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21A.525 | Fall 2025 | Undergraduate

# Oceans and Us

### Session 1: Introductions

### Session 2: What Is the Ocean? Imagining and Encountering Ocean Animals

In-class viewing:

- Leviathan. Directed by George P. Cosmatos. Color, 98 min. 1989.
- My Octopus Teacher. Directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed. Color, 85 min. 2020.

### Session 3: Seaside Leisure

In-class viewing:

- Step Into Liquid. Directed by Dana Brown. Color, 88 min. 2003.

### Session 4: Oceanic Economies

In-class viewing:

- The Forgotten Space. Directed by Noël Burch and Allan Sekula. Color, 112 min. 2010.

Assignment due: Paper One

### Session 5: The Microbial Ocean

In-class viewing:

- Aliens of the Deep. Directed by James Cameron and Steven Quale. Color, 100 min. 2005.

### Session 6: The Black Atlantic

In-class viewing:

- The End of Eating Everything. Directed by Wangechi Mutu. Color, 8 mins. 2013.

### Session 7: Pirates and Other Offshore Agents

In-class viewing:

- Stolen Seas. Directed by Thymaya Payne. Color, 90 min. 2012.

### Session 8: Fishing, Overfishing, and Property

In-class viewing:

- The Cove. Directed by Louie Psihoyos. Color, 92 min. 2009.

Assignment due: Paper Two

### Session 9: Reimagining the Pacific

### Session 10: Mediated Ocean

In-class viewing:

- Purple Sea. Directed by Khaled Abdulwahed and Amel Alzakout. Color, 67 min. 2020.

### Session 11: Sea Level Rise

In-class viewing:

- One Word. Directed by Viviana Uriona. Color, 83 min. 2020.

### Session 12: Waves

In-class viewing:

- Waves Across the Pacific. Directed by Robert E. Dierbeck. Color, 32 min. 1967. YouTube.

Assignment due: Paper Three

## Course Info

### Instructor

- Prof. Stefan Helmreich

### Departments

- Anthropology

### As Taught In

Fall 2025

### Level

Undergraduate

### Topics

- Science
  - Earth Science
    - Climate Studies
    - Environmental Science
    - Oceanography
- Social Science
  - Anthropology
    - Cultural Anthropology
    - Social Anthropology

### Learning Resource Types

auto_stories Readings
assignment Written Assignments

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