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At Home on the Waves

Human Habitation of the Sea from the Mesolithic to Today

Gary Robinson editor Tanya J King editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Berghahn Books

Published:18th Feb '19

Should be back in stock very soon

At Home on the Waves cover

Contemporary public discourses about the ocean are routinely characterized by scientific and environmentalist narratives that imagine and idealize marine spaces in which humans are absent. In contrast, this collection explores the variety of ways in which people have long made themselves at home at sea, and continue to live intimately with it. In doing so, it brings together both ethnographic and archaeological research – much of it with an explicit Ingoldian approach – on a wide range of geographical areas and historical periods.

“All papers within the volume show a sensitivity to ongoing problems of the malleability of the physical boundaries where coastal people (sensu latto) and the potential dangers arising from describing coastal livelihoods and (especially) places as unproductive…At Home on the Waves is a valuable resource for anyone interested in coastal livelihoods, environmental knowledge, and community engagement.”• Ethnobiology Letters

“The wide and diversified scope of this publication is as inspiring as it is thought-provoking, and this is certainly one of its major strengths… a book of interesting cases to illustrate the seemingly endless variability and nuances of human-sea relations that I do not hesitate to recommend, a bouquet of eye-opening reflections on the vast complexity of what the wet realm is in the world for terrestrial human beings.”• Norwegian Archaeological Review

At Home on the Waves sets out what it aims to do and contributes to the overarching theme of the centrality of marine environments to people around the world. Those researching the topic will appreciate the numerous examples from anthropological and archaeological perspectives and the range of geographical locations…that render the book worth reading.”• Maritime Archaeology

“A very ambitious project which engages critically with a timely topic… It crucially brings to the fore the voices and ways of life of those often marginalized or otherwise left out.”• Fiona McCormack, University of Waikato

“Interdisciplinary research is all the rage, but rarely does one find a single volume that manages to weave such varied perspectives and approaches into a fascinating whole.”• Madeleine Hall-Arber, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

ISBN: 9781789201420

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

392 pages