B8845 - Terraqueous Worlds: Anthropology of the Sea and Coastal Communities

Learning outcomes

Oceans and coasts are undergoing profound transformations due to climate change and human exploitation. This course introduces students to the anthropology of the sea and coastal wetscapes, examining the lives of fishers, ports, shipping, and coastal heritage. It also explores critical studies of maritime infrastructures, colonial and industrial legacies, and multispecies entanglements in coastal areas such as lagoons, deltas and wetlands. Through the histories of anthropogenic coastlines, students will critically analyse conventional divisions between land and sea, exploring "wetness" as a lens for understanding human-environment interactions. The course will also engage with key issues in ocean governance and examine the maritime ecosystems vital for survival, addressing topics like rising sea levels, biodiversity loss, environmental displacement, and the interconnected crises represented by global warming. By integrating perspectives from anthropology, environmental studies, and history, students will gain an interdisciplinary foundation to understand culture, ecology, and survival in coastal and marine worlds.

Course contents

This course is organised around 15 2-hour lectures which will cover a breadth of topics related to health and more-than-human entaglements. Some lectures will introduce key topics in a frontal lecture format based on regular exchange with the students, whilst others will be student-led sessions. Below I provide a break-down of the topics we will study together; further down, in the Bibliography section, I have listed the main readings we will critically engage with in class. All resources, additional information and instructions will be provided on Virtuale.

 

Lecture 1: Entering Terracqueous Worlds: An Anthropologist's Guide to Wetscapes.

Lecture 2: Sea and Coastal Governance: From the Law of the Sea to the Rights of Nature

Lecture 3: Student-led Session: Sea and Coastal Governance: Instruments, Stakeholders, Case-Studies.

Lecture 4: Lagoonscapes: Anthropologies of Deltas and Deltaic Communities

Lecture 5: Wetlands & Empire

Lecture 6: Student-led Session: Anthropologies of Deltas, Lagoons and Wetlands: Case-Studies Worldwide.

Lecture 7: Fishing Communities and Maritime Connectivity

Lecture 8: The Social Lives of Fish & Water Beings

Lecture 9: Student-led Session: Ontologies of Water and Water Beings: Case-Studies Worldwide.

Lecture 10: Coastal Infrastructures of the Anthropocene 1: Ports & Industries.

Lecture 11: Coastal Infrastructures of the Anthropocene 2: Aquaculture & Fish Farms

Lecture 12: A Drowning World: Sea Level Rise and Climate Migration.

Lecture 13: Student-led Session: Presentation and Debates of Case-Studies on A Drowning World.

Lecture 14: What Future for Terracqueous Worlds? Humanities & Social Science Contributions.

Lecture 15: Revisions & Student Presentations Session.

Readings/Bibliography

Lecture 1: Entering Terracqueous Worlds: An Anthropologist's Guide to Wetscapes.

- Anand, N. 2023. 'Anthroposea: Planning future ecologies in Mumbai’s wetscapes'. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 41(4), 683-706. https://doi.org/10.1177/02637758231183439

- Ballestero, A. 2019. 'The Anthropology of Water'. Annual Review of Anthropology, 48, 405–421. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48550949

- Dua, J. 2024. 'Anthropology of and from the Ocean'. Annual Review of Anthropology 53:165–81. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-041422-012504

- Franco, J., et al. 2014. The Global Ocean Grab: A Primer. A report by TNI Agrarian Justice Programme, Masifundise and Afrika Kontakt.
https://www.tni.org/en/publication/the-global-ocean-grab-a-primer

- Gagné, K., & Rasmussen, M. B. 2016. 'Introduction – An Amphibious Anthropology: The Production of Place at the Confluence of Land and Water.' Anthropologica, 58(2), 135–149. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26350476

 

Lecture 2: Sea and Coastal Governance: From the Law of the Sea to the Rights of Nature

- Burns, V. (2022). Analysis of ocean ontologies in three frameworks: A study of law of the sea discourse. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6(2), 1138-1163. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221110436

- Poto, M. P. et al. 2021. 'Knowledge Integration and Good Marine Governance: A Multidisciplinary Analysis and Critical Synopsis'. Human Ecology: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-021-00289-y

- Young, M. 2021. ‘Protection of the Marine Environment: Rights and Obligations in Trade Agreements’. Korean Journal of International and Comparative Law 196-211.

- Young, M. 2024. ‘Strengthening Capacity in Ocean Governance’,  Asia-Pacific Journal of Ocean Law and Policy 5-24: https://scispace.com/pdf/strengthening-capacity-in-ocean-governance-3azoctn4.pdf

 

 

Lecture 3: Student-led Session: Sea and Coastal Governance: Instruments, Stakeholders, Case-Studies.

 

Lecture 4: Lagoonscapes: Anthropologies of Deltas and Deltaic Communities

- Danesi della Sala, F. 2024. 'Gone with the Clam: Multispecies Arrangements and Feral Rhythms in the Goro Lagoon (Po River Delta)'. Lagoonscapes 4 (1): https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/media/pdf/article/the-venice-journal-of-environmental-humanities/2024/1/art-10.30687-LGSP-2785-2709-2024-01-006.pdf

- Krause, F. 2017. 'Towards an Amphibious Anthropology of Delta Life'. Human Ecology, 45(3), 403–408. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44329689

- Krause, F (ed.) 2018. Delta Methods: Reflections on Researching Hydrosocial Worlds. Cologne Working Papers in Cultural and Social Anthropology No. 7, University of Cologne: https://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/8961/1/KAE-07_Krause2018_Delta%20Methods.pdf

- Scaramelli, C. 2019. 'The Delta is Dead: Moral Ecologies of
Infrastructure in Turkey'. Cultural Anthropology 34 (3): p. 388–416. . DOI: 10.14506/ca34.3.04

 

Lecture 5: Wetlands & Empire

- Fabiano , E. et al. 2021. ' Wetland spirits and indigenous knowledge: implications for the conservation of wetlands in the Peruvian Amazon' , Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 3 (100107): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsust.2021.100107

- Grotti, V. & Brightman, M. 2025. 'The water eaters: A political ecology of drainage in the Romagna coastal plain'. EPE: Nature and Space: https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486251342682

- Gruppuso, P. 2018. 'Edenic Views in Wetland Conservation:
Nature and Agriculture in the Fogliano Area, Italy' Conservation and Society 16(4): 397-408. https://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/conservatsoc164397-2071078_054510.pdf

- Hilton, T. & Moore, S. 2023. 'Futures on Dry Ground Anthropology and Coastal Planning'. Environment & Society 14 (1): https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2023.140104

- Lemke, A. & Freeland, M. 2025. 'Naandamo: Indigenous Connections to Underwater Heritage, Settler Colonialism, and Underwater Archaeology in the North American Great Lakes'. Heritage 8(7), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8070246

 

Lecture 6: Student-led Session: Anthropologies of Deltas, Lagoons and Wetlands: Case-Studies Worldwide.

 

Lecture 7: Fishing Communities and Maritime Connectivity

- Askwani, S. 2020. 'New Directions in Maritime and Fisheries Anthropology'. American Anthropology 122 (3): 473-486. https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aman.13380

- González Carman, V. & Carman, M. 2018. 'A coexistence of Paradigms: Understanding Human–environmental Relations
of Fishers Involved in the Bycatch of Threatened Marine Species'. Conservation and Society 16(2): 205-216. https://www.environmentandsociety.org/sites/default/files/key_docs/conservatsoc162205-3498526_094305.pdf

- Mallon Andrews, K. 2023. 'Ecologies of mistrust: Fish, fishermen, and the multispecies ethics of ethnographic authority'. American Anthropologist 125 (2): https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13828

- Moore, A. 2012. 'The Aquatic Invaders: Marine Management Figuring Fishermen, Fisheries, and Lionfish in The Bahamas'. Cultural Anthropology 27 (4): https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01166.x

- Thomas, E. 2023. 'Fishers who don't fish: Precarity and distributive labor on Chile's coastal frontier'. American Ethnologist 50 (1): https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/amet.13113

 

Lecture 8: The Social Lives of Fish & Water Beings

- Buttacavoli M. 2024. 'An Anthropologist Fails to Become a Fish: Multispecies Sensing in the Anthropocene'. Australian Journal of Environmental Education 40(2):276-287. doi:10.1017/aee.2024.26

- Strang, V. 2023. Water Beings: from nature worship to the environmental crisis, London: Reaktion Books.

- Strang, V. 2024. 'Making Waves: The Role of Indigenous Water Beings in Debates about Human and Non-Human Rights'. Oceania 93 (3): https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5375

- Todd, Z. 2018. 'Refracting the State Through Human-Fish Relations: Fishing, Indigenous Legal Orders and Colonialism in North/Western Canada'. DIES: Decolonization, Indigeneity, Education, and Society 7(1): 60-75. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/30393/23034

 

Lecture 9: Student-led Session: Ontologies of Water and Water Beings: Case-Studies Worldwide.

 

Lecture 10: Coastal Infrastructures of the Anthropocene 1: Cities & Ports.

- Acosta, R. 2024. 'Technomolecular flows in coastal cities: an anthropological approach to new materialist ethics of the anthropogenic microscale'. Maritime Studies 23, 31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-024-00377-x

- Anand, N. & Kamath, L. 2024. 'Eviscerating the Sea'. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 44 (1): 118–134. https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-11141543

- Anusha, C. et al. 2024. 'Introduction: Port Environments in South Asia'. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 44 (1): 81–85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-11141583

- De Giorgi, I. 2024. 'Big Cruise Ships Going Feral: An Ecocritical Reading of Overtourism in Venice'. Lagoonscapes 4 (1): http://doi.org/10.30687/LGSP/2785-2709/2024/01/007

- Keller, K. 2023. 'Mussels and Megaprojects: Landscape Structure and Structural Inequality at Jakarta's Coast'. Social Anthropology 31 (4): https://doi.org/10.3167/saas.2023.310406

 

Lecture 11: Coastal Infrastructures of the Anthropocene 2: Aquaculture & Fish Farms

- Araos, F. et al. 2022. 'Facing the blue Anthropocene in Patagonia by empowering indigenous peoples’ action networks'. Marine Policy 147: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105397

- Costa-Pierce, B. A. 2022. 'The Anthropology of Aquaculture', Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.843743

- Evans, D. 2022. 'Pathogenic proliferations: Salmon aquaculture, industrial viruses, and toxic geographies of settler-colonialism'. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 42(1), 13-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544221127306

- Hamada, S. 2020. 'Decoupling Seascapes An Anthropology of Marine Stock Enhancement Science in Japan'. Environment & Society 11 (1): https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2020.110103

 

Lecture 12: A Drowning World: Sea Level Rise and Climate Migration.

- Anderson, R. 2023. 'Time, Seawalls, and Money
Anthropologies of Rising Seas and Eroding Coasts'. Environment and Society: Advances in Research 14: 23–42. doi:10.3167/ares.2023.140103

- Felima, C. 2024. 'Small Island Risks: Research Reflections for Disaster Anthropologists and Climate Ethnographers'. Soc. Sci. 13(7), 348; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13070348

- Morris, J. 2022. 'Managing, now becoming, refugees: Climate change and extractivism in the Republic of Nauru'. American Anthropologist 124 (3): 560-574. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13764.

- Vaughn, S. 2017. 'Disappearing Mangroves: The Epistemic Politics of Climate Adaptation in Guyana'. Cultural Anthropology https://journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/article/view/ca32.2.07/155

 

Lecture 13: Student-led Session: Presentation and Debates of Case-Studies on A Drowning World.

 

Lecture 14: What Future for Terracqueous Worlds? Humanities & Social Science Contributions.

- Stilz, A. 2024 'Climate Displacement and Territorial Justice'. American Political Science Review. Published online 2024:1-15. doi:10.1017/S0003055424001059

- Strang, V. and Luetz, J.M. 2025. ‘Eco-pilgrimages: linking humans, heritage, and hydrology’, Ambio, 54 pp. 918-922. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-025-02145-5

 

Lecture 15: Revisions & Student Presentations Session.

Teaching methods

Student attendance and participation in class is required. Students are expected to be on time and to engage actively in class, taking notes and listening to lectures and presentations, asking questions etc.

Teaching will be organised both as (1) frontal lectures (accompanied by slides, video clips, etc.) and (2) student-led learning (student presentations, written work and group discussions). Students will be asked to prepare for class by reading at least one of the designated readings for the day, even if they are not presenting in class. Active participation, questions, suggestions and spontaneous ideas in class are all encouraged and part of the learning experience and will win extra points.

Details of the course milestones, resources and assesment methods will be given during the first lecture. Special attention will be given to explaining student activities and assignments (oral presentations in class, small group project and book review, with instructions on how to organise the group project, how to write the project report, how to prepare for a class presentation and how to write the book review). So come well prepared (remembering to check resources and instructions already present on Virtuale) and ready to ask all the questions you want to ask!

PLEASE NOTE:

Students with a disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to the teaching staff in order to properly address them and agree on the appropriate measures with the competent bodies.

Assessment methods

General Assessment for the course will be based on:

- (1) 1 written piece: a 3,000 words essay on a subject chosen by the student in consultation with the lecturer (the lecturer will always be there to help at all stages of the essay design and writing-up, so do not hesitate to ask). The subject has to be directly relevant (empirically and theoretically) to the course. The essay has to be submitted 7 days (at the latest) before the date of the oral examination. Late submissions without justification will be penalised.

- (2) The oral examination, during which the student will be tested on knowledge acquired through the lectures (slides and notes) and the readings (as specified above, students have to read 3 readings for each themed lecture).

- (3) Active participation in class, especially by volunteering to give student presentations after each lecture (one 15 min. presentation on one chosen reading from the bibliography for the day, with optional slides) but also by engaging orally with fellow students and the teacher in spontaneous group discussions. Active, spontaneous participation will win extra points in the final mark for the course.

Registration for oral presentations will be voluntary and open to all from the week before the start of the course, via a Google Doc accessible only to registered students on Virtuale.

The reading list provided is intended as a guide, and students are urged to explore work published in major anthropology journals, such as Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Cultural Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Current Anthropology, Migration and Society, Comparative Migration Studies, and online blogs: https://footnotesblog.com/, https://anthrodendum.org/, https://culanth.org/about, http://fieldworkinitiative.org/.

I am pasting below a general description of Unibo's marking system which students will find on all courses' webpages for reference:

'The ability of the student to achieve a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the topics addressed by the course, to critically assess them and to use an appropriate language will be evaluated with the highest grades (A = 27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of the course's contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will result in grades ranging from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

A low level of knowledge of the course’s contents together with gaps and deficienciesin terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will be considered as ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20) or result in a fail grading (F).'

Teaching tools

PLEASE NOTE:

Students with a disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to the teaching staff in order to properly address them and agree on the appropriate measures with the competent bodies.

Office hours

See the website of Vanessa Grotti