Oceans as Archives

The Oceans as Archives series contributes to the growing field of critical ocean studies, while intervening in the erasures and occlusions performed in scripting the field as a new critical terrain of inquiry. The series brings together interdisciplinary scholars, poets, artists, and activists to share and discuss new work that centers the ocean as a source of knowledge and a method for thinking and writing about the historical and persistent violence of settler colonialism and capitalism, and anti-colonial resistance. The series provides a space for sharing ideas and theories anchored in the longstanding critical traditions of Black (diaspora) studies, Pacific Islander studies, Critical Indigenous studies, Caribbean philosophy, postcolonial theory, and decolonial and anticolonial critique. 

Works explore island and ocean-centered conceptualizations of place and power, disrupting continent-dominant and Eurocentric metageographies. Participants experiment with blue humanities approaches analyzing the Anthropocene, interrogating environmental degradation along coastlines connected by imperial networks. Mobilities emerges as one of the symposium’s central themes. We consider new research on historical and novel systems and technologies developed by states and corporations to police and prevent transoceanic travel, particularly those journeys undertaken by refugees. Moreover, we shed light on strategies that people fleeing violence have embraced in their search for safer sea crossings, and examine collective struggles against moves to dispossess and exploit Indigenous polities. 

 In 2021, a special ceremony to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the 1621 Dutch East India Company genocide of the Indigenous population of the Banda Islands formed an important part of the symposium (co-hosted with Beatrice Glow, Nancy Jouwe, and Wim Manuhutu). This event addressed the relationship between Indigenous histories and resilience across oceans, from the Banda Islands to Turtle Island and Coast Salish Territories. 

The first part of the series took place online and was hosted at the University of British Columbia in Spring 2021. The second part of the series was held at the University of Amsterdam in 2022. The series will also become an edited collection.

The series is co-organized with Renisa Mawani and Kristie Flannery

For more details: www.oceansasarchives.org