Duke University Press announces the upcoming publication of Oceaning: Governing Marine Life with Drones by Adam Fish (February 2024). The book examines how the use of drones in ocean conservation—such as using them to check the vitality of whales, seals, turtles, and coral reefs—can help create an ocean whose flourishing both depends upon and escapes the control of technologies. Adam Fish is a Scientia Associate Professor of Arts and the Media at the University of New South Wales, author of Technoliberalism and the End of Participatory Culture in the United States, and coauthor of Hacker States and After the Internet.
“Oceaning is full of fascinating stories, finely rendered and theorized, about today’s tools of ocean monitoring. Adam Fish’s tales of marine conservation technologies maps fresh configurations of oceanic bodies, intimacies, and elementalities. You will not see that drone hovering above the seashore in quite the same way after you read this absorbing book.” — Stefan Helmreich, author, A Book of Waves
“This beautifully crafted, elegantly written, and poignant book offers a nuanced and complex rendering of the power and potentiality of drones to remake ocean conservation. Rooted in the lively materialities of ocean life, Oceaning foregrounds animal lives in a crucial way and never strays from considering the ethical dilemmas of conservation practices, eschewing the politics of purity as it demands we do something about the human impact on nonhuman life. This outstanding work is an absolute delight to read.” — Stephanie Rutherford, author of Governing the Wild: Ecotours of Power
Published: 02/09/2024