Community Corner
Ocean as Frontier, Ocean as Wilderness: Shifting Cultural Conceptions of the Sea
While the sea has long provided an arena for war and served as a font
of resources, the post World War II ocean came to be viewed through the
cultural prisms of “frontier” and “wilderness.” Competition for real
and perceived marine resources fueled a series of debates and unilateral
national actions that resulted in the global enclosure of much of the
sea. Perception that the ocean offered endless mineral and food
resources intersected with ideas about the ocean, especially the
underwater realm, as space available for work as well as play. While
images of the ocean as wilderness instilled the first glimmer of
awareness that the sea might not be as impervious to human activity as
long believed, the frontier metaphor encouraged a mindset which assumed
that engineering and technology offered the possibility of control of
the ocean and its resources.
About the Presenter:
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Helen M. Rozwadowski is the Coordinator of Maritime Studies at the
University of Connecticut. She has worked in the past both as a public
historian, including writing for Discovery On-line, and also in
academia. She has won the Ida and Henry Schuman Prize from the History
of Science Society. She is also the author of the award-winning book Fathoming the Ocean: The Discovery and Exploration of the Deep Sea.
Location: Community Room