I found the reading, “Deterritorializing Preface” interesting as it tries to shift our perspective of life by changing commonly used “ground” words and metaphors in to ocean related vocabulary. I was surprised to see that the seven words Steve Mentz provided were quite similar to the words he replaced them with and how he managed to relate them to modern day events. For example, he replaced the word “state” with “ship” and explaining how both can be related to the political environment as ship-to-ship encounters comprise of trading, fighting, hailing, and sighting similar to the activities “state” governments conduct (xvi). I think the idea behind changing our vocabulary from land to sea terminology is neat given that it is something we don’t use as often. Even though we will most likely spend our life on land and are fortunate enough to live on the coast, we or at least I sometimes forget that the ocean takes up the majority of the surface area on Earth. What I think Mentz was trying to say was we should be more considerate towards the ocean and can start with simple changes like tweaking our vocabulary.
Literature and the Environment: Mermaids
Professor Jessica Pressman. Spring 2024
You definitely understand the purpose of this reading- to illuminate how words matter, how they shape and define. I’d love to hear more about what you think happens when we change these words… what might be the implications and effects?
Hi Jonah,
I completely agree with your insights about how similar ship/ocean lingo is to lingo use here on land. I think it was very clever of him to change those words out to kind of show us how similar it is in the ocean to being on land almost like it’s the same. The only thing that keeps it different is the words we have made ourselves to separate ourselves from the ocean . I also like the end of that piece of text where he corrected himself and used the verbiage first because I think it’s a simple fix and he demonstrated that as well.
Hi Jonah,
I completely agree with your insights regarding this text. I thought it was interesting how this text was able to point out the fact that the lingo use in regards to the ocean and the lingo we use regarding land are so interchangeable. They’re almost the same the only thing that keeps them separate is our own ideas. I really liked at the end how the writer corrected himself reiterating the fact that this lingo change in order to become more connected to the ocean is quite simple. It just takes mind shift from what we used to.