Governing the Shark: Predators and People in the Twentieth Century and Beyond

This dissertation examines the history of shark-human interactions in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It argues that the mid-twentieth century onward saw a series of conjunctures –technological, cultural, and scientific—that thrust sharks and humans into unprecedented levels of contact. This led to both a rise in preoccupation with sharks, and an emergence of new stakeholder groups that sought produce knowledge about them. The conflicting definitions, attitudes, and responses to sharks presented by these various groups are linked to greater trends in science, culture, and society. In particular, the way humans write and think about sharks and other man-eating predators has deep links to the position we see ourselves occupying in the environment. Further, anxieties about sharks are strongly tied to the complicated cultural relationships that people have with the marine environment, both as a place of wonder and terror. Lastly, sharks also allow us to examine the technologies we use to tame and navigate the ocean, as the shifts that brought humans and sharks into closer proximity were intertwined with new technologies that changed the ways humans interacted with marine spaces.

Each chapter presents case studies from the United States and South Africa, juxtaposing the responses by each region. The opening chapter charts the rise of shark attack numbers in the midcentury. It traces the impact of highly publicized shark attacks in the U.S. and South Africa in the 1950s, which resulted in differing approaches to combat the threat of shark attack. Chapter Two explores the intersections between popular depictions of sharks and changing perceptions of shark behavior, centering on the ur-text of shark literature: Jaws. Chapter Three traces the advent of shark tourism, and examines the controversy surrounding white shark cage diving in South Africa. Chapter Four explores the response of Cape Cod communities to an influx of white sharks into the region, drawing parallels with earlier historical examples of predator eradication and conservation. The dissertation thus argues that studying shark-human interactions allows for the interrogation of divisions between myth and science, experts and laypersons, popular culture and scientific knowledge, humans and the environment. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, libraries.mit.edu/docs - [email protected])