Taking Ocean Literacy Literally: Reflections on Literature’s Influence on Ocean Literacy

Michelle E. Portman and Jordana Portman
Additional contact information
Michelle E. Portman: Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Jordana Portman: Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

Ocean and Society, 2025, vol. 2

Abstract: Throughout history, literature has focused on humankind’s complex relationship with the sea. Although culture, and literature in particular, has offered readers an opportunity to learn about and connect with the ocean realm when it comes to public engagement in marine planning, which is an opportunity to take part in the allocation of ocean resources, a majority of the public is often uninvolved and unconcerned. In this article, we reflect on portrayals of the sea in literary texts from three time periods: the mid‐19th century (pre‐World War I), the mid‐20th century (post‐World War II), and the 21st century (current times). We point out how ocean themes are of interest in parallel with important societal shifts, tensions, and “currents.” Further, we contend that these popular literary works, or those considered canonical, contribute to ocean literacy today, as they likely did around the time of their publication. In today’s world, exposure to literature that deals with the sea could lead to greater public engagement in ocean decision‐making. The ability to make decisions about ocean resources is particularly important for ecosystem‐based management, which is the basis for best practices in marine planning. As with many themes dealt with in many modes of culture (music, art, theatre, etc.), literary works can contribute to marine citizenship as manifested by greater public involvement in marine planning and (perhaps) greater protection of ocean resources.

Keywords: ecosystem‐based management; literature; marine spatial planning; ocean literacy; public engagement; public knowledge; public participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/oceanandsociety/article/view/9484 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:ocesoc:v2:y:2025:a:9484

DOI: 10.17645/oas.9484

Access Statistics for this article

Ocean and Society is currently edited by Fábio Vicente

More articles in Ocean and Society from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().