For my final project proposal, I would like to explore further what we read in “The Blue Humanities” (from week 10), specifically on the topic of how human perception of the ocean changed alongside the tide of progress. As early in the semester, we learned that only within the last two hundred years did people see the ocean as somewhere ‘fun’ to be. To hang out. How the perception of older myths and literature, based on/taking inspiration from the ocean or similar bodies of water (Undine, the Little Mermaid, etc), was different back then. For example, people back then saw the world under the sea as a mysterious place and just as a way to get from point A to B. While we still have these perceptions, they’ve been expanded upon to include concepts like emotional power and history (as we’ve discussed for works like Rivers Solomon’s The Deep). The sea, once viewed as a distant and dangerous frontier, has become a source of inspiration, imagination, and reflection, influencing our views on nature, life, and the human spirit.
Work in progress thesis: In the last two hundred or so years, human perception of the greater ocean has undergone a profound change. Evolving from viewing it solely as a means of travel, alongside as a mysterious and dangerous void, into a powerful symbol containing emotional, historical, and metaphorical significance. This project explores and examines the shift of literary representations of the sea to reflect the ever-expanding human understanding of the environment in the context that modern progress allows us to.
This is great!– though needing some clarification… Are you planning to write an essay or do a creative project? I think your insight is here: ‘The sea, once viewed as a distant and dangerous frontier, has become a source of inspiration, imagination, and reflection, influencing our views on nature, life, and the human spirit.” and you can certainly draw on the blue humanities text that we read, including, Rodawokski. It seems like your main point or practice is going to be: “This project explores and examines the shift of literary representations of the sea to reflect the ever-expanding human understanding of the” Ocean. So will this be a project that zooms in on many of the texts we’ve read and the representation of the ocean in them in order to annotate and explain how the ocean is represented? I could certainly see a more creative annotation project here.
Certainly connect with fellow students on this topic, is there many of you who are interested in writing about the blue humanities– including Emily and Miko!