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Brett Westwood examines our relationships with sharks; seen as deities in Pacific cultures and typecast as a fearsome, ruthless killer in Jaws, this ancient predator captivates us

Who can hear the word shark and not the music from the film Jaws? This 1975 film, based on a book from the previous year, is defined as a 鈥渨atershed moment for sharks.鈥 From being little thought about by most people sharks were suddenly propelled into the lime light as fearsome, ruthless killers whose intent was to harm us humans. An entertaining film became the death warrant for millions of sharks. Our terminology is not helpful.

We find it impossible to speak about sharks without using emotive language: seas are 鈥渋nfested,鈥 sharks 鈥渕enace鈥 they 鈥渃ruise around looking for a victim, they 鈥渋nvade鈥 our swimming beaches etc. Crooks are 鈥渓oan sharks.鈥

In Hawaiian culture they are often seen as protectors or brave fighters in battle.

We have a difficult relationship with sharks. We have traded their teeth and eaten their fins, so much so that millions are now killed annually for this delicacy for the aristocracy. Damien Hurst has tried to capture the fear of the shark in his famous tank, allowing the viewer to stand next to an open mouth without being in danger. We will always be challenged by this supreme predator, if we allow it to survive in the wild.

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28 minutes

Last on

Sun 27 Jun 2021 06:35

Oliver Crimmen

Oliver Crimmen
Oliver is the lead curator for the Natural History Museum鈥檚 fish collection. He is responsible for the maintenance and enhancement of the collection聽and is a spokesperson for PR and media activity surrounding it.

Oliver started at the Museum in 1993 as a Higher Scientific Officer, before becoming Curator in 1996.

He is a member of the , which is responsible for ratifying British marine identifications and the 鈥檚 Fish Expert Group.

Giovanni Aloi

Giovanni Aloi
Giovanni Aloi is an expert in the representation of animals and plants in modern and contemporary art. He is聽a lecturer in History of Art and Visual Cultures at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, London and New York, and Tate Galleries.

In 2006, he founded , the Journal of Nature in Visual Culture. It is an international reference point for the debate on animals in the arts. He is the author of and is currently working on two monographs, one on taxidermy in contemporary art and another on plants in contemporary art, both due for publication in 2016.

Ian Fergusson

Ian Fergusson
Ian Fergusson is a chartered biologist and one of the 鈥檚 founders. A leading expert on Mediterranean great white sharks, Ian has authored a number of on this and other shark species.
He is the 成人论坛鈥檚 West Country and Formula One motor-racing weatherman and a Fellow of the .

罢飞颈迟迟别谤:听

Professor Dennis Kawaharada

Professor Dennis Kawaharada
Dennis Kawaharada is Associate Professor of English at聽Kapi鈥榦lani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaii and an expert on traditional Hawaiian culture and mythology.

He is the author of 聽and has written about traditional attitudes towards sharks in Hawaii.

He works with the聽 which seeks to perpetuate the art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging.听

Richard Kerridge

Richard Kerridge
Richard Kerridge is a nature writer. In 2014 he published , a book about natural history, friendship, family, frogs, toads, newts, snakes, lizards, and the joys and anxieties of growing up.

Richard has also published books and articles about nature writing and other kinds of wild literature. He teaches creative writing, including nature writing, at Bath Spa University, and was a founder of the UK branch of the .

His work has appeared in , and he reviews nature writing for .

Twitter:

Professor John 脫 Maoilearca

Professor John 脫 Maoilearca
John 脫 Maoilearca is Professor of Film and Television Studies at Kingston University, London. He has published 10 books, including (as author) Bergson and Philosophy, Post-Continental Philosophy: An Outline, Philosophy and the Moving Image: Refractions of Reality, and as editor Laruelle and Non-Philosophy and The Bloomsbury Companion to Continental Philosophy .


His latest book 鈥 on animals, cinema, and philosophy 鈥 is entitled聽.听

Professor Adrian Peace

Professor Adrian Peace
Adrian Peace is honorary associate professor of anthropology at Queensland University and studied a PhD in social anthropology at the聽University of Sussex.

He has conducted extended research in Nigeria and Ireland. Recently, his research has focussed on political conflicts聽inside Australia and beyond over whales, dingoes and sharks.

The journal Australian Zoologist published his paper ''.

Broadcasts

  • Tue 9 Jun 2015 11:00
  • Mon 15 Jun 2015 21:00
  • Sun 27 Jun 2021 06:35

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