Sea Cucumber Stories (1) (Multispecies Anthropology)

By: Paula Uimonen

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Synopsis: Sea Cucumber Stories explores multispecies entanglements and ocean worldings, from a sea cucumber perspective. Drawing on environmental, multispecies and ocean anthropology, it enlists the sea cucumber to tell stories of how and why the ocean and its creatures matter to life on our blue planet. The chapters draw on multisited, multimodal and multisensory fieldwork in Tanzania, where the sea cucumber is undergoing interesting transformations, from an ocean creature created by God to a commodity in the global seafood market, farmed for export to China. While breaking new ground in multispecies anthropology, this creative book builds on the author’s earlier work in digital and literary anthropology. Sea cucumber stories are told from an imaginary as well as a scholarly perspective. The sea cucumber is treated as a fellow creature to draw attention to the wonders of multispecies undersea worlds and the troubles of human exploitation of what is perceived as a marine resource.