In the Heart of the Sea

Moby Dick, Indigenous whaling, and the environmental history of the Bering Strait

I am currently revising my dissertation into my first book, which is an environmental history of early Florida through the lens of cattle pastoralism. Florida, I argue, is really the first West.¹ Inevitably, people ask the inspirations behind my book. There are many: Dan Flores’ writing on bison diplomacy on the Great Plains, Virginia DeJohn Anderson’s Creatures of Empire, Alan Mikhail’s The Animal in Ottoman Egypt, Josh Reid’s The Sea Is My Country, and so on and so on. But one book I always mention is Bathsheba Demuth’s Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait.

Bathsheba’s work, is in my mind, some of the most exciting work being done in the field of history today. For her study, Bathsheba lived and worked with Indigenous people of the region to help understand the long intersections between environment, indigeneity, and capitalism on the Arctic land and waters stretching from Russia to Canada. A big part of that story revolves around Indigenous whaling practices both in the historic era and today. It is a marvelously beautiful book that speaks to the importance of maritime resources to Indigenous commuities while also demonstrating ethical practices of historians wishing to tell these important stories to a global audience.

It was with that in mind that I invited Bathsheba on the podcast in May of 2024. A big fan of Moby Dick, the film she suggested was 2015’s In the Heart of the Sea. The movie, which stars Chris Hemsworth and pretty much every other actor in Hollywood, chronicles the voyage of the Essex, which ultimately inspired Herman Melville’s great American novel. The film did not do well at the box office, due to a combination of it being a period piece, poor marketing, and just that folks generally don’t want to see whales hunted onscreen. But that doesn’t mean we can’t use movies like this to talking about the history whaling, maritime resources, and host of other topics. In fact, Historians At The Movies was born for just that.

So with that said, this week’s HATM watch party is In the Heart of the Sea, which we’ll watch at 8pm eastern this Sunday, February 23. The movie is available on Netflix. Here is the original trailer:

And while we are here, if you’d like to listen to the pod before we watch the film, I’ve posted links to the Apple and Spotify episodes below.

Finally, you can also get your own copy of Floating Coast right here.

Alright, we’ve made it to Tuesday. Let’s see if we can get to Wednesday. Good luck everybody.

Jason

1. Yes, Ohio and Kentucky and everywhere else, you say that too. But I’m right so shush.