Changing Monsoonal Waterworlds

Cullen, B. 2023. Changing Monsoonal Waterworlds. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale. 31 (4), pp. 67-82. https://doi.org/10.3167/saas.2023.04132304

TitleChanging Monsoonal Waterworlds
TypeJournal article
AuthorsCullen, B.
AbstractThis article explores volatility from the perspective of hilsa fish in the Bengal Delta. The hilsa, known as ilish in Bengali, takes advantage of monsoonal hydrological dynamics in its life cycle. Today, hilsa are changing in response to anthropogenic activities, which attempt to stabilise delta landscapes in response to perceived volatility, but generate new volatilities that are felt and sensed corporeally by people who are entangled with hilsa lifeways. Interactions with a fisher, a cook, a scientist and an environmental activist during multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Bangladesh provide insights into how hilsa are experiencing and responding to spatial, material and temporal environmental transformations. Embodied understandings of hilsa lifeworlds gained through acts of fishing, cooking, dissecting and monitoring reveal the more-than-human reverberations of human-induced volatility.Résumé : Cet article analyse la volatilité du point de vue du poisson hilsa dans le delta du Bengale. Le hilsa, également connu sous le nom de ilish en bengali, exploite la dynamique hydraulogique de la mousson au cours de son cycle de vie. Aujourd’hui, on constate que le poisson hilsa a changé en réponse aux activités anthropique qui tentent de stabiliser l’espace du delta contre sa volatilité perçue. Cette action créé une nouvelle volatilité qui est perçu par les personnes vivant étroitement avec le poisson hilsa. L’étude est basée sur une ethnographie multisite et des interactions avec un pêcheur, un cuisinier, un scientifi que et un activiste écologique au Bangladesh, dont l’objectif était de comprendre comment les expériences avec et l’étude du hisla permettent de saisir les transformations de l’environnement à l’œuvre. Le savoir incorporé des rythmes de vie du hilsa à travers l’activité de pêche, de cuisine, de dissection ou de surveillance donne à voir les réverbérations sur le non-humain de la volatilité induite par l’homme.
KeywordsSociology and Political Science
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Anthropology
JournalSocial Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale
Journal citation31 (4), pp. 67-82
ISSN0964-0282
1469-8676
Year2023
PublisherBerghahn Books
Publisher's version
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3167/saas.2023.04132304
Publication dates
Published online01 Jun 2023
Published in print01 Dec 2023
Page range1-21

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