Geographical Defiance: Progressing from Underwater (Oceanic) Geography to Benthic Geography

Underground and underwater geographies have garnered much traction lately in environmental and human geography, given that resource exploitations often occur in these deep spaces. Whilst such scholarly work has contributed to knowledge, such as insight concerning dangerous labour and chemical pollution, current human geographers have rarely theorised the inextricable multiple seafloor entanglement. This lacuna exists partly because no concept can help express multiple humans, aquatic life, and seafloor relations. In response to this issue, bringing together island studies, queer ecology studies, marine science studies, and science and technologies studies (STS) in oceanic geography literature, this paper introduces benthic geography to remediate the entrenched binary logic separating the seafloor from other spaces and bodies. This paper contributes to current environmental and human geography by expanding the use of the benthic concept from predominantly marine science (i.e., benthic ecology) toward environmental geography. Ultimately, this article invites readers to reflect on our unexpected entanglement with the seafloor and other spaces through how the materiality of the seafloor oozes within and beyond multiple spatial boundaries. Therefore, this article also encourages scholars to create seabed knowledge that puts offshore extractive industries under public scrutiny.