Journal of Maritime Literature and Culture
JMLC, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.171-178.
Print ISSN: 3107-1821; Online ISSN: 3107-183X
Journal homepage: https://www.mlcjournal.com
DOI： https://doi.org/10.64058/JMLC.26.1.16
The Severed Ocean and Humanity: A Review of Blue Ecocriticism and Shadowing the Anthropocene
Ma Sitao
Abstract: This article juxtaposes Dobrin’s Blue Ecocriticism and the Oceanic Imperative and Ivakhiv’s Shadowing the Anthropocene to examine the cultural diagnosis and philosophical foundations of ecocriticism’s “blue turn.” Dobrin reframes the ocean’s absence as a structural symptom, showing how “land-based prejudice” operates through “cultural memory apparatuses” to obscure the sea; Ivakhiv’s “process-relational ontology” traces this absence to its ontological roots, arguing that the capitalist logic of “disconnectibles” severs dynamic relational processes into static objects. Together they form a double-layered framework: Dobrin addresses how absence is culturally constructed; Ivakhiv interrogates why it is structurally necessary. The article also identifies key limitations: Dobrin’s analysis stays at the level of representation; Ivakhiv’s systematic theorization of the “ungraspable” paradoxically reinstates the possessive cognition his shadowing posture resists. The article concludes by proposing the Wangchuan ritual as a corrective, calling for an oceanic ethics premised on coexistence rather than mastery.
Keywords: blue ecocriticism; process-relational ontology; oceanic ethics; disconnectibles
Author Biography: Ma Sitao, Master’s Candidate, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ningbo University, research direction: British and American Literature, eco-criticism. E-mail: 216002934@nbu.edu.cn.
题目：切割的海洋与人类：评《蓝色生态批评》与《影随人类世》
摘要：本文并置评述Dobrin的《蓝色生态批评与海洋律令》与Ivakhiv的《影随人类世》，探讨生态批评“蓝色转向”的文化诊断与哲学基础。Dobrin将海洋的缺席重新定性为结构性症状，揭示“陆地偏见”如何通过“文化记忆装置”遮蔽海洋；Ivakhiv的“过程-关系本体论”则从本体层面追溯其根源，指出资本主义“断联物”逻辑如何将动态关系世界切割为静态对象。两书构成双层阐释框架：前者揭示缺席如何被建构，后者追问为何缺席。本文亦指出其局限：Dobrin对结构性成因着墨不足；Ivakhiv以系统性框架把握“不可把握”，已然复归其所警惕的占有式认知。最后以“送王船”为例，呼吁建立不以“把握”为前提的海洋伦理。
关键词：蓝色生态批评；过程-关系本体论；海洋伦理；断联物
作者简介：马斯陶，宁波大学外国语学院2025级硕士研究生，研究方向：英美文学，生态批评。电子邮箱：216002934@nbu.edu.cn。
Received: 27 Mar 2026 / Revised: 18 Apr 2026 / Accepted: 25 Apr 2026 / Published online: 30 Apr 2026 / Print published: 30 May 2026.
