Fathom

[Extract] Terrestrial, bipedal, air breathing, and poorly waterproofed, how can humans fathom the bottom of the sea? This article was composed by an anthropologist, a cultural theorist, a philosopher, a coastal geographer, a cultural geographer, a feminist studies scholar, an artist, a spatial scientist, an ecocritic, a free diver, an STS scholar, a spear fisher, a biologist, a marine ecologist, a poet, a dancer, and a swimmer. (If the math does not add up, we remind you that we are always more than one.) Our insights emerged from a one-day workshop at Clovelly Beach in Sydney, Australia, on land and in the water, where we shared our perspectives and practices in researching ocean environments. Our collaboration is an experiment in multidisciplinary practice-based inquiry, where differences and tensions need not preclude collaborative understanding. In this article we combine emerging critical ocean studies and blue humanities perspectives to propose fathoming as a vital, embodied practice that gathers technoscientific acts of measurement together with practices of immersion, imagination, and speculation. Through collaborative multi-situated inquiry1 we learn new things not only about the sea but also about the limits of epistemological mastery and the rewards of knowing with.