Submarine Futures of the Anthropocene

Abstract

This essay outlines the development of the “oceanic turn” and the rise of “critical ocean studies” as vital to figuring the Anthropocene. It builds upon the work of Elizabeth Povinelli's theory of “geontologies,” and by turning to the submarine sculptures of Jason deCaires Taylor it argues for a provocative Caribbean aesthetic of “sea ontologies.” By examining the multispecies collaborations of coral and reef ecologies, it suggests a new oceanic imaginary for the more-than-human Anthropocene.