Bad Habits and Prosthetic Performances

Negotiation of Individuality and Embodiment of Social Status in Australian Shark Fishing

Bibliographic Data

ID2973979
AuthorsTanya J King (0000-0001-7418-2343, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume63
Issue4
Pages537-560
Publication date2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Anthropological Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-7710 • E-ISSN: 2153-3806
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.3998/jar.0521004.0063.404
OpenAlexW2004988876
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited33

Anthropological discussion of individuality, as a component of masculinity, has tended to focus on either the performance and championing of autonomy in the West (e.g., Kapferer) or the manner in which people in non-Western contexts become explicitly manifest through relationships with others (e.g., Strathern). In this paper, I consider an atypical example of masculine identity by describing intimate interpersonal relationships between Australian commercial shark boat skippers and their young deckhands. As in other Western fisheries (e.g., Icelandic), economic success and physical safety are promoted through synergism among fishers. In the Australian case, however, the degree of corporeal cooperation is so extreme that deckhands resemble living prostheses of their skipper, embodying their peripheral socio-productive status. I consider this bond in the context of the Australian ethos of masculinity, in which displays of "individuality" are key. However, for young deckhands, their prosthetic role can compromise their passage into manhood

Aesthetics · Autonomy · Compromise · Context (archaeology · Ethos · Geography · Identity (music · Kinship · Masculinity · Negotiation · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Marine animal studies overview · Psychology · Social Psychology

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