Abstract Steve Mentz Compared to many other mammals, humans swim slowly and somewhat awkwardly. We do share some evolutionary features with cetaceans and seals, including a subcutaneous layer of fat and the mammalian diving reflex, but we can’t keep up with our fellow creature in the water. Nonetheless, humans have lived close to, fed themselves Read More…

See a PDF of the day’s schedule HERE View Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE Organized by Cynthia Fang (UCLA), Drew Lash (UCLA), Sara Sisun (UCI), and Zachary Korol-Gold(UCI) The study of the “blue humanities,” a term coined by Steve Mentz, has energized scholarship on the physical and symbolic impact of oceans and seas Read More…

Jeffrey Cohen & Julian Yates When the waters rise and the sea threatens to engulf, frequently we find ourselves instructed, like Noah, to build an ark. Noah’s ark is a narrative conveyance machine that reveals the capacity of stories to work out differently, offering tales of transitions and incomplete totalities, of stowaways and resistance to Read More…