Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Drawing on the fieldwork in northeast Fujian, China, this research examines how former boat dwellers maintain ecological bonds with marine species after resettlement. Stories about yellow croakers, clams and oysters at changing tables reveal how relocation reconfigures multispecies relationships.

Paper long abstract

The transition from water to land has fundamentally reshaped the material and symbolic centre of life for wooden boat dwellers in northeast Fujian, southeast China. While families once gathered around makeshift tables on wooden boats swaying with tides, they now convene around stable tables in concrete houses and apartments. Yet this physical relocation represents far more than an architectural shift; it marks a transformation in how these (former) boat-dwelling people relate to the marine environment that once defined their existence. Meanwhile, the stories that boat dwellers tell about the waters they once called home remain rich with memories of marine life, such as the large yellow croakers, clams and oysters that were edible and once intimate neighbours. These narratives have not disappeared with the move ashore but have evolved, carrying forward ecological knowledge and changing relationships with species. Tables, whether floating or fixed, continue to play as a site where these multispecies stories are shared, contested and reimagined across generations. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among the former wooden boat dwelling community in this coastal region, this research explores the dynamic and ongoing entanglements between marine species and people whose lives remain intertwined even after resettlement. By examining how memories, practices and relationships persist and transform across the threshold between boat and building, this research illuminates the enduring bonds between boat-dwellers and the more-than-human worlds they inhabit, revealing how relocation does not sever ecological connections but rather reconfigures them in unexpected and generative ways.