A Maritime Sense Of Place: Southeast Alaska Fishermen And Mainstream Nature Ideologies

Abstract

This thesis portrays Southeast Alaska fishermen's 'senses of place' on the sea, elicited through interviews. The distinctiveness of a fishing culture, and the demands and opportunities of the occupation and environment, result in a relationship to place different from the majority society. Themes discussed include being at home on the sea, the environment as a basis for occupational choice, territorial flexibility, preference for wild nature, and wild nature produces exploitatable surpluses. The variability of the environment affects patterns of learning, models of nature, and values in inter-personal interactions. Relationship to 'place' is found to be central to the culture, but as the area becomes identified by outsiders as "wilderness," national environmental organizations and others regard fishermen as 'out of place'. Differences from modern Western society in relationship to 'place' and 'nature', highlighted by the Glacier Bay National Park case, are proposed to explain negative perceptions of these fisheries. <p>