Invisible as the seas and oceans may be for so many of us, life as we know it is almost always connected to, and constituted by, activities and occurrences that take place in, on and under our oceans. The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space provides a first port of call for scholars engaging in the ‘oceanic turn’ in the social sciences, offering a comprehensive summary of existing trends in making sense of our water worlds, alongside new, agenda-setting insights into the relationships between society and the ‘seas around us’.　 Accordingly, this ambitious text not only attends to a growing interest in our oceans, past and present; it is also situated in a broader spatial turn across the social sciences that seeks to account for how space and place are imbricated in socio-cultural and political life.

Through six clearly structured and wide-ranging sections, The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space examines and interrogates how the oceans are environmental, historical, social, cultural, political, legal and economic spaces, and also zones where national and international security comes into question.　 With a foreword and introduction authored by some of the leading scholars researching and writing about ocean spaces, alongside 31 further, carefully crafted chapters from established as well as early career academics, this book provides both an accessible guide to the subject and a cutting-edge collection of critical ideas and questions shaping the social sciences today.

This handbook brings together the key debates defining the ‘field’ in one volume, appealing to a wide, cross-disciplinary social science and humanities audience. Moreover, drawing on a range of international examples, from a global collective of authors, this book promises to be the benchmark publication for those interested in ocean spaces, past and present. Indeed, as the seas and oceans continue to capture world-wide attention, and the social sciences continue their seaward ‘turn’, The Routledge Handbook of Ocean Space will provide an invaluable resource that reveals how our world is a water world.

Section 1: Ocean Approaches, Ocean Perspectives

1. Introduction: Placing and Situating Ocean Space(s)

Jon Anderson, Andrew Davies, Kimberley Peters and Philip Steinberg

Section 2: Ocean Frameworks, Ocean Knowledges

2. Mapping: Measuring, Modelling and Monitoring the Oceans

Jessica Lehman

3. Science: Histories, Imaginations, Spaces

Antony Adler

4. Representation: Seapower and the Political Construction of the Ocean

Basil Germond

5. Empire: Towards Errant and Interlocking Maritime Spaces of Power

Andrew Davies

6. Frontiers: Ocean Epistemologies: Privatise, Democratise, Decolonise

Leesa Fawcett, Elizabeth Havice and Anna Zalik

7. Culture: Indigenous Māori Knowledges of the Ocean and Leisure Practices

Jordan Waiti and Belinda Wheaton

Section 3: Ocean Economies, Ocean Labour

8. Fishing: Livelihoods and Territorialisation of Ocean Space

Madeleine Gustavsson and Edward H Allison

9. Planning: Seeking to Coordinate the Use of Marine Space

Stephen Jay

10. Docking: Maritime Ports in the Making of the Global Economy

Charmaine Chua

11. Containers: The Shipping Container as Spatial Standard

Matthew Heins

12. Seafarers: The Force that Moves the Global Economy

Maria Borovnik

13. (De)Growth: The Right to the Sea

Maria Hadjimichael

14. Resources: Feminist Geopolitics of Ocean Imaginaries and Resource Securitisation

Amanda Thomas, Sophie Bond and Gradon Diprose

Section 4: Ocean Histories, Ocean Politics

15. Security: Pragmatic Spaces and the Maritime Security Agenda

Christian Bueger

16. Navies: Military Security and the Oceans

Duncan Depledge

17. Discipline: Beyond the Ship as Total Institution

Isaac Land

18. Protest: Contested Hierarchies and Grievances of the Sea

Paul Griffin

19. Solidarities: Oceanic Spaces and Internationalisms from Below

David Featherstone

20. Migration: Security and Humanitarianism across the Mediterranean Border

Charles Heller, Lorenzo Pezzani and Maurice Stierl

Section 5: Ocean Experiences, Ocean Engagements

21. Writing: Literature and the Sea

Stephanie Jones

22. Imaginaries: Art, Film, and the Scenography of Oceanic Worlds

Greer Crawley, Emma Critchley and Mariele Neudecker

23. Swimming: Immersive Encounters in the Ocean

Ronan Foley

24. Surfing: The What, Where, How, and Why of Wild Surfing

Jon Anderson

25. Sailing: The Ocean Around and Within Us

Mike Brown

26. Diving: Leisure, Lively Encounters, and Work Underwater

Elizabeth R. Straughan

Section 6: Ocean Environments, Ocean Worlds

27. Depth: Discovering, ‘Mastering’, Exploring the Deep

Rachael Squire

28. Life: Ethical, Extractive and Geopolitical Intimacies with Nonhuman Marine Life

Elizabeth R Johnson

29. Waves: The Measure of All Waves

Stefan Helmreich

30. Hydrosphere: Water and the Making of Earth Knowledge

Jeremy J Schmidt

31. Ice: Elements, Geopolitics, Law and Popular Culture

Klaus Dodds

32. Islands: Reclaimed: Singapore, Space and the Sea

Satya Savitzky