–1272. The most recent, comprehensive review of geographic research on the ocean, this article discusses how a range of critical theories, especially in cultural geography, are being engaged by geographers of the sea. Available online for purchase or by subscription. About the Index Show related links Search across all sources 2 of 19 15/04/2013 11:55 Oceans - Geography - Oxford Bibliographies http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199... Psuty, Norbert P., Philip E. Steinberg, and Dawn J. Wright. “Coastal and Marine Geography.” In Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Edited by Gary L. Gaile and Cort J. Willmott, 314–325. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. As a collaboration between a coastal geomorphologist, a human geographer of the deep sea, and a deep-sea physical geographer, this review represents an unusual attempt to bridge the divides between the human and the physical, as well as the coastal and the marine, in ocean geography. Originally published in 2003. Steinberg, Philip E. “Oceans.” In International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Vol. 8. Edited by Rob Kitchin and Nigel J. Thrift, 21–26. Amsterdam and Boston: Elsevier, 2009. This review article considers the state of ocean geography in four subfields: political geography, cultural geography, environmental geography, and economic geography. It concludes with a reflection on two overarching themes in ocean geography: the ocean as a space of conflict and the ocean as a space of the imagination. West, Niels. “Coastal and Marine Geography.” In Geography in America. Edited by Gary L. Gaile and Cort J. Willmott, 141–154. Columbus, OH: Merrill, 1989. This review article may be most useful as a historical artifact, because it reflects the state of ocean research in geography prior to the explosion of work, from geography and beyond, that began to appear shortly after the review’s publication. A Space of Power and Connection In the modern era, the ocean is most often encountered as a space of connection. Through sailing across its surface, power is projected; goods, ideas, and people are exchanged; and technologies and knowledges are mobilized and generated. Much of the research in this area has focused on the role of the ocean in constructing the connections of empire and, more generally, in projecting power overseas. Benton 2010, Ogborn 2008, and Steinberg 2001 all consider these themes, primarily in the modern era and from predominantly Western perspectives. The Klein and Mackenthun 2004; Lambert, et al. 2006; and Bentley, et al. 2007 edited collections expand the scope to other cultures and eras, as well as expanding the disciplinary scope beyond geography to include contributions from literary studies, history,