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Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas
Alien Ocean immerses readers in worlds being newly explored by marine biologists, worlds usually out of sight and the deep sea, the microscopic realm, and oceans beyond national boundaries. Working alongside scientists at sea and in labs in Monterey Bay, Hawai'i, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Sargasso Sea and at undersea volcanoes in the eastern Pacific, Stefan Helmreich charts how revolutions in genomics, bioinformatics, and remote sensing have pressed marine biologists to see the sea as animated by its smallest marine microbes. Thriving in astonishingly extreme conditions, such microbes have become key figures in scientific and public debates about the origin of life, climate change, biotechnology, and even the possibility of life on other worlds.
422 pages, Paperback
First published December 6, 2008
21 people are currently reading
575 people want to read
About the author
Stefan Helmreich
13 books9 followersStefan Helmreich is professor of anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Alien Ocean and Silicon Second Nature.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 15, 2009
This is the dude whose research most makes me jealous. The anthropology of biological oceanography. Seriously, this guy is a real a** clown for thinking of this before I did.
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July 1, 2023This MIT anthropology professor conducted his fieldwork by accompanying and intimately observing various clots of biological oceanographers and marine biologists at work, from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to the University of Hawaii, to an oceanic expedition with Craig Venter. These researchers have varying preoccupations, from the application of marine knowledge in biotechnology or defense, to genome sequencing. This whirlwind tour and embassy into the rather exotic realm of oceanography would have been fascinating, however, understandably, this book isn't a faithful chronicle or diary of the researchers' activities. Rather, this book is populated with a lot of the professor's discursions, self-injections, dissections... understandably as this was supposed to be an anthropological work rather than a travelogue.
August 3, 2020
Stop the presses! This anthropology book tops all of my long-time favourites! How come no one has recommended this more? Answer: academics don't have the time or motivation to read complete ethnographies for the fun of it. Those of us scholars outside of any discipline do have the time and we are much more privileged for it!
It is no exaggeration that I will say that this ethnography is now on top of my list. My short all-time favourite ethnographies that I read out of interest, pleasure, and curiosity are the following:
1. Sharon Hutchison's Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War, and the State (follows the footsteps of Evans Pritchard and why he was wrong at times)
2. Janice Boddy's Wombs and Alien Spirits (a study on the djinn in general and has accounts of why female circumcision is important, without prejudice)
3. Orality and Textuality in Islam (not sure what the main title is and I've been searching for it for a while now but have not found it. but this one is simply amazing how oral traditions are not exactly or cannot be translated to written laws of the Quran and why this causes political problems at the everyday bureaucratic level)
4. Geertz' Negara Theatre State (just because I am into anything mortuary ritual)
The first three I have read with great pleasure and have referred them to a lot of people. However, Alien Ocean is different because it was written without the traditional expectations of what an academic book is, and at the same time, it did not betray its anthropological roots. This is a book that must be recommended for creative writing classes and writing in academia.
Stefan's writing is incomparable. He is bold, brave, and unafraid to say what he means and is unapologetic for his ideas and musings. He does not need to overly cite big names in the field to get his points across or make his ideas "valid" or "strong." He doesn't even stick to strictly anthropological theorists or non-fiction accounts to drive his arguments. He uses a broad range of ideas from other fields and even sci-fi and fiction writers and especially in the biosciences that makes his work adventurous and inclusive. I must agree with @ErinTaylor that his literary style is unique and he doesn't apologize in inventing new words and it doesn't come across as pompous or a know it all or trying to be obtuse.
I am familiar with works that I admire from the Oxbridge school especially in his field i.e. Corsin Jimenez and HAU people who write to impress or to be acknowledged by peers writing in the same style, be obscure and in its obscurity hides full analysis of their thought. Strathern comes into mind. Sentences such as...
Gender of the Gift, (132) " The practices of knowledge to which I have been alluding, and especially that people are construed as dependent upon others for knowledge about themselves, do not simply reside in the personal discoveries of reflective individuals: these are not existential possibilities that could apply anywhere. I refer specifically to the manner in which the cultural conventions of these societies present people with the effects of their actions. And this is not in turn simply a question of intersubjective dramatics, the personae that people proffer, the playing of their 'roles.' A distinctive feature of these Melanesian practices is the elicitation of knowledge about inner bodily and mental constitution. A set of internal relations are externalized."
Very long-winded sentences and it sounds understandable but these are the kinds of sentences that you have to keep reading over and over again to get the gist correctly or just double check that you understand her point. This is common in journals that I've read and a lot of them seem to get published. It has nothing to do with native speakers of English but academic-lese.
Compare for instance with, Stefan's sentences (104):
"Gender, race, and sexuality - to take just three examples of biopolitically charged kinship topologies - are joined by novel entanglements of life forms and forms of life. I call this polyvalent, proliferating relationality kinship in hypertext."
It is not that he dumbs it down, but somehow his constructions are crisp and direct.
Stefan plays around with words, uses phrases such as
"blue-green capitalism, where blue stands for speculative sky-high promise and green for a belief in biological fecundity. " (107)
"virtuous bioprospecting" (109)
"avaricious biopiracy" (109)
"capitalism becomes a sea serpent, ringing the world, eating its own regenerating tail."(109)
Oh, creatively he writes sentences like this,
"an alien ocean brought within colonial range through humanity's planktonic emissaries. It is a chlorophyllic remix of the promise of the "Blue Revolution." (115)
It is just fun prose, seeing the writer having fun creating similes and using metaphors. Maybe this language will fly over non-native speakers but those who will read this for their courses might appreciate the writing if instructors point it out.
Alien Ocean is an example of ethnographic writing that all the academics have been espousing on doing but never could quite show examples of. Geertz' Interpretation of Culture has always been lauded to me as an example of good writing but I was not sure exactly what makes it unique. Others tout the confessional mode and poetry style. But I have not heard anyone show this work as an example of creativity without sacrificing data or theory-building.
=========
(On Theory)
The book, like what Erin already pointed out, is not linear, the athwart theory is displayed right here, side by side storytelling. It does help that I do love oceanography (it is one of those fields that enchant everyone, I mean Jacques Costeau or archaeology with Indiana Jones) and he gives us enough context and new information to excite one's curious mind.
My favorite chapters are ch. 4 with Hawaii and the problem of classification and colonialism, ch. 2 where the idea of descent blew my mind. (why we have been teaching evolution wrong was shocking and exciting to me). Like Erin, I enjoyed the story of the errant microbes being transported in ballasts of water of ships. This work reminds me of how the Philippines as an island nation is always excluded in research and has a constant problem with "invasion" and the term indigenous like in Hawaii but hasn't quite gotten I was quite sad it ended and wanted to know more nuggets of information. Oh, he has a chapter on sound ethnography. Yes, sound. We've had anthropologists explore color but very few talk about sound!
I admire how he uses theory and is adventurous about it. I mean using theoretical constructs not usually applied to network analysis or microbes! Bill Maurer's work is cited all the time. I am not so familiar with his writing but I am pretty sure it is not usually applied for microbes and more commonly for finance and money. As for me, this work is clearly in the "network analysis" school or what John describes as "fractal networks" but to my shock doesn't cite the usual literature in that school. Not the animal - people connection set of literature - not the Amazon researchers, Oxbridge scholars. Instead, he cites philosopher Agamben in describing "bare life" to describe the politics around microbes that are "bare life" and those in power dictate how these are to be re-created into something ideal, useful or profitable (101).
Agamben's work is usually applied to the biopolitics of refugees and migration - that refugees are reduced to bare life without political freedoms and are in the perpetual state of exception. Then Stefan uses it in the context of microbes being under biopolitical management by scientists, companies, citizens, etc. That's really creative. He uses a smattering of theorists but is not enamored with one or rely on just one. He respects enough to use what is appropriate for the data he is presenting. He doesn't force it or mold the data to fit any theory. Likewise, he doesn't use theory or a theoretical school to frame his data or validate his status among his peers. Data molds theory and not the other way around for him. The writing comes across as honest with what he does know and cannot know. He doesn't argue for representation or "speak for the microbes" or mother Earth or the scientists. In that, he showed exemplary relativism that is not pandering to any one perspective. He does hint at his position but is irrelevant to what the data shows.
Certainly, this book is one of those few books that talks about our favorite field of anthropology (he even weaves in his own story and fieldwork mud) and to learn about a topic that I could not possibly have known or bother to read about.
The genre of this book is less anthropology (and yet might require advanced anthropological background) and appeals to a general audience. Anyone can pick up this book and get sucked in the world of oceanography and microbiology, especially for those in those fields. It does not have a chronological narrative and every chapter can be read independently. Some chapters expand or are related. It is all tied under a common theme. This means that the introduction might be the toughest read of all because it is the point where you are initiated into his writing and bit of theory. You know this will be a dense focused read. You can re-read this book over and over again for more hidden gems.
It is no exaggeration that I will say that this ethnography is now on top of my list. My short all-time favourite ethnographies that I read out of interest, pleasure, and curiosity are the following:
1. Sharon Hutchison's Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War, and the State (follows the footsteps of Evans Pritchard and why he was wrong at times)
2. Janice Boddy's Wombs and Alien Spirits (a study on the djinn in general and has accounts of why female circumcision is important, without prejudice)
3. Orality and Textuality in Islam (not sure what the main title is and I've been searching for it for a while now but have not found it. but this one is simply amazing how oral traditions are not exactly or cannot be translated to written laws of the Quran and why this causes political problems at the everyday bureaucratic level)
4. Geertz' Negara Theatre State (just because I am into anything mortuary ritual)
The first three I have read with great pleasure and have referred them to a lot of people. However, Alien Ocean is different because it was written without the traditional expectations of what an academic book is, and at the same time, it did not betray its anthropological roots. This is a book that must be recommended for creative writing classes and writing in academia.
Stefan's writing is incomparable. He is bold, brave, and unafraid to say what he means and is unapologetic for his ideas and musings. He does not need to overly cite big names in the field to get his points across or make his ideas "valid" or "strong." He doesn't even stick to strictly anthropological theorists or non-fiction accounts to drive his arguments. He uses a broad range of ideas from other fields and even sci-fi and fiction writers and especially in the biosciences that makes his work adventurous and inclusive. I must agree with @ErinTaylor that his literary style is unique and he doesn't apologize in inventing new words and it doesn't come across as pompous or a know it all or trying to be obtuse.
I am familiar with works that I admire from the Oxbridge school especially in his field i.e. Corsin Jimenez and HAU people who write to impress or to be acknowledged by peers writing in the same style, be obscure and in its obscurity hides full analysis of their thought. Strathern comes into mind. Sentences such as...
Gender of the Gift, (132) " The practices of knowledge to which I have been alluding, and especially that people are construed as dependent upon others for knowledge about themselves, do not simply reside in the personal discoveries of reflective individuals: these are not existential possibilities that could apply anywhere. I refer specifically to the manner in which the cultural conventions of these societies present people with the effects of their actions. And this is not in turn simply a question of intersubjective dramatics, the personae that people proffer, the playing of their 'roles.' A distinctive feature of these Melanesian practices is the elicitation of knowledge about inner bodily and mental constitution. A set of internal relations are externalized."
Very long-winded sentences and it sounds understandable but these are the kinds of sentences that you have to keep reading over and over again to get the gist correctly or just double check that you understand her point. This is common in journals that I've read and a lot of them seem to get published. It has nothing to do with native speakers of English but academic-lese.
Compare for instance with, Stefan's sentences (104):
"Gender, race, and sexuality - to take just three examples of biopolitically charged kinship topologies - are joined by novel entanglements of life forms and forms of life. I call this polyvalent, proliferating relationality kinship in hypertext."
It is not that he dumbs it down, but somehow his constructions are crisp and direct.
Stefan plays around with words, uses phrases such as
"blue-green capitalism, where blue stands for speculative sky-high promise and green for a belief in biological fecundity. " (107)
"virtuous bioprospecting" (109)
"avaricious biopiracy" (109)
"capitalism becomes a sea serpent, ringing the world, eating its own regenerating tail."(109)
Oh, creatively he writes sentences like this,
"an alien ocean brought within colonial range through humanity's planktonic emissaries. It is a chlorophyllic remix of the promise of the "Blue Revolution." (115)
It is just fun prose, seeing the writer having fun creating similes and using metaphors. Maybe this language will fly over non-native speakers but those who will read this for their courses might appreciate the writing if instructors point it out.
Alien Ocean is an example of ethnographic writing that all the academics have been espousing on doing but never could quite show examples of. Geertz' Interpretation of Culture has always been lauded to me as an example of good writing but I was not sure exactly what makes it unique. Others tout the confessional mode and poetry style. But I have not heard anyone show this work as an example of creativity without sacrificing data or theory-building.
=========
(On Theory)
The book, like what Erin already pointed out, is not linear, the athwart theory is displayed right here, side by side storytelling. It does help that I do love oceanography (it is one of those fields that enchant everyone, I mean Jacques Costeau or archaeology with Indiana Jones) and he gives us enough context and new information to excite one's curious mind.
My favorite chapters are ch. 4 with Hawaii and the problem of classification and colonialism, ch. 2 where the idea of descent blew my mind. (why we have been teaching evolution wrong was shocking and exciting to me). Like Erin, I enjoyed the story of the errant microbes being transported in ballasts of water of ships. This work reminds me of how the Philippines as an island nation is always excluded in research and has a constant problem with "invasion" and the term indigenous like in Hawaii but hasn't quite gotten I was quite sad it ended and wanted to know more nuggets of information. Oh, he has a chapter on sound ethnography. Yes, sound. We've had anthropologists explore color but very few talk about sound!
I admire how he uses theory and is adventurous about it. I mean using theoretical constructs not usually applied to network analysis or microbes! Bill Maurer's work is cited all the time. I am not so familiar with his writing but I am pretty sure it is not usually applied for microbes and more commonly for finance and money. As for me, this work is clearly in the "network analysis" school or what John describes as "fractal networks" but to my shock doesn't cite the usual literature in that school. Not the animal - people connection set of literature - not the Amazon researchers, Oxbridge scholars. Instead, he cites philosopher Agamben in describing "bare life" to describe the politics around microbes that are "bare life" and those in power dictate how these are to be re-created into something ideal, useful or profitable (101).
Agamben's work is usually applied to the biopolitics of refugees and migration - that refugees are reduced to bare life without political freedoms and are in the perpetual state of exception. Then Stefan uses it in the context of microbes being under biopolitical management by scientists, companies, citizens, etc. That's really creative. He uses a smattering of theorists but is not enamored with one or rely on just one. He respects enough to use what is appropriate for the data he is presenting. He doesn't force it or mold the data to fit any theory. Likewise, he doesn't use theory or a theoretical school to frame his data or validate his status among his peers. Data molds theory and not the other way around for him. The writing comes across as honest with what he does know and cannot know. He doesn't argue for representation or "speak for the microbes" or mother Earth or the scientists. In that, he showed exemplary relativism that is not pandering to any one perspective. He does hint at his position but is irrelevant to what the data shows.
Certainly, this book is one of those few books that talks about our favorite field of anthropology (he even weaves in his own story and fieldwork mud) and to learn about a topic that I could not possibly have known or bother to read about.
The genre of this book is less anthropology (and yet might require advanced anthropological background) and appeals to a general audience. Anyone can pick up this book and get sucked in the world of oceanography and microbiology, especially for those in those fields. It does not have a chronological narrative and every chapter can be read independently. Some chapters expand or are related. It is all tied under a common theme. This means that the introduction might be the toughest read of all because it is the point where you are initiated into his writing and bit of theory. You know this will be a dense focused read. You can re-read this book over and over again for more hidden gems.
July 16, 2020
Did not finish.
Good premises and topics ruined by incoherent writing. Either that or i'm just too stupid, impatient and indifferent to really bother sifting out what these chapters are trying to say.
Why do so many anthropologists make a virtue of writing dense, meandering, self-indulgent sentences? Suggestions to consider when writing a sentence (and paragraph, and section): by the time u get to the end of one, your reader should still be able to remember what the original point of that sentence was.
One of those books that make me resent and dread reading after awhile.
Good premises and topics ruined by incoherent writing. Either that or i'm just too stupid, impatient and indifferent to really bother sifting out what these chapters are trying to say.
Why do so many anthropologists make a virtue of writing dense, meandering, self-indulgent sentences? Suggestions to consider when writing a sentence (and paragraph, and section): by the time u get to the end of one, your reader should still be able to remember what the original point of that sentence was.
One of those books that make me resent and dread reading after awhile.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 13, 2020Funny we have another book with the dame title, but that one documented the costly exploration for outer space ocean for possible life. I mean, hello, we have a deep-sea here.
May 13, 2023
Very Haraway.
June 6, 2011
As far as I'm concerned, Helmreich is the anti-Bill Maurer. Maurer's short essays are always interesting and sometimes revelatory, his books, especially Mutual Life Blah, Blah, Blah are excruciating. The couple short pieces I'd read or tried to read by Helmreich were precious to the point of unreadability, but this book which incoporates and (unusually for an established anthropologist?) substantially reworks several journal articles is actually pretty spiffy. Even if he has spawned the latest anthro hipster bastardized theory wank: the rush to swarm interspeciesly, his own take on species is more nuanced. His prose, too, is above average. My undergrads were challenged by this, but ultimately found it rewarding, I think.
January 18, 2011
OK, I'm biased here. Stefan was my advisor at NYU and I love his work. Also, I'm cited.
However, speaking objectively as a writer myself, I can attest that Stefan is one of the best anthropological writers out there today. Seriously. Beautiful, thoughtful prose and analysis that makes you want to go back and reread this book just to make sure you understand all the connections he's making. A wonderful book for anthropologists, ocean lovers, and science geeks.
However, speaking objectively as a writer myself, I can attest that Stefan is one of the best anthropological writers out there today. Seriously. Beautiful, thoughtful prose and analysis that makes you want to go back and reread this book just to make sure you understand all the connections he's making. A wonderful book for anthropologists, ocean lovers, and science geeks.
February 1, 2022
This was me, on the book! had to read it for an anthropology class for university - so am very biased. I don't know a lot about marine deep-sea, or microbes ... therefore, I had a hard time understading all the scienctific theories/facts ...
Want to read
November 5, 2008As advertised in
The American Scientist
.
Want to read
June 15, 2010Just bought this book... should be coming on amazon.
February 19, 2016
Interesting book. A bit dense subject matter but written in a very open, engaging, and readable style.
March 31, 2015
Beautifully written! Demonstrates the power of storytelling in greater understanding of a subject.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews