Making the Sea Knowable: Ocean Literacies From a Sea‐Centred Perspective

Tülin Fidan
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Tülin Fidan: Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany / German Maritime Museum, Germany / Research Institute for Sustainability at GFZ, Germany

Ocean and Society, 2025, vol. 2

Abstract: In this article, I focus on the wave buoy and how it expands the concept of ocean literacy. The Directional Waverider buoy, manufactured by Datawell, is used worldwide to measure waves to produce knowledge about oceans in the context of rising sea levels and storm surges. My ethnographic fieldwork took place on the German North Sea coast, where these ocean developments affect the low‐lying coastline. Using buoys along the coast is one way of making the sea knowable through datafication and climate modelling. To understand how the buoy pushes the limits of the concept of ocean literacy and what this means for human–ocean relations, I focus on the knowledge production processes of scientists working with the buoy and its data, and how the established infrastructure territorialises the North Sea. I subsequently show how the wave buoy rides the waves and how this relates to my embodied knowledge of the sea, drawing on Ingersoll’s concept of “seascape epistemology.” I argue that these knowledge practices are based on a sea‐centred perspective, and that in order to remain stable, this infrastructure needs to be as supple as the sea. I conclude by suggesting that it is important to understand ocean literacy as a plural concept, as ocean literacies, as demonstrated by these plural knowledges.

Keywords: climate change; datafication; embodied knowledge; knowledge production; maritime anthropology; ocean literacies; seascape epistemology; territorialisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:ocesoc:v2:y:2025:a:9622

DOI: 10.17645/oas.9622

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