Paper short abstract:

Algae have been washed ashore in Mexico in vast amounts recently. Different actors have adopted different practices and their perspectives and how they think about the algae depends on who has which type of knowledge. Ethnography is well suited to trace what is (not) known about climate change.

Paper long abstract:

Sargasso algae have been washed ashore along Caribbean coastlines in atypical amounts over the past few years. The federal state of Quintana Roo in Mexico is particularly by these environmental changes. Ober 80 % of the local population is dependent in one way or the other on tourism and the algae are threatening the industry as well as the integrity of local marine ecosystems. Different actors have adopted different practices in dealing with the algae, and what is considered the appropriate way of handling Sargasso is contested: While hotel operators and tourism agencies remove algae from the beaches, ecologists and natural scientists have warned of environmental degradation and beach erosion. While the federal government has largely ignored the problem, environmental activists have called for massive investments in research to address the issue. While local workers are employed in beach clean-up teams and have thereby generated new sources of income, tourist demand has decreased at the Riviera Maya. The perspectives these actors have and how they think about Sargasso algae is also dependent on who has which type of knowledge. Based on ethnographic fieldwork I carried out in Mexico, I demonstrate these issues of contestation and the dispersion of knowledge, and how it is distributed unequally. Ethnographic research is particularly suitable in tracing these knowledges in order to discuss what is (not) known about climate change.