Gone Fishing
Research colloquium winter semester 2025/2026
Responsibility & Idea: Prof. Dr. Laura Otto, Junior Professor of Anthropology of the Rural
In collaboration with: PD Dr. Sebastian Dümling & Lyric Stott
The lecture series "Gone Fishing?", hosted at the Chair of European Ethnology/Empirical Cultural Studies at JMU, explores these complex dynamics. Running in the winter semester 2025/26 and summer semester 2026, the series invites reflection on the past, present, and future of working with water and aquatic life. "Gone Fishing?" evokes both absence – of species, biodiversity, or accountability – and the symbolic and cultural meanings of fishing in its broadest sense. The series provides a platform to examine ecological, social, and economic questions surrounding water resources and aquatic food production. Through a range of lectures from the social and cultural sciences, it explores how actors in diverse contexts use, transform, and understand water and aquatic organisms. The focus includes socio-ecological transformations, approaches to dealing with water as a common good, and speaks to both the growing interdisciplinary field of the Blue Humanities and the Anthropology of the Rural.
Water and aquatic ecosystems are the foundation of all life – and a central resource for global food production. Economies that rely on water and aquatic organisms form a dynamic yet often conflict-laden sector: on the one hand, water-based economies face growing threats from droughts, salinization, and other consequences of climate change, while overfishing makes regular headlines. On the other hand, various forms of aquaculture or the consumption of invasive aquatic species, such as lionfish or the Chinese mitten crab, are increasingly seen as sustainable solutions. Jellyfish and algae are also being promoted as protein alternatives in light of growing populations and shrinking terrestrial resources. Questions of biodiversity, animal welfare, and environmental conservation play a role alongside food security, ecological pressures, and economic innovation.
