ICS Seminar Series - Leah Gibbs

Date: Thursday 21 July 2016
Time: 11.30am–1pm
Venue: EE.G.36, Western Sydney University, Parramatta South campus

Leah Gibbs

(University of Wollongong)

Nonhuman Agency: Reassessing Ocean Relations Through Human-shark Encounter

Abstract

The world's oceans are undergoing tremendous pressure from combined effects of warming, acidification, pollution, and over-fishing. Yet dominant modes of interaction exploit ocean resources, and the oceans receive waste of increasing complexity at unprecedented rates and scales. These conditions demand that we reassess our relations with the ocean. One element of this process is understanding how oceans enable, shape and limit human lives, institutions and politics. This seminar contributes to this endeavour by investigating how ocean materials influence practice and politics. In particular, it examines human-shark encounter in Western Australia, and asks (i) how do animals and materials of the ocean influence human-shark interactions; and (ii) what can relations with sharks reveal about relationships with the oceans? The paper approaches these questions through the concept of nonhuman agency, and draws on qualitative research with ocean-users—those most likely to encounter sharks. Three key agents emerge from the research: the ocean itself; sharks; and the 'shark frenzy'. The ocean and sharks inform cultural practice, but the 'shark frenzy' forms the disruption that triggers policy change and action. The paper calls for more nuanced accounts of nonhuman agency, and argues that looking beyond the shark as sole agent in human-shark encounter expands possibilities for more ethical and effective shark hazard management, and for shifting relations with the ocean.

Biography

Leah Gibbs is a Senior Lecturer working in the School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, University of Wollongong. Her work examines the cultures and politics of nature. She is especially interested in how we negotiate 'troublesome encounters' with nature; be that how people use and value water in arid landscapes; negotiate protection of species that may pose a threat to human life; or make decisions about invasive species in the context of growing environmental change and uncertainty.