DBS Guest Seminar Series - Sammantha Newton

Charismatic megafauna has dominated the rhetoric concerning marine issues. They serve a performative function that allows us to connect with the natural world in ways that would be otherwise difficult (Mittman, Daston; 2005). Considering how organisms as scientific objects were chosen and utilized can shed light on the fluxes that bring animals to the foreground or relegate them to relative obscurity (Daston, 2000; Mittman, Fausto-Sterling, 1992). Generally, the literature interrogating these fluctuations centers on large and relatable species (Arch, 2018; Siegal, 2005). So, how did a transparent, faceless gastropod, only millimeters in size, become both the scientific proxy for and cultural embodiment of changing ocean conditions at the turn of the 21^st century? What can asking this question tell us about the circulatory nature of scientific practice, visual culture, and marine activism? My research considers how charismatic microfauna made the leap from sea to shore. I used a historical, yet interdisciplinary approach to archival materials, visual analysis, and observatory participation to productively historicize the role of microorganisms in the context of ocean history (Armitage et al., 2018; Heidbrink, 2017; Rozwadowski, 2010). 

I argue that photographic practices and products are a deeply embedded aspect of the knowledge-making process and that environmental knowledge-making has an influential role in developing environmental values and narratives. This also follows in historical traditions that blend science and technology studies with environmental history to bring the enigma of knowledge production into the foreground of how the ocean has been perceived and contested.