By Xinyan Lin, Student at NSOE
On February 4th, at the invitation of the Duke Global Asia Initiative, Dr. Mayumi Fukunaga, Associate Professor of Environmental Sociology and Environmental Ethics from University of Tokyo, gave a seminar talk titled “Futuring Salmon: Dreams of Marine Ranching amidst the Ruins of the Anthropocene”. The talk presented some parts of Prof. Fukunaga’s new book,「サケをつくるひとびと：水産増殖と資源再生」(unofficial translation: “Marine Ranchers: Aquaculture Productivity and Resource Generativity ”), published in Japanese with University of Tokyo Press in December 2019.
Prof. Fukunaga first introduced the concept of productivity by explaining the development of its different meanings in economic, ecological and social contexts throughout Japanese history. She then elaborated on the application of this concept in community salmon hatching, in which “productivity” has become a social technological imaginary that stock enhancement technologies helps local fishers sustaining harvest from the ocean through dialectical reorganization of the fishery, even at the cost of social and ecological capabilities. The presentation was followed by interesting discussion on capitalist ruins in coastal communities.
The event was well attended by the students, faculty and staff from different departments of studies at Duke.
