Undersea Geopolitics

Rachael Squire is a Political Geographer and Lecturer in Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her research engages with the concepts of territory, embodiment, and ‘volume’ with a particular focus on the space of the sea.

Extending critical geopolitical analysis to investigate an unlikely venue, Rachel Squire brilliantly shows how American cold war geopolitical culture was a combination of science, masculinity and exploration. This fascinating account of a nearly forgotten scientific project explores the underwater world of Sealab, its aquanauts, scientists and their dangerous experimental habitat, built in the quest to dominate the frontier space of the ocean.

• 1. Introduction: Towards the ‘Deep Dark Sea’ 2. ‘Taking Chances for all of Mankind’: Taming the Underwater Frontier 3. Domesticating and Dishwashing: Making Home on the Seafloor 4. ‘A Breed Apart’: Taking the Measure of Man 5. ‘Think Helium’: Submarine Pressures and Elemental Entanglements 6. Companions, Zappers, and Invaders: The Animals of Sealab7. From Sealab to Skylab: Inhabiting Extremes8. Conclusions