MACMILLAN Revaluing Coastal Fisheries: How Small Boats Navigate New Markets and Technology

This book illustrates and explains the consequences of neoliberal reform on rural economies. Based on an ethnographic case study of coastal fisheries in Iceland, it poses the following questions: How are rural fishers navigating liberal capitalism? And how are new markets, property-rights and digital technologies transforming rural economies? By drawing on an extensive body of literature on economic sociology and science and technology studies, the book offers a novel understanding of the role of market-based reform for rural development. Review “Revaluing Coastal Fisheries is a fantastic book with many surprising observations. Drawing on an exciting ethnography of fisheries, it shows us that relations of economization that take place during neo-liberal marketization are varied in nature and have unexpected outcomes. It is a must read for researchers who are interested in markets and economic transformation.” (Koray Çalışkan, The New School, USA and Bogazici University, Turkey) “The beauty is in the detail of this first of its kind ethnography of the economic and cultural transformation of Icelandic coastal fishing. From the use of new scopic media to observe the ocean, the fish and the competition to processing, it brings out the mechanisms of the reconfiguration of the rural into an epistemic culture of a ‘quality’ marketization of nature.” (Karin Knorr Cetina, University of Chicago, USA) “This is a timely and perceptive take on coastal fishing, in the days of virtual aquaria, panoptic surveillance, social media, neoliberal economies, and environmental change. Drawing upon intensive fieldwork in Iceland and a thorough exploration of social theory, Dobeson has crafted a much broader account of fishing than one is usually offered, which is highly relevant in the modern world, far beyond the narrow empirical context of his study.” (Gísli Pálsson, University of Iceland, Iceland) About the Author Alexander Dobeson is a researcher at the Department of Sociology at Uppsala University, Sweden, and member of the Uppsala Lab of Economic Sociology. His research interests include economic sociology and science and technology studies with particular emphasis on the intersection of markets, property rights, technology and culture in contemporary capitalism.