From the Moon to Fish: A Transdisciplinary Encounter for Ocean Literacy

The Ocean Literacy Observatory (OLO) – a research group from MARE – had the pleasure of hosting the first edition of the BAHAMUT SUMMIT: From the Moon to the Fish – (Un)Entangling the Ecology-Body-Emotion Relationship, on July 4th, at NOVA University Lisbon – Caparica Campus. 

Social and Environmental Sciences joined hands, strengthening transdisciplinary dialogues around the relationship between human and non-human beings, their ways of sensing and relating, and the natural contexts in which they live. Affirmative actions were presented and discussed, highlighting how engaging embodied experiences open multiple pathways to foster a sense of belonging to the ocean. Moments of presentations and a conversation circle with guests, including pacifist Anabela Pereira, the coordinator of the UROK Community Marine Reserve, Emanuela Ramos, and Professors Claúdia Lorenzoni (Federal Institute of the Espírito Santo) and Paulo Borges (University of Lisbon), highlighted and expanded the diversity of such actions.

The title of this first edition comes from the Persian proverb "from the moon to the fish", which inspired the construction of an open and plural space. In this setting, diverse worldviews and perspectives could meet and intertwine, reinforcing dialogical and innovative science, while advancing Marine Social Sciences with participants from around the world.

This international meeting, which featured Professor Tim Ingold from the University of Aberdeen in the Plenary Session, was a joint effort of MARE-NOVA with the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee 54 – The Body in the Social Sciences.

Text by João Pequeno