Echolocation & Sound Navigation – Used by marine mammals like dolphins and whales to navigate and communicate, challenging human-centric concepts of vision and awareness.

River Dolphins & Environmental Adaptation – The unique sensory adaptations of river dolphins, which rely more on echolocation due to their often murky environments.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems – Māori meteorologists have studied Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) as indicators of weather patterns.

Weddell Seal Maternal Teaching – Baby seals learn to swim through forced immersion, a metaphor for growth and resilience.

The Role of Whales in Carbon Sequestration – Whales contribute significantly to the earth’s carbon cycle, potentially as impactful as entire forests.

Hybrid Dolphins & Transatlantic Histories – The Clymene dolphin, whose range mirrors the transatlantic slave trade routes and is a hybrid species.

Captive Marine Mammals & Human Prisons – Parallels drawn between captive dolphins and imprisoned individuals, such as Debbie Africa and Assata Shakur.

Harriet Tubman & The Combahee River Raid – A historical act of liberation, tied symbolically to marine mammals appearing in the river.

"Lana Garland," a Black feminist filmmaker who translates the Pilates method, highlights Black women's contributions to practices of embodiment, healing, and self-care.

The reference to the author's sister "Yashna Maya Padamsee" reminding to "remember your breath" in yoga videos emphasizes a personal connection to practices of grounding and resilience.

The naming of "great organizers with pantropical visions" like Claudia Jones, Shirley Chisolm, Mila Aguilar, and Mama Tingo explicitly centers Black and Third World women's leadership in movements for social change as a model of collective action.

The description of the Subversive Sirens, a synchronized-swimming team committed to Black liberation, queer visibility, and body positivity, provides a contemporary example of Black feminist principles in practice through collective performance and activism.

The detailed account of Ida B. Wells organizing a mass exodus from Memphis in response to racial violence showcases a historical instance of Black collective resistance and self-determination.

Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) – These social marine mammals form "close-knit" alliances, sometimes marked by scars. This made me curious about marine mammal social structures and how trauma affects bonding.

Pantropical Spotted Dolphins (Stenella attenuata) – The chapter mentions how some of these dolphins in the Atlantic do not have spots, suggesting an adaptation to avoid detection. I’d like to learn more about how marine species change their appearance due to environmental or survival pressures.

June Jordan – The author references poet and activist June Jordan, which makes me interested in exploring Jordan’s writings, especially those related to resilience and struggle.

How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996 novel by Terry McMillan, 1998 film) – This reference appears briefly, and I’d love to investigate how it connects to the themes of transformation, vulnerability, and healing in the book.

The author compares the fierceness of a leopard seal to the "incisive Toni Morrison," a renowned Black woman author, suggesting a parallel in their powerful and insightful nature.

The mention of the Lummi people and their naming ceremony for the orca Tokitae (Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut) highlights Indigenous perspectives on the natural world, which often intersect with Black feminist thought on environmental justice and sovereignty.

The significance of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut as a name meaning "home" resonates with Black diasporic experiences of displacement and the longing for belonging, a central theme in much Black feminist writing.

The mention of Terri McMillan's How Stella Got Her Groove Back touches on themes of Black women's vulnerability, self-discovery, and reclaiming agency in the face of societal pressures.

The recurring theme of kinship and love as healing, particularly in the phrase "our kinship is the kind of salve that heals whole oceans," resonates with Black feminist emphasis on relationality and community as sources of strength and resilience.

The Baikal seal is another fascinating subject. The text notes that no one knows how this seal ended up in a freshwater lake in Siberia, far from other saltwater seal relatives.... The theories mentioned, such as separation by ice sheets half a million years ago or an undiscovered underground channel, pique my interest. I would like to explore the scientific research on the Baikal seal's evolutionary adaptation to a freshwater environment and the validity of these different theories.

The imagining of the ringed seal posing for a painting by Mickalene Thomas, a contemporary Black woman artist known for her vibrant and textured portrayals of Black women, links the beauty and complexity of marine life to Black artistic representation.

The repeated mention of Audre Lorde and her poem "The Black Unicorn" establishes a clear connection between Black feminist poetics, mythology, and the metaphorical understanding of marine animals and their struggles.

The mention of Joe Howlett, a lobsterman who died trying to untangle a right whale from fishing ropes, underscores the risks involved in conservation efforts and the complex relationship between human livelihoods and environmental protection. I'd like to learn more about his work and the efforts of individuals and organizations involved in right whale rescue.

The text highlights Moana, a large Maori-owned fishing company in Aotearoa (New Zealand) that is partnering with conservationists to protect the New Zealand white front dolphin (tpoupou). This example of a commercial entity taking action for a non-consumer species is noteworthy, and I would like to research the specific initiatives and transformations Moana has implemented

The concept of "the quiet of the hunted" is introduced in conversation with theorist Kevin Quashie, linked to the behavior of the minke whale. I am interested in delving into Quashie's work, specifically his book The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture, to understand this idea of quiet as a form of sovereignty and its implications for marginalized groups and the refusal of dominant forms of engagement.

The disappearance and recent reappearance of the Atlantic gray whales in relation to the transatlantic slave trade is a historical connection I want to know more about. The text raises questions about the potential impact of the slave trade on their extinction and the possibility of an "interspecies pact" or a migration in response to the horrors of slavery. I'm curious about historical records and marine biology research that might shed light on this potential link.

The mention of struggles against exploitation of sacred land in "Jamaica’s sacred cockpit country" points to environmental justice issues within Black geographies, a concern often taken up in Black feminist environmentalism.

The application of Toni Morrison's description of Blackness as being "may as well be a rainbow" to the Melon-headed whale uses a powerful image from Black literature to celebrate the multifaceted and often misunderstood nature of Black existence.

The reference to cultural celebrations like an "eastern parkway parade" and the "Shinnecock Labor Day powwow" highlights Black and Indigenous cultural expressions, acknowledging interconnected histories and forms of collective joy and resistance.

The focus on the Caribbean monk seal as an early victim of Columbus and the subsequent exploitation of its blubber to fuel the plantation economy directly links the extinction of a Black marine mammal to the history of colonial violence and its lasting impact on Black diasporic communities.

The author's reflection on the phrase "give it her all" and the societal pressure to be "tireless" connects to the disproportionate expectations placed on marginalized individuals, particularly Black women, and the radical necessity of rest as resistance, a growing topic within Black feminist discussions.

The reference to Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and her book Care Work directly brings in a contemporary Black and disabled femme writer whose work examines themes of care, interdependence, and justice, often in conversation with Black feminist ideas.

The repeated citation of Audre Lorde and her powerful words on love, strength, and the responsibility for "our children" (in a broad sense) underscores a central tenet of Black feminist ethics of care and collective nurturing.

The mention of the "Sisterhood of Black Single Mothers in Brooklyn" and their concept of "motherful" family systems highlights historical Black community-based models of care and resilience that challenge traditional patriarchal structures.

The inclusion of June Jordan's assertion that "love is lifeforce" emphasizes a core Black feminist understanding of love as a radical and transformative power.

The form of my Padlet project is structured to visually and thematically reflect the fluidity and interconnectedness of marine life and Black feminist thought, as explored in Undrowned by Alexis Pauline Gumbs. I have organized my Padlet into chapters that align with key themes from the book, using a combination of text, images, and hyperlinks to create an immersive and engaging experience. The visual layout emphasizes expansiveness, with each entry forming a branching network of ideas rather than a rigid hierarchy. By integrating multimedia elements, such as YouTube videos and external articles, I aim to create an interactive space that invites exploration and deeper engagement with the material. The choice of an organic, non-linear structure mirrors the ocean’s boundlessness and the fluidity of identity, history, and resistance.

In terms of content, I selected topics that highlight the intersections of ecological awareness, historical injustice, and collective survival. Gumbs writes, "Your name is medicine over my skin. And our kinship is the kind of salve that heals whole oceans" (Gumbs, Undrowned). This idea of kinship as healing guided my inclusion of stories about marine mammals, particularly those affected by colonial exploitation, such as the North Atlantic right whale, which was hunted to near extinction for its blubber. Similarly, the discussion of captive marine mammals alongside imprisoned activists like Assata Shakur serves to emphasize how systems of control and oppression extend beyond human societies. Another key insight from Gumbs is her reflection on scars: "A dolphin with scars is more likely to be known, recognized, named by the watchers" (Gumbs, Undrowned). This notion influenced my inclusion of Pacific white-sided dolphins, who form tight-knit groups marked by their wounds, mirroring how marginalized communities often find solidarity in shared trauma and survival.

Two specific entries that exemplify my approach are the Amazon River Dolphin and the connection between Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid. The Amazon River Dolphin (Tucuxi) is notable for being one of the few marine mammals to retain its Indigenous name, a form of resistance against colonial erasure. This connects to discussions in the course about linguistic and cultural survival, drawing from Saidiya Hartman’s Venus in Two Acts, where she examines the silences and gaps in the historical record as sites of both violence and reclamation. Another entry explores Harriet Tubman’s use of the Combahee River during an act of liberation, drawing a symbolic link between human and nonhuman strategies of survival. This resonates with Kevin Quashie’s The Sovereignty of Quiet, where he discusses how quietness and submersion—both literal and metaphorical—can be acts of resistance and autonomy. These entries underscore how both historical figures and marine life navigate oppression, embodying resilience in ways that align with Black feminist thought.

Through this Padlet, I aim to honor the lessons of Undrowned by foregrounding interconnection, adaptation, and collective care. By drawing on multiple sources and perspectives, my project seeks to illustrate how both marine and human lives are shaped by histories of violence yet persist through strategies of survival, remembrance, and kinship.

References: 

Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons From Marine Mammals (2020) by Alexis Pauline Gumbs