Drifting: towards mobilities at sea

Abstract

This paper advocates a critical analysis of drifting as a particular typology of mobility. Drifting is a commonplace term used across the social sciences and particularly within physical, urban and psycho-geographic strands of geography. However, drifting has not been unpacked within a mobilities framework as a specific trope of moving, nor has it been taken 'to sea' by social scientists. This is surprising given the long-standing relationship between drift, drifting and the ocean. Recent years have witnessed a 'filling out' and 'deepening' of mobilities studies in geography and the broader social sciences, wherein mobility is not taken as singular and undifferentiated, but rather can be broken down into more specific parts that constitute particular technologies, experiences, forms and conditions of moving. This study dissects drifting by investigating the intricacies of this mobile quality and the quality of mobility. In particular, the paper draws on drifting in the context of the sea in order to demonstrate the new knowledges made possible by moving examinations from city spaces (where drifting has been most readily employed as conceptual tool and method). Indeed, drawing on case studies of drifting at sea, this paper argues that a focus on this distinctive form of mobility generates new insights into the politics of what it means to move in the maritime realm, a space often neglected in studies of mobilities.

Fluid geographies: Marine territorialisation and the scaling up of local aquatic epistemologies on the Pacific coast of Colombia

“…These epistemologies are scaling up to shape state marine territorialisation, attempting to guarantee local access and control beyond the boundaries defined by their land‐based collective territories. Drawing on Elden's definition of territory as a political technology, unlike land, the sea in the MPA is not a scarce resource distributed and owned, but is a “central space of existence” for coastal fishing communities (Peters, , p. 271). Moreover, terrain has been constructed by the political knowledge–power relations at the confluence of LAEs and modern environmental conservation.…”

Transnational connections and anti‐colonial radicalism in the Royal Indian Navy mutiny, 1946

“…This shift towards mobilities has changed our understanding of maritime, or more precisely ship-based or oceanic, issues (Anim-Addo et al 2014;Peters 2015, Steinberg andPeters 2015). Such scholarship has shown how both the sea as a material object is not only mobile and fluid but also subject to a number of infrastructures.…”

Unlock the Volume: Towards a Politics of Capacity

“…But, as Cresswell () argues, movement takes on different forms and different characters through routes, speeds, experiences, forces and frictions. And further, as Peters () has shown there is some mileage to breaking down mobilities into “constituent parts” (Cresswell ) and thinking about the politics encapsulated, created, shaped and re‐shaped by specific “typologies” of motion from drifting to creeping, to flowing, to stalling. Here, we have followed this lead by showing how it might be useful to unpack and contemplate the politics of other descriptors of volume, notably capacity.…”