Oceans and seas, Human geography

Steinberg, P. E.

Abstract

The world's oceans have attracted increasing attention from geographers since the 1990s. Post-1990 engagements with the sea by human geographers are traced through four waves, each of which has reflected and contributed to emergent foci in human geography. In the first wave of ocean studies, the ocean was used by human geographers to contribute to the understanding of globalization. In the second wave, the ocean was used to understand the role of science, knowledge, and the nonhuman in shaping human society. In the third wave, the focus shifted to the affective nature of encounters between the human and nonhuman. And in the fourth, the ocean is emerging as a key zone for thinking through a world with unstable, voluminous geophysical underpinnings.

Citation

Steinberg, P. E. (2017). Oceans and seas, Human geography. In D. Richardson (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0759

• Publication Date: Mar 6, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2018
• Publisher: Wiley
• Book Title: International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0759
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1660439