Kraus, Alexander and Martina Winkler (eds.). Weltmeere: Wissen und Wahrnehmung im langen 19. Jahrhundert. Umwelt und Gesselschaft, edited by Christof Mauch, Helmuth Trischler, and Frank Uekötter, vol. 10. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co, 2014.
The contributors to this volume examine our relationship with the oceans in the long nineteenth century: how it became the object of scientific study, how it was domesticated, aestheticized, commodified, and structured. They reveal processes which call into question the belief that the ocean was seen as “foreign” and “other” in the modern period. This volume calls for a demystification and pluralization of the cultural study of the seas and gathers both systematic and empirical arguments for such a shift. The articles consider such different subjects as the development of aquariums, Japanese whale fishing, the perception of sound on polar expeditions, and the psychological concepts and literary portrayals of the sea and marine studies in the German and Russian Empires. (Text adapted from Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht and the Rachel Carson Center)
Read an excerpt here.