Orion Morton

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

Second Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Dean, Erin

Area of Concentration

General Studies

Abstract

Humans have been shaped by a vast assortment of nonhuman organisms throughout evolutionary history; this thesis explores algae's influence, termed ethnophycology here, in particular. Utilizing extensive archival research, and supplemented with interviews of individuals involved in local food production systems, this thesis aims to looks at the past, present, and future of human-algal relations, with an additional goal of developing a model to incorporate algae into local food systems. Drawing on the framework of multispecies ethnography, it begins by reviewing various cultures’ relationships with algae, looking at uses for food, animal feed, fertilizers, and as agents in human migration. The next chapter reviews the scientific literature showing algae’s potential to make food production systems more sustainable. After that, we look at the ways in which human-algal relations have been damaging, placing emphasis on public health risks. Finally, the ways in which humans could ally with algae to help offset some of our most pressing environmental issues are explored. The thesis concludes by reviewing all that can happen at the intersection of human-algal relations, and draws parallels between these seemingly disparate kinds of organisms as planetary engineers. Included in the appendix is a rough start on estimating the economic viability of incorporating algae into our local food systems, via a seaweed-to-biochar model developed out of the interviews.

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