Seeing from Below: Scuba Diving and the Regressive Cyborg

Abstract

Summary This article reimagines scuba diving as a form of ethnographic immersion that allows humans to experience life on earth from an underwater perspective. I argue that scuba divers are both posthuman in their cyborgian transcendence of the basic limitations of our species and prehuman in their metaphorical regression into womb‐like oceans, from which all life on earth evolved. I conceptualize divers as (p)reborn humans. Underwater, symbolic modes of human communication devolve to iconic and indexical forms of gesturing that are more in tune with surrounding ecosystems. Scuba diving involves shamanic navigation between lifeworlds, processes that are deeply ritualistic and psychoanalytically significant. Through first‐hand narrative accounts, divers bring new forms of relational knowledge into the public sphere. Bearing in mind the politics of being underwater, I contend that scuba diving can foster a change in how humans apprehend the ocean, from top‐down representation to bottom‐up lived experience. Scuba diving reshapes attention in ways that could inspire collective appreciation for the blue planet that sustains us. Against the backdrop of global environmental change, I call for a shift in the way that humans see and think about the ocean, from above water to below.

Serious leisure imaginaries: The construction of tourists, locals and localities in scuba diving tourism

“…They may be on the lookout for new dive sites and destinations (whether new to the individual or the community), but these must be possible to appropriate using standard procedures (cf. Merchant, 2011: 217; Raycraft, 2020: 306). This also means that the tourism imaginaries guiding divers are not just images of places but also ideas about how to appropriate these places as well as what such an appropriation will entail from a longer-term perspective: an extended experience, an enhancement of capabilities, another step up on the serious leisure career ladder (cf.…”

“…To conclude, as part of the so-called oceanic turn in the humanities and social sciences (DeLoughrey, 2016), research on scuba diving has suggested that the view 'from below' (Raycraft, 2020) can take social analysis beyond its 'terrestrial bias' (Jue, 2020: 11) and generate new perspectives on not only the ocean but on society and environment more generally. In line with such ambitions, my aim in this article has been to accomplish an analysis of scuba diving tourism that can contribute to a better understanding of not only recreational scuba diving, but of terrestrial forms of tourism as well.…”

“…Today, people often undertake diving as a form of tourism, with divers visiting well-established and enticing destinations to pursue their hobby (Merchant, 2011; Musa and Dimmock, 2013). As a sport, scuba diving is structured through routines and regulations, giving the practice ‘deeply ritualistic’ aspects (Raycraft, 2020: 306; cf. Merchant, 2011: 217).…”

“…Helmreich, 2007; Jue, 2020: 16). Here, scuba diving researchers have made use of the underwater world – the view ‘from below’ (Raycraft, 2020) – to establish new perspectives on the interpretation of texts, art and media (Jue, 2020), cyborgism and what it means to be human (Picken and Ferguson, 2014; Raycraft, 2020), how to do fieldwork (Merchant, 2014; Rodineliussen, 2017); and, more generally, on the ocean itself. Following this line of research, I suggest that an analysis of scuba diving tourism – focussing on some of its structural aspects and how these are re/produced – may open up a new way of thinking about purposeful or intentional tourism.…”

Marine sense. The Sea beyond Explicit Knowledge

“…Moreover, due to the density of the water column, divers must adapt their behaviors in such a way as to facilitate the penetration of their bodies and equipment into the water. Immersion requires an adjusted use of limbs and artefacts (Rosselin et al, 2015;Raycraft, 2020;Raveneau, 2021), as well as familiarization with the sensations of moving in water. This is as a prerequisite for the Wayuu: "Before fishing, you must learn to move in the water, " who begin a gradual acclimatization of future fishers at the shore from a very young age.…”