“Beyond nature and culture: relational perspectives on the Wadden Sea landscape”

摘要

Relational approaches offer a productive way of question- ing and deconstructing prevailing ideas around nature and culture. How are nature and culture drawn together or pushed apart through spatial, social, political, administra- tive and cultural practices? How do nature-culture dichoto- mies become embedded in the landscape and how can they be challenged and overcome? What meanings, values and power structures inform these processes underlying the con- struction of “hybrids of nature and culture” (Latour 1993: 10)? In this case, we look at the Wadden Sea and inquire if there are any other ways of engaging with these hybrids in contexts of heritage, nature protection or management. These are just some of the questions the contributions in this special issue for Maritime Studies engage with. They provide theoretically stimulating, methodologically inno- vative and empirically saturated perspectives on what the Wadden Sea coast is beyond its framings and the practices that perform(ed) and materially constitute(d) it in the way it currently exists. First steps in this direction were made during the panel “Beyond nature and culture: relational perspectives on the Wadden Sea landscape” at the MARE People & the Sea X conference held in 2019 in Amsterdam. The panel attracted five interesting talks dealing with the various nature-cultures (Jones 2009a) of the Wadden Sea out of which the need emerged to empirically expand and conceptually deepen the research presented. Discussions following the panel at Amsterdam led to the idea to open up the discussion and include colleagues who also hold an interest in researching nature-cultures from a relational point of view. This finally developed into the present special issue that comprises four papers presented in Amsterdam plus three additional ones from colleagues who kindly agreed to be part of our collective endeavour.